(On the Hunt) Chapter 24

Pride: On the Hunt

Chapter 24

Bugs in the System

Much like the Drules, all the Vex-Cha were born of a common ancestor. Very much unlike the Drules, their civilizations had first evolved separately. All Vex-Cha races could trace their roots to a single primitive insectoid species, wiped out by a supernova millions of years ago, seeding dozens of worlds in their region of space with genetic material. There was an instinctive kinship between these "Children of Stardust," and only they were allowed to be full members of the Vex-Cha Confederacy. They did, however, welcome other worlds as satellites and affiliates.

Selech was one of those affiliates. It looked innocent enough from low orbit… it wasn't a large planet, though it wasn't tiny either. There was some cloud cover, some blue, some green, a lot of gray. If anything it seemed fairly boring. Just one of the dozens of life-hosting planets on the Spur.

If there was one thing the team was positive this place wouldn't be, it was boring.

They had a frequency and a passcode to contact the handler on-planet. They also had spaceport coordinates, though they were supposed to contact the handler rather than the port for landing instructions. Probably had something to do with killer robots. At least it gave them a spot to aim for… as soon as the Bolt entered the atmosphere, Cam glanced over at the command chair. Time to get this thing started. "How should we introduce ourselves, sir?"

"Just leave it as… incoming bounty hunters?" Keith shrugged. Did bounty hunters usually have team names?

"We should be Deadpool Bounty Hunters XXX," Lance suggested with a smirk.

"No." Sven shook his head. "No, we shouldn't."

Cam looked between them and smirked too. "How about Bounty Team Kogane?" Keith shot him an icy glare, and he spun right back around to face his console.

"Am I going to have to come up there and do something I'm not medically cleared for?" Flynn asked; he was finally out of the sick bay, though he was mostly limited to sitting in the engine bay instead.

Keith turned his glare from Cam to the comms. "Go back to sleep, Kleid."

"He's glaring, in case you can't feel it, Flynn," Lance announced helpfully. "I'm sure you can."

"Not only can I feel it, I can hear it."

"It's a doozy." The pilot snickered. "Anyway, if you want to be dull about it, just plain bounty hunters does work."

Giggling—then coughing quickly to cover it—Cam typed in a message and sent it away. "Bounty hunters it is." Within a matter of maybe two minutes, an acknowledgment came through with a new frequency. "We have a landing beacon." He sent it to Lance, who plotted it in and nodded as a signal came up.

"That was easy… this is gonna be a piece of pie."

Keith blinked. "I thought the phrase was piece of cake?"

"I like variety."

"In Lance's defense, pie is much better than cake," Sven commented as he watched the monitors. Daniel made a face, but opted not to tell him how dead wrong he was. For the moment.

"It's 'easy as pie', which is fucking stupid," Jace broke in. "Nobody who's used that term has ever made a pie."

Well, this was already going… about like things usually went. Keith rolled his eyes. "Well if we don't get moving, you all will end up in hot water and not eating pie or cake. McClain, how close are we?"

"Almost there." He'd lined them up with the beacon easily, and was now tapping in a few occasional adjustments while thinking about pie. The spaceport was coming into view as they broke through some cloud cover; it was right on the edge of either sunrise or sunset, on a plateau surrounded by forests. The beacon was bringing them to a stretch of concrete that did not look like an actual runway at all, which was unusual—most spaceports were built to accommodate both horizontal and vertical landing configurations—though not unheard of, especially for smaller facilities. This one looked more like a supply post than anything commercial.

It was also visibly deserted as they came down. Several landing pads were cracked, cluttered, and otherwise in general disrepair; it looked like they were coming in to the only spot that was still being maintained. Didn't seem like the best omen.

Nonetheless, Lance brought the Bolt down with a gentle bump and handled the short landing with his usual ease. "Okay, let's move it." Smirking, he jumped up and headed for the airlock before anyone else was even out of their restraints.

Pidge and Vince were there already. Pidge had Flynn's modified scout drone tucked under his arm; it was now sporting an improved visual scanning suite, a focused-beam EMP, and—at Hunk's strenuous insistence—a bright orange bow tie. Oddly, the way he'd strapped it to the center of the main rotor had actually improved the drone's stability slightly. Vince had his eyes locked on the bow tie as they waited, doing his best not to fidget.

Soon enough the whole team had gathered—except for Hunk, who would be no help for either handler diplomacy or anti-robot stealth, and Flynn, who wasn't allowed off the ship. They'd brought their weapons along, just in case. Jace was the last one into the airlock, and he frowned as he checked the panel. "Better actually engage the thing, there's some weird chemical traces out there. Nothing toxic, but fair bet it'll reek."

Keith nodded, pressing the button to begin the cycle sequence. "You know best, Doc."

"Reek?" Vince repeated, wrinkling his nose in advance.

"As long as it doesn't smell like vomit, I'll be okay." Cam sounded optimistic, but Sven and Daniel both edged away from him; the gunner glowered.

"If you throw up it better be away from me."

Jace rolled his eyes. He regretted saying anything. "I've got masks if it's too bad. Think the panel would be yelling, though. Let's get this shitshow on the road." As he spoke the airlock's pressurization cycle finished, and the outer hatch opened. A metallic tang drifted in, and the scent of sterile chemicals, though it really wasn't too bad… and it was about to be the least of their worries.

Something small and silvery was waiting at the bottom of the boarding ramp. As they stepped out of the airlock it scurried a little ways up towards them, speaking in the precise, stilted Common of a creature that had learned, but never actually heard, the language before. "Greetings, brave hunters, and may the Makers smile upon you. Welcome to Selech. Come, we have much to discuss."

Nobody was paying that much attention to how their handler spoke, or even what it was saying. They were too busy panicking. Just a little.

"Whoa!"

"Eeeek!"

"Que porra?"

"Uwaaahhh!"

The creature that had come to greet them was, well… nightmarish. Its face was vaguely puppy-like, with a broad muzzle and large, wide eyes. The torso was short, stout, and featureless until splitting into its legs. All eight of them. Each ended in a hand-like appendage, giving the strong impression it could use any of its legs as arms whenever needed. The hands didn't help its skittering gait at all.

It would've been disturbing enough on its own merits. But it also happened to be studded with blinking lights and visible wires…

"You're a robot," Lance finally managed to blurt out.

A few of the thing's lights blinked in what was probably an affirmative. "I am Unit," here it gave an utterly incomprehensible series of beeps and whirrs, "of the Sela. You are Earthlings? And something else?"

"…Shinori," Pidge muttered on sheer reflex, finally tearing his eyes away from the robot to glare at whoever had come up with this 'plan'.

"It's creepy," Daniel declared.

"It's a fucking robot." Lance was still trying to grasp the situation.

"Do we shoot it?"

The robot gave a questioning series of beeps. "It would be inadvisable. My circuits are delicate, my use to you would be jeopardized."

"No, we don't!" Keith glared at Daniel—and Lance, but mostly Daniel—and stepped forward, bowing. "I'm sorry. You're… not what we were expecting. Are you the handler for the Vex-Cha bounty?"

"I am." The same pattern of lights as before blinked. Definitely an affirmative. "You are the hunters who contacted me, are you not?"

"Yes." Keith nodded, trying to keep himself on an even keel. No plan survives contact with the 686. "It seems we had incomplete information about this mission."

Lance sighed. "I mean, robots are usually the bad guys…" Daniel nodded a bit too emphatically, prompting Cam to drop a hand on his shoulder and pull him back slightly. Which wasn't necessary, he wasn't really going to shoot the thing. He just still wanted to.

"Don't even think about it. Let the Commander see if he can salvage this."

"Yeah, yeah…"

The robot couldn't have missed their continuing skepticism, but seemed surprisingly okay with it. "Information rarely leaves here. The Selsandin have been steadily eroding our interstellar communications." It raised one of its leg-hand-things and waved them down the ramp. Keith followed, with Sven trailing behind him. After a moment's hesitation, the others followed as well. Apparently this was what they had now.

"Totally expected to have offended it," Lance muttered to Daniel, shrugging.

"We are not programmed to take offense," it said matter-of-factly; obviously they were programmed with pretty good hearing.

"Oh, okay." He supposed that was a good thing. "What was your name again?"

"I am Unit," it gave the same beeps and whirrs as before.

That wasn't going to work. "So uh… beeps?"

It considered that briefly, then the yes-lights blinked. "If you prefer to call me Beeps I will answer to it. What are your unit names?"

Lance grinned, then remembered he was grinning at a robot. A still mildly terrifying robot, if not in the ways they'd expected. "Uh, I'm Lance." A quick round of introductions followed, landing back on him, and he eyed Beeps carefully. "So uh, if you haven't gone evil what has?" Sven elbowed him.

To both of their surprise, it turned out to be the correct question. "The Selsandin. Native creatures. They are… or were quite intelligent, though lacking sapience. We had been training them as our helpers until the outbreak."

"Outbreak…"

"That doesn't sound good."

Beeps swiveled its head to look over them, then skittered over to a small structure that looked like a supply shed. It returned with a set of metal planks several times its own size, which it unfolded into something like a set of bleachers. A second trip rendered a pile of soft cushions, which it set by the bleachers and indicated for them to utilize.

"Fucking cushions?" Lance blinked. Did robots need cushions? "Fancy."

The team stared for a moment, but finally Jace opted to take one—screw it, they were off the rails here anyway. When the cushion didn't explode on him, the others slowly took seats as well. Keith pulled out his datapad and sent a message back to the engine bay; he couldn't help a creeping suspicion that they might need Hunk out here after all.

"We create such comforts for the Makers," Beeps explained, "though the Makers have not yet arrived." It sat in front of the bleachers, tucking six of its appendages beneath its body while leaving two free. "But we are certain they would approve, since you have come to aid us."

Hunk had come charging out of the Bolt as fast as he could, and upon reaching the ramp skidded to a sharp enough halt that he nearly fell down it. Again. Staring at the obvious robot for a moment, he sat right on the ramp, shaking his head slightly. This oughta be good.

Leaning forward, Keith gathered his thoughts. "So, what kind of outbreak do you mean?"

