The Republic military team were all universal in appearance. While a variety of forms might exist within the armor, they were all two-armed, two-legged, roughly humanoid creatures; and as such, once the armor was on, the might as well be identical. When Investigator Chaif emerged, he almost fit in, despite being at least two feet taller than most of them.

All armed branches of the Republic bore roughly the same armor; light or heavy teal-colored armor with shoulder stripes to designate branch, though the heavier armor often had other colors for the trim; their rank being invisible to anyone not on their secure comm frequency; Chaif's white shoulder-stripes were the only apparent difference from the black of the marines. For Chaif, the armored figures all simply flashed the 'Marine' tag; just as their own would only flash his own 'Enforcement' tag; neither needed to know, and thus, did not.

The object which had been shot down on its descent, and diverted to the slums so that it could take out a building occupied only by gutter scum rather than anything important had been slowed down dramatically by the interception equipment; but had still made a crater over sixty meters deep, and wiped out at least a dozen of the local gutter-dwellers.

One of the Marines stepped forward, his tag abruptly changing to 'Current Unit Supervisor', Chaif stopped at the edge of the crater; glancing down into its depths, and the mostly grey, glowing object at the bottom. A team of marines were using some sort of device on the ovoid. "Inspector. Ordinarily, we wouldn't bother Enforcement with something like this. But... it appears to not be a weapon. The object is hollow, and contains two organic life-forms; one alive, one deceased. The shell itself is made of ninety-nine percent pure neutronium doped with extremely fine traces of some sort of organic material; if it weren't impossible, I'd have said this is the egg of a creature that can grow neutronium. Civil engineering is demanding we remove it as soon as possible; they have a nullifier over us right now, and the moment they shut it off, everything in the area will be pulled towards it."

Chaif blinked; and reached down, picking up a rock; and let go; watching it slowly drift towards the ground as if they stood on some barely-together moon. "Interesting. That.... good lord, that's more neutronium than our industries produce in a century. If we can get it to our shipyards..."

"This could either be the heart of the biggest ship the republic ever builds, or used to double our production for years to come. That object is worth more than the planet we stand on... and might advance the Purge by centuries."

Chaif chuckled. "That it could. What are those men doing?"

"We found a few hairline fractures in the structure that seem to have been made by an antimatter detonation at point blank range. Weaknesses we can exploit to crack it open. We've got a medical team on standby for the two organics, but whoever they are, they'll be leaving in your custody in... perhaps five more minutes."

The inspector watched the careful work; on the side of the craft, an enormous armored sled was up against the side of the object, and the team were using cutters over the same paths, over and over. "Well. This might be a very bad day for the occupants... or a great one."

When the piece was finally dislodged, it was to the sound of screaming; it had come down on the leg of one of the marines; and completely shattered it, leaving purplish blood spraying over the crater floor in the moments before the bloodflow stopped.

The medics; wearing the same black stripes as the marines, only with pink interspersed; immediately began hauling the marine out of the hole on a hovering stretcher; even as another pair of medics, and four marines, entered the object; Chaif checked his screens; this was his territory, so they gave him the courtesy of an active feed.

Inside the orb were two humanoids; type zero, one, or two, impossible to tell, as they were both wearing armor; and the wreckage of a vehicle. The inside wasn't uniform; but rather had thousands of... not spikes, but... tendrils, pointing inward, and a pool of some sort of gray liquid at the bottom. ~Okay. We've got two unknowns, injured or dead. Retrieving now. Species uncertain, but the grey ooze isn't coming from them; the red stains appear to be their blood, which would narrow it down. Headed to the hospital immediately.~

Chaif smiled. The cool efficiency of a marine medic; they hadn't stopped moving while speaking, and the marine with the severed leg was already loaded up. "Proceed. I'll meet you there. They'll want me on-hand for questioning. Did you already contact the Shield as well?"

The closest marine nodded. "Yes, sir. She's currently on another assignment, and will meet you at wherever we end up taking these two."

If they were, at minimum, a type two, they would have at least some rights. Which would make things complicated, depending on what other information they learned.

***

Inside the hospital, fifty miles away; a towering structure with dozens of bays for hovercraft like Chaif's own; he slowly walked down the hallway, and stopped beside the examination room; the wall becoming transparent when he arrived. These things were always either pure silver or white, to make sure no stain or blemish was missed; no comforting greens, browns, or greys. So... clinical. Inside the room were the two subjects; a pair of doctors; good Hargoyan folk, hairless, dull bronze of skin tone, with a typical four eyes and six-fingered hands; were carefully studying and removing the armor of thee two.

The doctor glanced at the window. "Inspector. Please remain outside, for now; and the Shield should as well, when she arrives. They can breathe our air, which means its possible a contamination could impact us. We have two subjects, both humanoid, unknown type. The first is already dead; either on impact, or before. As terrible as it is to say, it's a good thing; we're able to study him in depth. He's got a translator and recording equipment built into this armor, and if he's dead, obviously we can confiscate it without any possible legal questions. Even better, we're able to get useful comparitive anatomical data."

As the oddly-shaped helmet was removed, a hideous visage was revealed. A mass of vibrant red hair in a stripe down the middle of the head; just like the sawblade attached to the helmet. Only two eyes; though the nose and mouth were fairly normal.

It was most likely going to be a type two or three; but with a corpse, it was impossible to be certain; there were no known type zeroes with hair or only two eyes, but it could still happen. "Odds of survival?"

The doctor studied the second subject; they were still carefully removing the black body-armor. "He seems to be recovering on his own, over time; which is good, as our ability to treat an unknown like this is limited. I suspect the Shield will want us to get him a cybernetic for the missing hand."

Chaif chuckled. "Yes, of course. Make sure it's limited, hardware-limited not software. And give it a remote shutdown, just in case."

"Understood. We won't be able to make it completely functional until he's awake for testing."

When the silver helmet was removed from the black-armored figure, the doctor stared. Not just three eyes; but three solid green, very faintly glowing eyes, on the unconscious form; that seemed to be blinking of their own volition. "Ahhh... I'm going to guess a type one or zero. The anatomical data might not be as useful as we thought; these two may be different species, or one may be a mutation."

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Chaif stared at the three eyes. The short but disgusting brown fur atop the creature's head; and slowly ran his hand along his own helmet, unconsciously brushing ahead of the six eyes of his own; the Founders had three eyes. Their favored children had six, and most of their other creations had four, but... three could still be important.

After a few moments of staring, he finally removed his helmet; his own pale skin stretched taut across his skull, as the six black orbs focused on the prone figure; and then three of them shifted to view the approaching teal-armored figure of the Shield, with her golden shoulder patches. After a moment, the figure removed its own helmet; revealing an almost identical pale, six-eyed face, only with a more slender, feminine facial structure.

"