"The Selsandin were vulnerable to a disease that caused them to painfully waste away." Beeps gave a short whirr. "Our researchers were seeking a cure, but instead a mutation arose that caused hunger and violence. It has swept through the population with remarkable speed."

Keith raised an eyebrow, looking at Jace. He wasn't the only one doing so. The medic tilted his head, ignoring the questioning looks. "Alien rabies?"

Beeps beeped. "That term is not in my database."

"…It's alien rabies."

"Really?" Lance snorted. "That's all you got, alien rabies?"

"What the fuck do you want me to say? We're two sentences into whatever the fuck's going on here, yes! It's alien rabies!"

"What do they hunger for?" Daniel asked quietly, though nobody was really listening; Keith asked a somewhat more urgent question at the same time.

"Any risk of us contracting it?"

"Yeah, that!"

"Was wondering…"

"It does seem like an important question."

Jace had no way whatsoever to answer that based on the two sentences they had, so he looked at the robot. It beeped again, a few different lights blinking. "No. It is a genetically narrow virus. That is why we required the aid of bounty hunters. The Vex-Cha wish to assist us, but the Selsandin are their genetic brethren." Even Beeps' muted tone became worried. "They cannot intervene directly without being at risk, and were they to carry it back to their civilization…"

Several members of the team flinched. No, space rabies getting loose among an interstellar civilization would not be a good thing. "Aren't the Vex-Cha insects?" Vince murmured almost to himself; he'd read about the shared genetic heritage of the Vex-Cha races, but never stopped to consider the fact that there must be some "Children of Stardust" out there that hadn't evolved into full-on spacefaring civilizations. It made sense, but it was a little weird to think about.

Making sense at all was good enough for Keith; he nodded. "So what do we need to do?"

"The laboratory where the outbreak began was lost immediately. All the data on what our scientists were doing should remain there. Without that data, we can hope to find no cure… you must retrieve it."

Taking everything in, Lance could only seem to hold one consistent thought. Fuuuuck. Based on their expressions, some of the others held similar opinions.

"I still wanna know what they're hungry for," Daniel muttered.

This time the robot heard him, and offered a markedly unencouraging response. "Anything they can reach, young Earthling. The hives began warring with each other when the easier food sources were depleted."

Hives? Vince gulped. "Yep… insects."

Cam nudged Daniel, grinning slightly. "Willing to bet you're safe from them. Not enough meat on your bones."

Glare. "According to Beeps I don't think that matters!"

"Uh, it ain't that we aren't willing…" Hunk approached from the boarding ramp, dropping onto a cushion and frowning. "But couldn't you do this better than us? I mean, you're robots, yeah?"

What seemed like Beeps' negative pattern of lights flashed. "We are programmed to serve and to build. Not to harm, or to kill—never to kill—except to harvest the livestock and food crops of the Makers." It whirred slowly. "That is one of the reasons we trained the Selsandin to begin with, to help us subdue beasts that could not be cowed without violence."

Jace blinked. "Porra… they did have their robot sidekicks go bad on them, it's just their robots weren't robots." Next to him, Sven shifted uncomfortably, trying to decide whether diseased insects were worse than boar-tahs. He supposed it would depend on exactly what the insects were like…

"Huh. Good thing we brought guns." Lance was not all that worried about what the insects were like, unless they were immune to bullets. "How have you been handling them without violence?"

With the two appendages it wasn't sitting on, Beeps indicated several large pylons surrounding their landing zone. At first they'd looked like some kind of landing assistance equipment. "We have reversed some sonic beacons, to cause them to flee. But their effectiveness is poor, and as you can see they are not moved easily." Vince eyed the beacons with interest, though he didn't have the chance to ask about them.

"Guns will probably work better." Keith frowned. "If the Sela won't object to us killing them…"

"Kill as you must, Earthlings." Beeps whirred sadly. "The Selsandin are slaughtering each other, as well as many Sela. We cannot save any of them without the data you will retrieve."

Keith himself didn't really like the idea of having to slaughter their way through these things, but he nodded slowly. If it couldn't be helped… they would just have to do their best.

"Okay, but these Selsandy things…" Jace was eyeing his service rifle doubtfully. "They kill robots?"

The Sela gave an affirmative beep. "Their pincers sever our wires easily."

That was not something Cam had wanted to hear; he paled. "If they can sever wires, what can they do to us?"

"Sever some arteries, probably." Jace sighed. "Guess I'm still going."

"I've got rockets!" Hunk volunteered cheerfully. Suddenly this sounded like a job for explosives after all.

Lance grinned. The original plan may have been totally shot, but they may just be able to shoot their way through the new one. "They need exterminators, let's do it. Just how big are these things?" Beeps rose up and reared back on its hind legs, waving its forelegs at a height of about five feet; he immediately regretted asking. "Fuck."

"Oh no."

"…I better bring some extra rockets."

"Crap." Vince's eyes went wide. Then he paused. If they were shooting their way through this now… "…I'm so glad I have no marksmanship skills." Maybe he could stay here and play with the cool-looking sonic beacons instead.

"As am I." Sven had already resolved that he would not be going out there. Diseased giant bugs were definitely worse than boar-tahs, and probably didn't even have spines to sever. He wouldn't be much help.

Pidge wasn't much good with firearms either, and he doubted his needler pistol would do much damage anyway. But he'd taken responsibility for the drone, and he did still have his chameleon suit. "We can still use this to scout, even without the EMP being useful."

"That's likely the best option," Keith agreed.

Not everyone was nearly so optimistic. Daniel shook his head. "One of us is gonna get eaten."

"Don't worry, kid. They'll go for Hunk first."

"Dude!" The big engineer gave Lance a wounded look. "Uncool!"

"You have rockets! You'll be fine."

Beeps had dropped back to its normal octopedal stance and was looking them over again. "You do not look like easy prey."

"Fucking right we aren't, Beeps." Lance checked his sniper rifle; he was regaining his bravado. "They'll be the easy targets."

With a few more flickers of light, the robot returned to the supply shed. This time it returned with something that looked even sillier than the bleachers had: a pair of two-wheeled scooter-cycle… things. "We have no weapons, but you are welcome to these if they will be any help to you." It set them down and whirred. "Our travel attachments, based on the vehicles of the Makers. You should be compatible enough with them."

Vince looked over the vehicles. Well, 'vehicles' might have been too strong a word… "Are those mopeds?"

That got him a confused whirr. "That word is not in my database either."

"They're mopeds," Jace confirmed flatly, and Vince couldn't help but giggle. This whole situation was just bizarre. His life was bizarre.

"I call a moped!" Lance walked up to one of them and studied it; it at least looked fast.

Daniel raised a hand. "I want one too." He would feel safer on something with a motor, even though it was probably an illusion.

Nobody else objected, so Keith nodded to the two of them. The mopeds didn't inspire a lot of confidence, but they were better than nothing. And speaking of… he looked over at the pylons again. "So what exactly do those do?"

"They emit a sonic wave that briefly stuns the Selsandin. About half of the time they flee once they recover." Beeps gave a small beep. "The other half, they become enraged."

"Doesn't sound very helpful." Vince approached the nearest pylon and poked it. Part of him was wishing a bug would show up, just so he could see what the emitter was like in action. The rest of him kind of hated that part of him for even thinking that.

"They are not," the robot agreed, "but they are what we have. We were never designed for such things."

Hmm. He circled the pylon and frowned. "It's sonic?"

"Yes. An adaptation of the training frequencies we used for them. But we have not been able to do extensive testing."

"Sounds like the frequency needs modulation. Probably would just take some rewiring."

Keith was watching the discussion with his arms crossed. One thing the pylons clearly were not going to be was portable; figuring them out might be a useful secondary objective. But it wouldn't help them complete the bounty they'd come for. "Alright, focus. We still need to go and get that information, the sooner the better."

"We can do that," Jace said, frowning, "and Team No-Guns over here can help Beepy fix its beacons?"

"We can be Team Go-Guns!" Hunk grinned, then quickly sobered. "…I'm gonna go grab the rockets." He headed back into the Bolt.

Cam eyed the pylons as well. He wasn't a bad shot, but he might be more useful somewhere closer to his actual specialization. "I should be able to help with the frequencies."

Nodding wordlessly, Sven stepped a little closer to Vince and Cam. He'd never been happier to be on Team No-Guns.

"Seems like a solid plan." Lance swung a leg over and got himself situated on one of the mopeds. "As our plans go."

Wasn't that the truth. "Okay." Keith shook his head. "If anyone else needs to change up some gear to deal with bugs instead of killer robots, go get it, and let's get moving."

*****

Team Go-Guns had departed with much fanfare… mostly meaning Hunk blasting a heavy metal rendition of Flight of the Bumblebee until Keith made him turn it off. As they headed off into the morning sun, the other three watched until they were out of sight—it didn't take long—then turned their attention to the pylons. Time to get to work. Two of them were ready to get to work, at least. This wasn't really Sven's thing either, but he supposed having someone to monitor the area was useful.

Beeps beeped cheerfully, skittering around them. "We are thankful for your help. The Makers, for all their infinite wisdom, never anticipated this. We were unprepared."

Vince couldn't help a wry grin. "Our lives are like that too, Beeps." He watched Cam pick out a pylon and start looking over the configuration. "Should I call Flynn?"

"Do we really need him?" Cam asked, finding a couple of wires to hook his datapad into the system. "I mean, it's just making some adjustments, isn't it?"

True, if they believed it would really be that easy. Even if it was… "But he's kind of my boss."

"Oh thanks, Starr." Flynn had in fact gotten tired of sitting blind in the engine bay—especially when Hunk had turned up yelling something about extra rockets—and made his way out to the airlock on his own. "Do we really need him, honestly…"

Cam froze, slowly turning to the ship. "Um… hi, sir…" Not even Sven could quite suppress a small snicker. Leaning over towards Vince, the comms officer hissed, "Since when is he allowed off the ship?"

Shrug. "He's not a prisoner, Cam."

"I know, but he was sick…"

"He got better?"

"I'm not allowed to leave the ship." Flynn sat on the ramp and drew his knees to his chest. "I haven't left the ship."

Cam sighed. "Karma hates me." Mercifully his datapad chimed right then, announcing it had found the information he wanted. It took him a minute to interpret the Sela representation of frequencies, a series of overlapping waveforms, but it was really fairly intuitive.

Looking over his shoulder, Vince took a moment to sort out the signature as well, then looked back over at Beeps. "So what do you want this frequency to do?" Not enraging the bugs seemed like a safe bet, but beyond that there were options.

The robot looked up at the pylon, considering that. "We use the emitters to protect our enclaves. Driving the Selsandin away would be best."

"Probably something infrasonic, then." Cam looked at his datapad. "Makes sense. This must be right on the edge for them."

"Would explain a lot," Vince agreed. If some of the bugs could hear the frequency and others could only feel it, it would explain the range of reactions. "So we need to figure out which way makes them flee and doesn't enrage them…" Something was tugging at his mind as he spoke, but he couldn't quite pin it down.

A few of Beeps' lights blinked. "Logically it does not matter if it angers them, so long as it also keeps them away."

Logically, that was true, but it also got Vince to what he'd been trying to think of. Angering the Selsandin might not matter in the short term. But in the long term… "Uh, Beeps, you want to cure them, right?"

It blinked its yes-lights. "We hope to. The Selsandin were our loyal companions for many cycles. We owe them equal loyalty."

That was strangely touching, even coming from a spider-puppy-robot named Beeps. Vince could already hear Hunk's awwww. "Well, if you're going to administer a cure you'll have to catch them, right? How are you planning to do that?"

The robot hesitated, peering at him with its unblinking eyes. "I am unaware of a plan as of yet." It whirred and flashed a few lights. "There is no consensus on our Central Mainframe."

"You don't have a plan?" Cam frowned, looking over at Vince. "Kinda sounds like us sometimes…"

"No one should be us." Sven and Flynn both snickered at that. "Which is why I think we can offer a plan, kind of. Maybe we could use the beacons to knock them out? Then you'll be able to help them."

Beeps beeped. "It sounds viable."

Sonic engineering was not Vince's specialty, but it wasn't that far removed from it. He knew frequencies. And their comms officer should know sound equipment. Between the two of them it couldn't be that hard… hopefully. "What do you think, Cam?"

He frowned. "Well, infrasonic would work to drive them away. It's more… annoying, so to speak." Explaining acoustic theory in any depth did not seem like the best use of their time. "If we want to straight up knock them out, might need something ultrasonic instead."

"Or you could pair the frequencies," Flynn suggested. Having watched the situation for a few minutes he had a lot of questions, most of them pertaining to Beeps, but figured he had enough grasp of what was going on for now. No doubt Lance would explain the rest later.

Pairing the frequencies sounded like… well… an idea. Cam poked at his datapad. "Are we talking what, music theory here?"

There were few things Flynn felt less qualified to discuss than music theory. "I was thinking more of a failsafe mode."

"I'm no engineer, sir. Could you try to explain that?"

Shrug. "There's variance between individuals, like you were saying with the current frequency being on the edge. And there's always the possibility of system malfunctions. If you send out two frequencies—one to knock them out, one to cause them to flee—you at least have double the chances of not letting anything through."

"Okay, that makes sense." Cam was still frowning. "We just have to figure out which one can repel them, and which one will knock them out."

"I think the repelling frequency just needs fine tuned." Vince was studying the waveforms too now. "But we'll have to figure out the knockout one."

"Right. I still think ultrasonic. But that'll require more power… and could disrupt the robots."

Oh. He certainly hadn't thought of that. "No, we don't want to disrupt Beeps and its gang." He assumed Beeps had a gang somewhere. It did keep saying 'we'.

Cam nodded. "Beeps, do you have like… a sleep mode? Or some kind of safe place that could protect you from the beacons?"

"Our safe frequency range is very high," Beeps assured him. "It is one reason we used sonic methods with the Selsandin to begin with. The Makers used high frequency sounds for many things."

"Oh!" That simplified things. "Okay then."

"Whew, that's great." Vince had opened up one of the generator boxes attached to the pylon and was examining the wiring. "This looks like it should be simple enough to change the frequency. It'll just take some time."

As the kids got to work on the beacons, Sven stepped closer to Beeps. "So who are these Makers?" Part of the question was genuine interest; part of it was wondering how the Sela had ended up as Vex-Cha affiliates. And part of it was sheer curiosity as to what kind of twisted alien mind had created these things.

The robot beeped and blinked, seemingly delighted by the question. "Ancient and wise beings, born on a far-distant star, renowned as peacekeepers and diplomats. They tasked us with finding worlds suitable for life, and preparing those worlds for them to inhabit."

Sven tilted his head. He could think of a few races that description might apply to, but none that he'd ever heard sent robot emissaries around to prepare colonies for them. "They sound like a wonderful people. Does their race have a name?" Somewhere in the back of his mind, there was the tiniest of hopes the answer might be Altean, but it was very tiny indeed.

"They are known as Takskarin." Well, good thing he hadn't gotten his hopes up. "Our name, Sela, means 'helpers' in their tongue." Beeps skittered closer, several of its lights blinking, and something began to glow brightly in its chest. A moment later, a holographic image appeared: a sort of canine-centaur creature in silver plate.

Blinking, Sven looked between the image of the Takskarin and the Sela in front of him. He could, with only a little imagination, see the resemblance… though of course the Makers looked much more formidable.

Glancing over, Vince personally thought they looked terrifying, but nobody had asked him.

"Do you know when they are to arrive?" Sven had never heard of such creatures, but was certainly interested. It felt like if they were anything the Alliance had encountered, they would at least have heard of them.

Beeps gave a low whirr and blinked its no-lights. "We do not know. It has been… many orbits now since we departed. At the dawn of each new orbit we send them a communication, and prepare the celebration for their arrival." Its tone brightened. "In time they will arrive! But we must have this world suitable again."

…Oh. Oh dear. Wondering just how long an orbit was, and definitely not about to ask that out loud, the navigator nodded his understanding. "Well, I hope we'll be able to assist you with that. You've been working with the Vex-Cha until they arrive?"

It blinked an affirmative. "They are very interested in the Selsandin, and we have regular harvests to export since the Makers have not yet come. The arrangement is helpful."

Speaking of being helpful, Vince and Cam had nearly finished rewiring the emitter, complete with a variable-frequency setting so they wouldn't have to keep cracking it open. It was good work, Vince thought. There was just one small problem. "We're still going to have to figure out the knockout frequency."

Cam nodded slowly. "And to do that, we'll need… lab, uh, bugs."

"Yeah…" The engineer sighed. "I wasn't looking forward to bringing up that part. Hey Sven?"

"Yes?" He turned, Beeps giving a curious whirr next to him.

"You might wanna get a weapon, cause we're gonna need the… uh, the bugs. Beeps, is there a way to get their attention?"

"…Delightful." Sven headed up the ramp to get his axe. Flynn followed him in, going after his rifle; maybe he couldn't leave the ship, but his ammunition was under no such restrictions.

Beeps circled the modified pylon, several lights flashing. "The original training frequencies will attract the Selsandin. I have some of the old devices." It scurried back into the supply shed again, returning with another generator box. "I can perform the installation, if that is what you require."

"Yeah, if you don't mind doing that while we're finishing this up?"

Blinking its yes-lights, the little robot went over to the next closest pylon… and uprooted the very large metal pole without the slightest apparent effort. Vince and Cam both stared, wide-eyed, as Beeps started hooking up the new box, then looked at each other and shrugged.

"Robots…"

"True that."

They got back to work.

*****

With Hunk having been forced to turn his music off, the walk to the Sela city—Beeps had called it Zykstre—was quiet and creepy. The wooded area surrounding the spaceport plateau was dead silent. Not a bird, not a rustle of leaves, not even a single insect buzzing about…

All things considered, the lack of insects was probably a good thing.

Every so often Lance or Daniel would rev their mopeds a little, just to break the silence. The only other sound was the team's footsteps, and the slight scraping of the cargo sled Hunk was dragging along behind him. Not even he was going to lug a rocket launcher and a dozen extra rockets without some help.

The road they were following was wide and still mostly smooth, cut straight through the forest with the canopies of trees hanging overhead. In some areas, the trees lining the road seemed to be much more uniformly arranged, and the undergrowth seemed similarly regimented. The inescapable conclusion was that the Sela, programmed as they were not to kill, had transplanted everything from the land they wanted to clear.

No wonder they couldn't deal with rabid bugs.

Another downward grade, with the trees thinning out, indicated they must be getting close. According to Beeps, the Sela built their cities on lower ground when possible. The hill wasn't steep, but as the vegetation faded away completely, they found themselves overlooking…

Well…

"Fuck."

It was a city… a shining, pristine city, built of pyramidal structures linked by crystalline bridges that threw rainbows in all directions. Almost certainly it had never been lived in, but the Sela had clearly been keeping it spotless at one time. It was still spotless… partly.

The other part was encrusted with massive swaths and tendrils of rough, grayish matter. In some areas the masses were open, revealing a hive-like structure, and if they watched carefully they could see things wriggling around inside.

Jace, not surprisingly, was the first to find his voice. "So it's not that we shouldn't have been planning for a sci-fi movie. We just planned for the fucking wrong one."

"More Alien than I, Robot," Lance agreed, shuddering. They pushed forward again, which didn't make the sight before them even a little less disturbing.

"This might give me nightmares," Keith mumbled. If anything was going to accomplish that, the infested city was it.

A pair of wasplike creatures rose up from behind a building, seemingly flying some kind of patrol. It was the team's first look at the Selsandin, and they were every bit as terrifying as advertised: red with bold black triangle patterns covering thick chitinous shells, sharp pincers, and foot-long stingers with visible venom channels. They flew on six shimmery wings, and were really quite graceful… though nobody was admiring their flight.

"Damn."

"Well fuck."

"What do you think happens if we get stung?" Daniel asked, staring at the bugs until they vanished from sight again.

Lance gave him a look. "We won't get stung."

"Good plan."

Ignoring them, Pidge programmed a scout path into the drone and released it. "Going to try to get a look at the lab coordinates." The camera feed came up on his datapad, and Keith watched over his shoulder. The drone made it over about a dozen buildings before a flash of red and a set of serrated mandibles filled the screen; a second later the feed went dark. "…Well that wasn't optimal."

"Fucking…" Lance raised his sniper rifle, taking aim and shooting the bug off the drone fairly easily. Both plummeted out of sight behind one of the buildings.

Keith made a face. "Flynn is not going to be happy."

"You kiddin'? He'll get to either fix it or build a new one, he'll love it." Hunk glanced at his ammo sled, now very glad he'd brought the extra rockets… they were probably going to need all of them. "Guess we're doin' this the old-fashioned way, yeah?"

"Looks that way." Keith sighed. "Okay, stick together and keep your eyes open. Let's move."

"I'll try to retrieve the drone." Pidge pulled his hood up and disappeared before the commander could object; that was exactly the opposite of sticking together.

"Be careful…" He sighed. "At least he's invisible."

"Ninja's gonna ninja," Daniel observed sagely. He'd have kind of liked to move faster himself, but given that he was not a ninja, it seemed like a bad idea. Seeing the drone brought down out of freaking midair made his wheels seem that much less protective.

Similar thoughts were running through Lance's head, with the upshot that for once in his life he didn't want to speed. He was covering the left flank of the formation, keeping his eyes straight ahead. They were coming up on a hive structure, hanging from a bridge several stories overhead… he was fully expecting a bug ambush as they passed beneath it, but it seemed to be empty. Crumbled bits of hive littered the street as they moved through.

Gross.

Jace had taken up the rear guard. "You know, this wouldn't be half as bad if it weren't for the fucking buzzing." As they moved deeper into the city the hum was becoming constant, louder, and more ominous by the second.

"Feels like I've got spiders running up and down my neck." Lance shuddered hard enough to nearly tip his bike over. "All the fucking heebie-jeebies."

"The only known cure for the 'heebie-jeebies' is a big-ass can of bug spray," the medic informed him, then eyed his rifle and reconsidered. "Or weapons, I guess." High-velocity, high-density metal or plasma bug spray ought to do the trick. He hoped.

"Sniper rifle definitely helps…"

Keith turned to glower at both of them. "Shut. Up."

Blink. "Why?" Things were still pretty clear in the outskirts. They hadn't even passed by another hive, though a few were visible down side streets.

"Let's just get there, okay?" Their commander kept his own voice as low as possible. Maybe the Selsandin hadn't taken exception to their presence yet, but there was no sense tempting fate.

Another couple of blocks passed silently, but a new hive was coming up. This one outright blocked the street. As they shifted a block over and crept past the buzzing mass, the drone returned; it seemed to be flying, though its engine was clearly not running and the main rotor was just as clearly half broken. It 'landed' on Hunk's cargo sled, and was briefly obscured by a ripple in the air.

"…Thanks, ninja?"

"That better not be an invisible bug." The joke got Lance a sharp elbow in the ribs from Keith, nearly knocking his moped over again. "Oops, sorry, shutting up. Maybe."

"I'll scout ahead myself," Pidge's voice murmured from empty space, and Keith shook his head. The ninja would indeed ninja. He thought he remembered Flynn saying something about admirable but unwanted initiative; now that part made sense.

No sense yelling after him, so…

"…Uh, is it getting louder?"

Yes. Yes, the buzzing was getting louder. And not the kind of slow, steady increase they'd been hearing as they moved further into the city. It was coming closer, and fast.

Daniel fell in closer as the team prepped their weapons. "That's almost as creepy as the fucking robots."

"It's fucking creepier than the robots." Lance was almost certain he'd seen movement off to their left. "I think we've got company."

"I thought Beeps was cute." Hunk was absolutely not readying his rocket launcher; in these tight quarters he'd blow them all up. But he had brought his service pistol along for once, and turned to help Daniel cover the right flank.

Suddenly bugs came rushing at them from everywhere.

"Do these fucking things have tactics?" Jace narrowed his eyes, squeezing off several plasma bolts at a pair of wasps coming in from behind. "Totally got company!"

"Did the obnoxiously loud buzzing clue you guys in?" Daniel snorted, taking aim at a swarm from a side street.

"Fuck that, Fangs over there did," Lance shot back, firing on an incoming bug with particularly large mandibles. Next to him, Keith was taking careful aim and downing the bugs one bulging compound eye at a time. He remembered Bokar, may as well shoot for the soft targets first.

Hunk took a few halfhearted shots at the bugs incoming on his and Daniel's side. His service pistol was a nice gun, but it was awfully disappointing compared to his usual ordnance. "Pew pew pew!"

As befitting its disappointing status, the gun only put holes in the bugs rather than disintegrating them. Daniel had put some holes of his own in them as well, and couldn't help a laugh as they tumbled to the ground, oozing. "That's kind of awesome."

"…Eww, dude."

"Gah… these things aren't awesome, they're awful." Lance had swapped to his own pistols as the range tightened up. "I think I'm getting a phobia."

"Don't," Jace recommended, backing up a little more. "I'm not a fucking psychologist."

"Like I'd go to you."

"Nobody on this ship is qualified, caralho…"

Buzzing from above cut them off. A bug was swooping down on them, its huge stinger bared, silhouetted to a blinding degree by the sun.

As the team's guns went up, the bug went down, plummeting from the sky like a rock. But nobody had actually shot it yet. It splattered on the street just in front of them, and Pidge appeared crouched on top of it. "I can't leave you people alone for five minutes."

That was a Flynn line if Lance had ever heard one… which was both amusing and kind of weird. "We didn't start it, your friend Bugsy did."

Both Daniel and Hunk snickered.

Keith dropped one more bug and looked around; Jace narrowed his eyes, watching for any flicker of movement behind them, and finally relaxed. Slightly. "I think we're clear in the rear." Then he realized what he'd just said and made a face. "On our six, I mean."

Even the boss snorted at that. "Let's get out of here before more show up."

"No protest here." Daniel kicked his moped back into gear, leaving a trail of bug guts behind.

Once they'd put a couple of structures between themselves and the carnage, Pidge offered, "If we do some weaving on the way, I found a straight shot to the lab, give or take half a mile. The lab itself is compromised." He indicated another hive structure hanging in the distance, just in case what he meant by 'compromised' wasn't clear.

"Straight shot sounds good." Lance followed his gesture and grimaced. "Hive is a bit of a catch."

"A rocket could probably blow the hive and the door—"

"Probably?" Hunk repeated, offended.

"—but it would also draw attention. We'd have to get in quickly."

It was the best they were likely to get, really. Keith nodded. "Lead the way, Stoker."

Pidge moved up to the front of the group, leading them down an alley. "There were some other hive structures on the route, but they all seemed quiet. Maybe they're busy fighting each other."

"Cool, cool," Jace grumbled, "they're having their own private bug war and we're gonna get their attention. This is fucking great."

"Maybe they'll stay mad at each other?" Lance suggested.

"Maybe if you could all be quiet," Keith hissed, "we might sneak past without them noticing us."

That shut them up for a few more turns; long enough for them to get jumped by another couple of bugs that really just seemed to be passing by. Maybe there was something to the idea that they were more interested in their existing bug war. "I wonder if they eat each other?" Daniel mused. From what Beeps had said, it seemed likely. Maybe they didn't recognize humans as food.

Keith eyed him impatiently. "Are you volunteering to go look?"

"I mean, I can if you want."

"No one is gonna go peek to see if they eat each other!" Lance snapped. And by 'no one' he mostly meant 'not Daniel', and the overwhelming swiftness of that protective reflex startled him a little. He tried to shake it off.

"Seriously," Jace agreed, "give 'em some fucking privacy."

"They look kinda gamey anyway," Hunk said lightly, wrinkling his nose. Even he wouldn't have wanted to try making these things appetizing.

Pidge led them through several more turns, avoiding as many of the large hives as possible. Though really, it wasn't the hives that seemed to be the biggest danger—whatever else the Selsandin might be prioritizing right now, they definitely seemed more interested in marauding through the city streets than tending to their own little buglings.

One of the hives they passed had a large hole in it, and a few wriggling larvae had spilled onto the street. They were making high-pitched shrieky noises and seemed to be nothing but large mouths attached to squirming worm bodies. A couple of them tried to lunge at the team; they got splattered with extreme prejudice.

"Holy fuck, those are even creepier than the adults!"

A very loud buzzing immediately rose up from their left. "Uh, maybe they're lookin' after their bug babies after all…"

"Run!"

They sprinted down the next few streets, and didn't stop until the unmistakable sounds of bug-versus-bug combat echoed behind them. "Fuck this place."

"I mean, it's really a great city." Lance looked up at one of the nearest bridges, which was free of hive junk and casting colorful light over them. "If you take away the giant bugs."

"That's a kinda big condition, bro…"

"We're almost there," Pidge murmured, silencing the banter. "Stay alert."

The side street they were on gave way to what must have been a main drag at one point. It was a solid three times as wide as the other streets, and almost completely overrun with bug housing. They could see swarms of the Selsandin battling on the ground, and others jousting in midair… it would've been cool if it weren't so terrifying. As it was, they darted across the road as quickly as they could, hoping to avoid attention.

Nobody even breathed until they were in the dubious shelter of the next alley. Another block, and they reached another seemingly main street, though not as impressive as the last one… to their right, the way was blocked by a very large structure of some sort. On their left was a long stretch of clear pavement, leading to another quite large building; this one was half embedded in hive structure.

"…That's the lab?"

"Yessir."

"Great." A few bugs were already visible, and no matter how preoccupied they were with each other right now, Keith felt pretty confident an explosion would change their priorities. But he didn't have any other ideas.

Daniel frowned. The street was clear, and Pidge had said they'd need to get in fast… he was ready to go fast. "What if me and Lance ride in right behind Hunk's rocket?" he suggested. "That way we'll be able to get in right after it blows. And, you know, before bug armageddon kills us all."

That sounded… way better than Daniel's usual plans, really. Lance nodded. "I'm all for it."

"…You two are volunteering to be bait?" Jace muttered.

"No, to be heroic."

"We're doing you a service."

"You're welcome."

The medic rolled his eyes; Keith frowned and crossed his arms, considering the plan. "That leaves you isolated, and us sitting ducks for whatever attention it draws."

"Maybe not, boss." Hunk was using the zoom on his rocket launcher to study the exact layout of the door. "This'll punch through that hive, but it only leaves so big a hole. If they've got a big swarm of bugs chasin' em through a kinda narrow opening, that's a big swarm of bugs we can pick off pretty easy from behind."

…He made a fair point there. Keith's frown deepened. "It's still risky… but it's the best we've got. You two had better be careful and come back in one piece."

Lance snorted. "Trust me, I like being in one piece." He hadn't exactly promised to be careful, but the boss should know better than that.

"Yeah, who's going to question your authority if I'm eaten?" Daniel smirked.

Like there was ever any shortage of people ready to do that; Keith glared. "I'm sure you've been a terrible influence on your roommate."

The gunner scowled back. "Well according to him you put him there to be a good influence on me, so really it's your fault." He was still more than a little bitter about that.

Thankfully, Pidge chose that moment to interrupt. "I think this plan makes it our job to keep them in one piece, sir." He looked between Keith, Hunk, and Jace, then at his own needler pistol and his recently-returned knife. He would not be helping pick off any bugs from half a mile away. "I'll cover the rear guard so the rest of you can focus downrange."

"Okay." Keith took one more moment to try to think of anything else they could do that wasn't this, but nothing was presenting itself. "Do it."

Hunk armed his rocket and took aim, fighting down a shudder. That hive stuff really was freaky. "Okay listen up," he announced as he locked his target, "I don't know how fast those alien mopeds actually go, so uh… just make sure you're at least twenty feet back when this thing blows, or it'll suck."

"Explorer Team planning at its finest," Jace muttered, drawing a few snickers. He wasn't wrong.

The two with the wheels leaned forward, ready to bolt. "You got it."

"Easy as cake."

"Three, two, one, BOOMS AWAY!" Hunk squeezed the trigger, flame blossomed, and a rocket whooshed down the street. Immediately he flushed coolant through the tube and pulled another rocket off the sled to load up. No doubt they were going to need it.

He needn't have worried about the alien moped speed. Lance and Daniel shot off in the rocket's wake, making decent time—the vehicles did have some unexpected kick—but certainly not enough to keep up with an actual rocket. They were close enough to feel some heat as the rocket smashed into the hive and exploded, but nothing dangerous.

Well, nothing dangerous but a massive swarm of bugs suddenly moving in from everywhere.

"Awesome!" Grinning, Daniel took aim at the huge hole in the building, Lance right beside him. The shockwave had agitated the bugs, but also seemed to have dazed them; they were approaching, but slowly and with wavering flight.

Behind them, the rear guard had run forward a bit—or more accurately, Jace and Keith had run forward a bit. Hunk was not doing a whole lot of running, given that he was hauling a rocket launcher and an ammo sled. He was doing even less of it when Pidge opted to jump onto the sled to cover him.

"Fuck." Jace dropped to one knee as the bugs appeared, taking aim and firing plasma bolts into the mess. Next to him, Keith opened fire as well; Hunk reached them and started setting up for another rocket launch.

Smirking as the swarm around them dissolved into confusion, Lance took a couple of potshots with one pistol and steered the moped straight into the building. "Yeeeehaw!"

Daniel laughed. "You really do like your whole space cowboy thing, huh?"

"Fuck yeah!" He pulled off to the left, just in time to hear another explosion from outside; it took out enough bugs that the buzzing became audibly quieter. "Okay, let's check this place out." They both hopped off the mopeds, leaning them against a wall and starting to explore.

It did seem to be a lab, or at least, the wide hallways were studded with cluttered desks and long-dead video screens. He could see jacks in the walls that looked like a Sela could have plugged into them once; several of them were encrusted with hive matter now. A low buzzing permeated the place. "That's… not coming from outside, is it?" Daniel asked quietly.

"I don't think so. Ugh, fucking bugs." Lance was eyeing some sort of large podium, and headed over to it. "Be careful."

"Will do." Daniel started heading there other direction. Before they'd left, Beeps had showed them what a Sela mainframe and data cube looked like; the lab was full of cool lab stuff, but so far he wasn't seeing anything like what they were actually looking for.

The podium Lance was investigating had equipment integrated with it… equipment that looked oddly familiar. "Is this a karaoke machine?" he muttered, picking up what seemed to be a microphone. He was pretty damn certain it wasn't really a karaoke machine, but the resemblance was uncanny. "Weird." Tapping the device he got a slight crackle of feedback—that seemed like something he didn't want right now—he set it aside and moved on.

For a few more minutes they wandered the lab, checking out some side rooms. Nothing. Or at least, nothing useful. Once Lance stumbled across what looked like a small terminal, but there were no data cubes to be found… he sighed.

Buzzing answered.

"Oh, fuck…"

Three of the Selsandin came swooping in, buzzing angrily, with pincers clicking and stingers bared. Daniel stepped out of the room he'd been checking just in time to walk right into their path; eyes widening, he turned to run. "Shit!"

"Move!" Lance took aim, bringing one down, but they were fast. And really, what the fuck did he mean move? "Shoot them!" he corrected, managing to put a bullet through another one's wing. It dropped, turning on Daniel; Lance fired another shot right through its abdomen.

Shoot them. Of course shoot them. Daniel skidded to a stop and fumbled for his rifle, taking a shot at the remaining bug. Or at least, what they'd thought was the one remaining bug. Preoccupied with the first three, neither had noticed a fourth swooping in from an empty elevator shaft, until it grabbed Daniel from behind and zoomed down another hallway.

"Aaaah! Lance!"

"SHIT SHIT SHIT…" Lance ran after them, but the buzzing was fading too quickly. "Fuck…" He heard another explosion from outside and stopped, shaking his head. Running after the damn thing wasn't going to help. The building was big, the bugs were fast… he needed to be smarter. Maybe the others would be here in time to come up with a plan. Maybe not…

His eyes fell on the podium again, and he blinked. What had Beeps said? Noise could stun them. Noise could also piss them off…

He grinned slightly despite his panic. Karaoke!

Running back to where they'd come in, the thought occurred to him that he was possibly being stupid. No, he was definitely being stupid. But with no way of tracking the bugs, desperate measures were a thing. He grabbed the microphone, poking the machine, trying to get it to come on. "Mic check, bzzz bzzz, bzzz bzzz." The microphone hissed and crackled, amplifying the sound, but the machine itself remained quiet. Okay, whatever speakers were in this place weren't going to help, but it was something.

Buzzing, oddly, hadn't gotten him any attention. He hadn't considered that. What did he do if he couldn't find the right noises to piss them off?

Well, pick the most infuriating noise you can think of and go from there.

What had gotten him in the most trouble on karaoke nights? Sighing, he lifted the microphone. There was only one option.

"We're no strangers to love, you know the rules, and so do I…"

Daniel had gone through all five stages of bug captivity—panic, denial, panic, more panic, and fuck no—within the span of about two minutes. In that time he thought he'd gone through two elevator shafts, a dozen hallways, and one mutilated conveyor belt. Through it all, the bug had been dangling him by one arm… his right shoulder was hurting like fuck, and he'd had enough of this.

Twisting and getting his rifle into his left hand, he pumped the bug's thorax full of searing plasma. With a clicking screech it dropped him; he landed hard on his ass. "Ow…" The bug itself landed next to him a moment later, with a gushy sort of squelch. "…That's nasty."

Standing and shaking his arm out, he looked around and grimaced. Now the only problem was… where the fuck was he?

Lance was wondering that too. "A full commitment's what I'm thinking of, you wouldn't get this from any other guy…"

The rear guard had just reached the entrance. At some point, even rabid Selsandin noticed that explosions were bad… that or they just couldn't stay focused on any one enemy. The swarm had thinned a bit, and several of them were fighting amongst themselves again.

Hunk was setting up shop in the doorway, ready to make any bugs trying to follow them in go boom, when they first registered the other noise in the lab.

"I just wanna tell you how I'm feeling, gotta make you understand…"

"…Que porra?"

Keith blinked, following Jace's gaze away from the door, looking for the source of the voice. "Are you kidding me?" He stared for a moment longer, then shrugged and set his datapad to record. They'd have something to laugh about if they lived through this…

"Never give give you up! Never gonna let you down! Never gonna run around and desert you!"

Pidge had taken a few steps towards the podium; his initial plan had been to just ask what the hell was going on, but he'd frozen in confusion. Jace stepped up and pushed him aside. "Move it, ninjerk, I'm gonna shoot him."

"Never gonna make you cry, never gonna say goodbye! Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you!"

The ninja shoved the medic right back. "Back off, doctor, I'm going to kill this one myself."

As if to underscore that neither of them were really going to need to murder their pilot, loud angry buzzing was starting to come from all directions. Lance took that as a sign his strategy was working, but there was one problem… "Fuck, what's the next line?" Like anyone knew that. "Fuck it. Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down…" He started moving towards the elevator where he'd lost Daniel, one hand on one of his pistols, still singing at the top of his lungs.

Daniel had been wandering about half blindly; he hadn't paid a whole lot of attention to exactly which turns the bug was taking. He'd been way more worried about getting eaten. It seemed like the wrong priority now, but… he frowned slightly. There was a distant noise drifting through the lab that was definitely not a bug. "Is that…?" Keeping his gun at the ready, he started running towards the sound.

Hunk was humming along with Lance, but he was also very aware that louder, grumpier humming was coming closer. Turning away from where he'd set up the rocket launcher he drew his pistol again, waiting.

"Never gonna run around and desert you…"

With a series of snapping hisses, bugs appeared from nearly every corridor around them, all zeroing in on Lance.

"…Fuck."

"Oh hell."

Ducking and squeezing off several shots at the incoming bugs, Lance kept right on with the karaoke. "Never gonna make you cry, never gonna say goodbye…" Totally about to die…

A bolt of glowing plasma arced over his head, knocking one bug to the floor. "So I survive bug kidnapping only to get killed by your bad singing, is that it?" Daniel's tone was excessively snarky even for Daniel.

A huge grin spread over Lance's face. "Hey, got you back, didn't it—duck!" Returning the favor, he downed a bug that was swooping in on the kid's back.

Daniel dropped to the ground and reopened fire. "Not again, motherfuckers!"

The team closed ranks, blasting anything large and buzzy until things settled down a bit. Keith looked at their advance pair and raised an eyebrow. "Did you find the data?"

"Or have you fuckers just been in here goofing off?" Jace added irritably.

Lance scowled at him. "We got a bit sidetracked. Did find a karaoke machine."

"If by sidetracked you mean bugnapped," Daniel corrected.

"Yeah, that. You good?"

"I'm good. No bites or stings." He returned to his moped. "Not leaving this again."

"Good call." Lance returned to his as well, wincing as he trailed though a few dead bugs. "Ugh." He dropped the microphone as he mounted back up; Hunk shot him a reproachful look.

"Dude! No reason to waste a perfectly good mic." He picked it up and put it on the sled. "Okay, now what?"

Keith sighed. "We have to find that data. Come on."

*****

The pylons were ready… probably. Hopefully. Beeps had set up the attractor very near the emitter they'd modified. Cam was standing behind it with one hand on his pistol, the other on his datapad, definitely not terrified. Of course not. Sven was standing a little ways ahead of the beacons, holding a vicious-looking battle axe in a stance Vince felt was way too casual. Flynn was crouched atop the boarding ramp with his rifle.

It was as good as they were likely to get… Vince took a long breath. Time to see if they'd at least fixed the enraging issue. "Beeps, call them in." Please work, please work, don't let bugs murder us…

Beeps blinked an affirmative, activated the beacon, and scurried back to hide behind Vince.

…Is a robot hiding behind me?

After a minute, they started to hear noises in the distance. A loud hum, some faint skittering sounds… Vince yelped, not even waiting to actually see them before he flipped their modified beacon on. Moments later, the first of the bugs appeared.

"Der'mo…" Cam dialed in the low frequency range, staring at the bugs. Ugly bugs. Big ugly bugs. This was going to suck.

Sven made an expression somewhere between a grin and a grimace, tightening his grip on his axe. "This should be fun."

"Cevete…" Flynn had not been prepared for these things, and barely kept his trigger discipline. Frequencies first, then bullets.

"On the plus side, they're not cockroaches." Cam tried to keep his tone even as he finished the frequency input. "Negative, evil wasps…" He felt something like a tuning fork smacking him in the chest as the low-frequency waves fired up. "Okay, buggies, let's see what you can do."

The bugs didn't seem to care one bit about the emitters, and continued to approach without so much as a pause. Flynn opened fire; Sven began hacking at the nearest bugs, and was at least gratified to learn their carapaces weren't axe-resistant.

Beeps peeked out from behind Vince, beeping and whirring in panic. "It is not working!"

"F sharp isn't working," Cam agreed. "Let's try F…" The pylon's frequency dropped, and the bugs swiftly changed their own tune. They didn't flee, exactly. But they did start wandering around in something of a daze, with only the few closest to Sven making a lethargic attempt at attacking. It didn't go terribly well for them.

"That's getting somewhere."

"Yeah, it is. Maybe E?" They were nearing the lowest note on the lowest octave they had, it'd better work… he dialed it in, and several of the bugs started wandering off. It wasn't exactly a mass retreat, but it was something. "Okay, let's try the ultrasonic." He activated the second frequency.

The bugs didn't like that one at all. The second it activated they stopped wandering and rushed the pylon, buzzing and hissing. "Uh, do something else!"

"Working on it!" Maybe the same note as the low frequency would work—they were a lot of octaves higher now, but a start was a start. "Here's another E." Pitching the frequency higher only made the bugs madder, if anything.

"Try something louder," Vince suggested. "Or softer? I don't know, it's making them really mad, maybe the opposite would work?"

Cam blinked. The opposite? "There are only twelve notes!" Though he'd seen a circular arrangement of them before. Why not? "Okay bugs, have an A flat!" That one seemed to settle them down a little, though they were still approaching.

Sven sliced through yet another large angry bug, grimacing as something squishy splashed onto his cheek. He was losing ground. "While this is semi-enjoyable, if you gentlemen could hurry this up I'd be very grateful."

"A flat is not working…" Vince flailed for ideas. "Try B sharp!"

"B sharp?" Cam repeated, blinking and looking away from the datapad. "That's called C!"

"Gentlemen!"

"Well try it anyway!" Vince squeezed his eyes shut in a panic.

Shaking his head slightly, Cam dialed for a C. "Here goes…"

From the top of the ramp, Flynn was sighting one of the swarming bugs as they closed in on the pylons. As he squeezed the trigger, the bug he was targeting dropped. So did the three bugs behind it. "…Faex." Lowering the rifle, he found himself staring at a whole bunch of unconscious giant wasp things.

Beeps whirred cheerfully, rushing up beside Sven and poking one of the fallen bugs. "You have succeeded!"

Forcing his eyes open one at a time, Vince took a step back from sheer surprise. "Oh wow…"

"Yes." Sven wasn't looking at the unconscious bugs. He was looking at the dead ones. Or, somewhat more to the point, the nasty greenish innards of the dead ones that had splattered all over him. "How does this always happen?"

"At least you didn't get struck by lightning," Flynn offered, and Vince shot him a look.

"What?"

"Nothing!"

"Must be another murder vine fable," Cam muttered. "Anyway, at least we know what knocks them out now? It won't be hard to set the other pylons up with the right frequencies."

"Yeah, we've got this. Guess we can turn this one off for now?" Vince reached up and flipped the pylon control switch… and immediately, at least a dozen of the bugs twitched and jumped up, making extremely angry bug noises. "Holy crap!"

Beeps gave a howling whirr of panic, jumping onto Sven's back and wrapping its limbs around him. The Viking dropped back into a combat stance, though he was certain his passenger wasn't going to help anything. "Turn it back on. Turn it back on!"

"Got it!" Cam fumbled and flipped the switch back on; the bugs went right back down.

"…Okay, so uh, can't turn it off after all."

"Yeah." Cam was panting slightly, eyes wide. "Definitely needs to stay on."

Sven straightened, lowering his axe, fighting down a visceral urge to hack at the creepy robot. That would not be diplomatic. Once it was certain all the bugs were motionless again, Beeps detached itself from Sven and gave a small whirr of embarrassment.

It was all Vince could do not to laugh, now that he was confident bugs weren't about to slaughter them all. "Okay… so we just need to modify the others. And maybe boost the output some? Is that a thing?" He eyed the space between the pylons and the bugs. "The range isn't great."

"We should be able to increase the volume," Cam confirmed. "That'll boost the effective range."

"And the power requirements," Flynn pointed out. "Does this… camp have the ability to run that many high-powered emitters continuously?" Most of the spaceport seemed out of commission, and he didn't see anything in the safe zone that looked like a sufficient generator. Then again, this was a tech base that had produced self-aware terraforming robots, so they couldn't rule anything out.

Vince and Cam exchanged looks and groaned. "Yeah, that's going to be a problem." The ultrasonic frequency had increased the beacon's power draw already.

Skittering up to the pylon, Beeps wrapped a hand around the power cable and was quiet for a few moments. "The generator can support two, maybe three, of the modified pylons. But that is with their current range."

"We need more power."

"A lot more power."

Flynn shifted. "We can arrange that."

"How?"

"He would say that," Cam muttered, "he's like the Commander but with more grease."

"Ew." Blinking, Vince looked at the grease covering his own hands. "…And hey!"

Flynn snorted. "Holgersson, please smack him for me."

Sven obligingly gave Cam a whack on the back of his head, depositing some bug juices in his pale hair. The comms officer spun on him, glaring. "Ugh, you got your bug guts on me!"

The navigator shook his head and tsked lightly. "You were so respectful before rooming with Brennan."

"Yeah, he's a bad influence."

That could be said of a few people around here. "If I am able to incorporate Jace's influence positively, you should be able to do the same, don't you think?"

"Is that what you call it?" Flynn asked innocently; Sven arched an eyebrow and slung his axe over his shoulder.

"Yes."

"…I'm gonna start rewiring the other beacons," Vince announced, suddenly wanting to be as far from this discussion as possible.

Cam looked between the chief and the Viking, then took off after Vince. "Hey, wait for me!"

Staring at Sven with more than a little concern, Flynn scooted back up the ramp a little bit. "Okay, not arguing with that." He eyed the robot, which was whirring in confusion again. "So… Beeps? Let's see what we can do about this power situation."

It would be a temporary solution, no doubt. But they did have a spaceship that wasn't doing anything with its engines just now.

*****

About half an hour and a couple more ambushes later, things in the lab started to look different. There were rooms full of what seemed to be large cages, and desiccated Selsandin that didn't seem to have died violently. What may have been a few Sela limbs were scattered over the floor, but otherwise there was hardly any sign of the city's current state.

"This must be where the experiments were," Pidge whispered. It was all that made sense, based on what Beeps had said about the original disease. "The data should be around here, kir sa tye?"

"I think you're right." Keith looked around. "Let's see if we can find that computer."

The group split up, checking the rooms off the large central area. Somehow, the dead bugs here seemed even creepier; they were withered and scarred, curled up in what looked like pain. It was easy to see why the Sela had been so concerned about the original disease. It seemed clearer and clearer that the rabid bugs didn't like coming here… everything was coated in a thin layer of dust.

"Think I've got it." Hunk pushed a desk aside, catching sight of some glinting machinery. It was large and cylindrical, with several hatches and access ports dotting its surface; it looked exactly like the image Beeps had provided for them. Approaching it, the big engineer poked a couple of the ports until one unlatched. The cubical form of a Sela data drive was sitting there. "Got it!" Just to be sure, he gave it a couple of extra pokes. That did not result in any more data cubes, though it did result in some bug guts. "Eww."

"Good. Let's head back, then." Keith made a face. "I want a shower."

Jace snickered. "Thought the Viking stayed behind." Though really, he wanted a damn shower too… and he was pretty sure they were all going to need the heavy-duty one in the sick bay, just to be safe.

As the team turned back in the direction they'd come from, a loud buzzing greeted them. "Um."

"Uh oh."

"We… may want to use the other exit."

Keith muttered a few Japanese curses and nodded. "Go!"

They went. Daniel and Lance took the lead, taking the corners as fast as the mopeds would allow, finding a wide open corridor with a large door at the end. "This way!"

"At least they warn us they're coming," Daniel commented as they raced for the door.

"I think it's more of a threat…"

The door flatly refused to open until the others arrived, at which point Hunk forced the issue with a pretty solid tackle. They all piled into the next room, slamming the door shut behind them; Lance crashed into Jace in the melee.

"Watch where you drive that fucking thing!"

"It was a sharp corner." He looked around where they'd ended up and blinked. There was no sign of bugs in here… it appeared to be some sort of garage. Dusty equipment was scattered around, and one whole wall was taken up by a large bay door.

Pidge approached that door, found the release, and attempted to crack it open; it didn't budge. Frowning, he tried a second time, then tapped the metal. It didn't sound hollow… and a moment after he tapped it, something tapped it from the other side. Violently. The shriek of a Selsandin larva became audible for a moment, and he stepped back.

At the same time, Keith had found a couple of metal rods to barricade the door they'd come through, and not a moment too soon. The tip of a stinger punched through the tiny gap between its hinges; the buzzing faded a bit, as the bugs seemingly abandoned flight for just trying to break down the door.

"…Oh, that ain't good."

"We're stuck, aren't we?"

"It looks like."

Next time, Keith decided—if there was a next time—they were going to fully research whatever bounty they took as a minor side job. "There has to be some way to get out of here and get back to the ship… preferably fast."

"Think we can just wait them out?"

That was the opposite of fast, though it wasn't a bad idea… if it would work. "Do we want to bet on that?" If waiting didn't work, it would only put them in a more desperate position later.

Hunk had stepped away from the door and was looking around the garage. The garage. He didn't recognize most of these tools, but some were easy enough to puzzle out… and there was plenty of scrap metal. A grin spread over his face as he looked from the garage's contents to what they'd brought with them. "I think I've got a better idea, boss…"

Everyone turned to him. Hunk having ideas was often terrifying, though it was also frequently awesome—there was a lot of overlap. "Like what?"

"…I'm gonna need the sled and those mopeds. Pidge, need you to turn that drone's EMP projector into a loudspeaker." He pulled out his own datapad, brought up a playlist, and handed it to Lance. "Find us some music the bugs don't like. Just fast forward until they sound less angry, yeah?"

Arching an eyebrow, Lance hit play; the A-team theme started blaring through the garage, and he snorted. The bugs didn't like that one, though… or at least the stinger that dented the door seemed to imply they didn't.

The other three exchanged looks. They could all see where this was going. "What do you want us to do?"

"Uh, good question. Watch the door?" The big guy grinned sheepishly. "At least until I need ya for something else." He started collecting scrap and fasteners from the garage floor.

The music switched to something by Typical Hamster, and the bugs started buzzing angrily again. Jace snorted, taking up a position next to Keith and Daniel with his rifle at the ready. This should be… something.

Hunk's masterpiece took shape quickly. The mopeds and sled made up the frame, reinforced and expanded a bit with thick metal plates. He couldn't find any spare wheels in the garage—seemed like an oversight—but he did find a sort of mechanical crane arm with simple enough controls. One by one he called the others over for extra manpower… by the time it was finished, nobody was left watching the door at all.

On the plus side, they had a rocket-powered moped-sled crush car with metal blast shields, a loudspeaker drone, and a giant hammer on the front.

"Unfuckingbelievable," Jace muttered under his breath as he circled the thing; Pidge nodded in silent agreement.

Having run the datapad through everything from 18th century classical remixes to 25th century disco metal, Lance had finally found something the bugs didn't seem to care much for. He hooked the datapad up to the drone as Hunk strapped the last spare rocket on the back. "I think we're good."

"Heck yeah we are." Grin. "All aboard, my peeps! We're uh, gonna have to blow that garage door. You may wanna cover your ears."

One thing the crush car had certainly not had room for was actual seats; they piled on haphazardly behind the main blast shield. Daniel was grinning madly. "You're kind of awesome, you know that?"

"Kinda?" Hunk winked. "Gotta try harder next time." Situating himself in the area that would have been the driver's seat, had there been one, he looked back and waited for everyone to have their ears covered. Then he flipped the music on, aimed the rocket launcher, and KABOOM.

Four of the other rockets, strapped to the back, fired off like afterburners, and they went blasting out through the hole in the door and the hive beyond. Most of the team was hanging on for dear life, taking whatever shots they could at the bugs; the car's hammer was smacking them left and right as the music blasted, Hunk singing along at full volume.

"CUZ WE GOT A GREAT BIG CONVOY, ROCKIN' THROUGH THE NIGHT!"

"Haha!"

"Yeeeehaw!"

"Explorer Teams…"

Crouched at the back, Jace fired on whatever Selsandin were crazy or angry enough to try to follow them. It wasn't a whole lot, but it was enough. "More like we've got a great bug convoy…"

"AIN'T SHE A BEAUTIFUL SIGHT!"

Lance and Daniel snickered.

Pidge was in the center of the car, clinging to the data cube and minding the speaker, since he wouldn't be much use shooting at things. He was noticing a small problem, though. Their chosen 'sonic weapon' was indeed causing many of the insects to flee, but… "Sir, we're driving them ahead of us."

That had not escaped Keith's attention, either. "Not much we can do for it right now. Let's just hope Starr and Hayes got those beacons figured out."

As the car reached the outskirts of the city, the ground started sloping up again. The little moped engines probably couldn't haul this beast back to the safe zone with any speed; Hunk had been ready for that. Turning them onto the straight forest road, he triggered two more rockets, grabbing the microphone as the car surged forward. "I SAYS LET THEM TRUCKERS ROLL, 10-4!"

If there hadn't been so many bugs to shoot, someone might have smacked him. Then again, by this point even Jace was laughing. It was too damn crazy… and it was working.

Totally their thing.

Back at the safe zone, Team No-Guns was just putting the finishing touches on the sonic barrier. They'd managed to put a couple of makeshift batteries together, charging them from the ship's engines. It would keep a dozen beacons going for an hour or so once the Bolt itself was disconnected; plenty of time for Beeps to clear the area.

Connecting the last wire, Vince's ears perked up slightly. Was he hearing music? "We're set…" He looked up at Flynn, who was still at the top of the boarding ramp—not leaving the ship!—and staring out at the horizon with a disbelieving look on his face.

"…Turn it on. Now."

Vince blinked, flipped the beacons on, then ran up the ramp to see what was going on. Cam followed him; Sven remained on the ground. Beeps was hiding behind him again, and by now he'd just accepted that he was the robot's preferred shield.

From the top of the ramp, they could see the source of the music. And quite a lot of buzzing. A wave of enraged bugs was charging towards them, followed by the kind of frankenvehicle that only one person could have possibly dreamed up.

Getting up the slope to the spaceport called for the last pair of 'afterburners'. Hunk hit them without missing a beat. "COME ON AND JOIN OUR CONVOY, AIN'T NOTHIN' GONNA GET IN OUR WAY!"

"I feel like maybe I should be more surprised," Vince said, shaking his head in bemusement.

Sven shook his head also. "I don't."

"Well…" Cam looked at his pistol, looked at the wave of bugs, and grimaced. "Let's hope this works."

"Believe me, I'm hoping." As they watched, the swarm charged the pylons, mandibles snapping fiercely… and as they came within about twenty feet of the beacons, the ones in the lead stopped, their wings fluttering in confusion. The ones behind them tumbled right over their comrades and into the knockout zone, and row by row, the bugs went down like a heap of rabid dominoes.

Vince's eyes lit up. "It worked!" He and Cam exchanged high-fives.

Hunk burst into laughter. "WE GONNA ROLL THIS TRUCKIN' CONVOY, ACROSS THE USA!" As he belted out the line, the car hit the pile of unconscious bugs with the last of its rocket-boosted speed and jumped. They sailed a good forty feet through the air; over the bugs, between two pylons, over Sven and Beeps, landing on the pavement with a thud… and disintegrating.

"Yeeeehaw!"

"That was awesome!"

"Owww…" Hunk had landed squarely on his backside with a tire beneath him, but he laughed as he looked around at the mess. "That was totally worth it!"

"…What the actual fucking fuck just happened?" Jace asked, shaking his head slightly.

"I believe we made it back safely," Pidge offered, retrieving the drone from where it had landed.

Groaning slightly, Keith rolled to his feet and looked at the others. Vince and Cam were grinning, Sven had one eyebrow raised to the heavens, and Flynn was holding up his datapad; he'd written a 9.5 on it. He snorted. "Thought you couldn't leave the ship?"

"Haven't set foot off the structure of the ship, thank you."

Beeps scurried up to them, whirring and squealing. "Brave hunters, are you well? Do you require repairs? We have some supplies for treating organics."

"Uh-uh," Jace objected. "I'll take care of the medic-ing, Beepy. Last time you guys tried to treat organics you gave them rabies."

The Sela gave a slightly chagrined whirr. "I cannot dispute that logic." Daniel snorted.

Sven approached, a wry smile on his face. "Glad you guys got back safely."

"Yeah, us too."

"That's a word for it." Jace tried to stand and walk over to Sven, but ended up falling over again. "Porra…" Lance laughed, but offered a hand to help him up; the medic didn't even try to yank him over, regaining his feet and snickering. "Not gonna let me down, huh?"

Smirk. "Never."

"I love this job," Hunk chuckled, helping Daniel to his feet and looking over the debris. It hadn't been his most durable construction, but it had sure been one of the most fun.

Pidge approached their handler, holding out the data cube. "Can you copy this? We were supposed to leave you a copy." Beeps blinked an affirmative, opening a slot in its chest and depositing the drive inside. After several long whirrs, it removed the cube and handed it back.

That had seemed a little anticlimactic, really. "Is that it?" Lance asked.

"It is all I am aware of," Beeps confirmed. "I will take this data and the defensive frequencies back to the Central Mainframe. You have many thanks from the Sela, brave hunters… once we have cured the Selsandin, perhaps you can return and see the true beauty of our planet." Its lights twinkled cheerfully. "Perhaps the Makers will have arrived by then."

"It is a beautiful city," Lance acknowledged, smiling at the robot; that didn't seem nearly so weird anymore.

"Really is," Hunk agreed. "Wouldn't mind seein' it once it's over its allergies." Jace looked at him, got the joke, and groaned; Pidge looked at him, didn't get the joke, and shrugged. He grinned. "It's got hives!"

Keith rolled his eyes. "Let's get…" He was about to say off this planet, but that would be kind of rude, even if the robots weren't programmed to be offended. "…this data to the Vex-Cha, then." He looked at the power cables linking the Bolt to the pylons. "Um, are we going to be able to take off?"

Beeps blinked a yes. "Your others have set up some batteries. The barrier will last long enough once power is disconnected for your vessel to prepare and launch." It paused. "Will you be able to sterilize your hull? We would not wish you to carry traces of the disease to the Vex-Cha."

"The shield contour will do that," Flynn answered before Keith could ask.

"And we can decontaminate the data cube no problem," Jace agreed.

"Excellent!" The robot beeped happily. "Go then, brave hunters. Safe travels among the stars."

As they filed up the boarding ramp, Lance looked back out at the fallen bugs and shuddered. He was not at all disappointed to be leaving. "I need a shower."

"As do I," Sven agreed. He was still covered in dead bug.

"We all do." Keith shook his head as the airlock cycled shut behind them. Somehow, he couldn't help the sneaking certainty his crazy crew would be fighting over the showers sometime soon. But then… who could blame them?

*****

It took a bit of time before Allura felt she was ready to address the Council… to sit up straight and say the words with confidence, without her voice breaking. But it had to be done. Taking Coran's arm for support, she headed to the main chamber where the Council was waiting. In better times, the advisory body had met in a ceremonial chamber, nobles speaking of refined festivities. Now it was a ragged collection of elders and military officers, just trying to keep things together.

It was Larmina's first time being present for a Council meeting; she'd avoided them like the plague before, but her aunt needed support now. Giving a small smile as Larmina offered a chair for her to sit, Allura waited for the room to become quiet before she relayed what she had learned.

"As you are aware by now… a message was given to me, with dreaded news." She closed her eyes. "It is with terrible sorrow I must inform you all that my Father was attacked at the Valley of Zohar. I have seen his spirit… he is dead."

Though she hadn't been speaking loudly, those civilians nearest where the advisors were huddled could hear the words, and the gasps. Word raced through the main chamber in the space of a few moments; by the time Allura had recovered enough to continue, cries of sorrow and moans of fear filled the cavern.

Noting this, she found it in herself to speak a bit more clearly. "My only comfort is that his body was not claimed by the Drules. I have been reassured that he is safe from them, secured in a place where he can be recovered."

The news rippled through the cave as quickly as her first words, and she could hear the crowd calming somewhat. Still in mourning, but holding some hope.

Captain Randel signaled to two of his guards to secure the area; the people had heard what they needed to, but the Council needed to be able to speak with some privacy as well. Once they had gently moved the crowds back, Elder Ollar spoke. He was in charge of medical matters for the shelter, including the proper treatment of the dead. "Do you know where he lies now, Your Majesty?"

Allura nodded. "Deep within the largest den of the gryphons."

A few of the council exchanged confused looks. "You said he could be recovered. How can we retrieve his body if it lies with the gryphons?" The enigmatic beasts usually avoided people, but they were known to fiercely protect their own lairs.

"There is a secret tunnel that leads to the largest of the dens," Allura explained. "It was built long ago to study them in their habitat." None of that statement was inaccurate, though she may have omitted certain details. "I believe, since I was directed to his location, he might have succeeded in his task and fallen while on his way back… the answers he looked for may still be on his person." She sat up a little straighter, her expression warning that she would not hear protests. "I wish to go and retrieve him as soon as possible."

The Council protested anyway, of course. Captain Randel, as the head of castle security, was accustomed to telling royalty no for their own good; he managed to silence the others and speak. "Princess, I understand wanting to get your father back yourself, but under the circumstances we simply cannot let you do so. Perhaps we can have a group go retrieve him for you."

"I understand that it might seem improper," Allura answered calmly. "But I believe that one person may be able to sneak past the gryphons. Only I know the exact spot my father was left at, so it must fall to me to reclaim him."

"Your Highness, if I may," Captain Sariel spoke up a bit nervously. She had a place at the Council, since the militia had been doing so much of the hunting and scouting, but she wasn't accustomed to speaking to royalty. "My people have been searching the wilderness since the attack. They know the land well, and have become well-practiced at avoiding the enemy. I know we lack the prestige of the Golden Knights, but any of us would willingly accompany you."

Larmina perked up. "I'll go!" She made the offer a bit too eagerly.

For the moment Allura ignored her, instead considering Sariel's offer. There was merit to it. "That would be helpful, as some of the way is above ground. But I will go into the lair alone."

Coran frowned. He had confidence in the militia for what they were, but they simply weren't trained as true combat troops. And with King Alfor gone… letting his daughter put herself at such risk so soon seemed very wrong. "Princess, I must insist that if you are going, I go as well."

Allura grimaced slightly. To be sure, she'd expected pushback, but she'd hoped at least Coran might back her. "Lord Coran, I think I can manage this."

"Of that I have no doubt," Coran acknowledged. "But for my own peace of mind I must insist on my presence."

Opening her mouth to argue again, Allura paused. She had lost her father, but Coran had also lost a dear friend… perhaps it was as much for his peace of mind as anything that he asked. She sighed; she couldn't quite bring herself to refuse. "Very well Coran, you can join me."

Feeling at least somewhat reassured, Coran gave a small bow. "Thank you, Princess."

Slightly irritated now, Larmina gave Allura's shoulder a small tap. "I'll go," she repeated more insistently.

This time her aunt turned to her, shaking her head slightly. "Larmina, I believe that if I'm leaving the shelter, you should be here looking over things in my absence."

…Well she hadn't seen that coming. Standing stunned, Larmina only managed to sputter, "Me?!"

Allura nodded. "It may seem like much to ask, but I do believe in you," she said softly.

Quietly curious as to the reasons Larmina was even here, Sariel figured to plead her honorary militia member's case. "Larmina has been a great help to us for some time, Your Highness. She would be a valuable asset in the field."

High Priest Teynn, one of the scant few of the pre-war Council to have survived the Drule attack, coughed loudly. "That is Lady Larmina, Captain," he corrected in a haughty tone.

Blushing slightly at the slight faux pas on her part, Allura stepped in. "My apologies, Captain. I've not had the chance to properly introduce Lady Larmina, given the circumstances."

Sariel nodded her understanding, a bit—no, perhaps more than a bit embarrassed. "Ah, I see. Apologies, my Lady…"

"Please don't," Larmina mumbled. If the militia started calling her my Lady, she really wasn't sure she could handle it.

This decided breach of etiquette caused a moment of awkward confusion amongst most of the council. Larmina was wanting to hide behind something; she wasn't used to this. Usually she was being told she wasn't worthy of her title, not having stuffy Golden Priests insist on it…

Whispering so only Allura could hear, she suggested, "Can't Coran stay here and watch the tunnels? He's old… you know, in a good way."

Allura bit her lip, not sure if she wanted to scold her or giggle at the assessment. "Sorry," she whispered back, "but it must be you." Her father was dead and her brother was missing. Larmina might be the highest heir left beneath her, improper parentage and all… there was no choice but to prepare her now. Just in case.

Whether or not Larmina had realized any of that herself was impossible to say. Either way, she wasn't having it. "Please don't," she repeated, much more pleading than resigned.

Allura didn't say anything else, but offered her best you can do it look. To which Larmina responded with a very clear you and your mice can… do something not nice kind of look. Which she ignored, though she was sure the mice wouldn't have appreciated it either.

The High Priest spoke again, his tone no less haughty than before. "If the Princess insists on venturing out so soon after her father's death, Lord Coran is surely the most appropriate protector… aside from the Radiant Warrior, of course. We shall invoke the Golden Blessings for her success." Giving a mocking look towards Larmina, he added the kind of potshot she was much more used to. "And if you wish the Lady to hold sway here while you are gone, Your Highness, we will certainly ensure she commits no misstep."

That's more like it. Larmina turned her attention to the High Priest, eyes narrowing slightly. She wasn't going to sit here and listen to Allura's leadership being implicitly questioned by some shiny-shirted jackass, and she sure as the five hells wasn't going to back down from a challenge. "Know what, Auntie? I think I can handle this."

Teynn looked stunned, as if at the mere use of the word "Auntie" were a grave scandal in itself. But Allura was not fazed. Raising an eyebrow at the High Priest, she kept her own tone cool and commanding. "I would hope you will aid my niece if she requests it, High Priest Teynn. I know Lady Larmina, and I expect great things of her, as the heir to the House of Altair."

The High Priest humphed, barely concealing his displeasure. "Of course, Your Highness. Will you permit one of the Golden Acolytes to accompany you? The King's body will require the proper blessings to begin as swiftly as possible."

Allura gave a slight nod of agreement. "Once I bring his body out from the gryphon's den."

Bowing his head in acceptance, the High Priest still gave Larmina an annoyed look. She returned it with interest.

"Then it is decided," Allura declared, cutting through the tension. "I'll only need a few to come with me, as I do not wish to stand out."

"I know just the few to accompany you," Sariel answered before turning to Teynn. "High Priest, if you will send your acolyte to me, we will provide appropriate camouflage." He didn't seem overly appreciative of the offer, but nodded.

Looking towards Sariel, the princess nodded far more gratefully. "Thank you, Captain. I wish to be able to head out as soon as possible. And I wish to thank the rest of you for your understanding in this extremely trying time. I hope that once my father has been laid properly to rest, we will continue to fight back against the Drules."

"I will ensure we are ready to receive the body…" Elder Ollar spoke with a mournful voice. For a moment it seemed he had more to say, but then he simply bowed his head respectfully, ready to attend to his new task.

As Allura dismissed the council, Larmina found herself still annoyed. She was used to being dismissed by others, but it didn't mean she had to play along with it. Let Auntie go hang out with the gryphons, then. If the High Priest's reaction to the thought of her being in charge had accomplished anything, it had made her ready to kick butt at being in charge. She could do that.

…She hoped.

*****

Disclaimers:
The song Convoy belongs to CW McCall and has been returned unharmed.
The song Never Gonna Give You Up, well... we didn't do anything worse with it than the rest of the internet has already done!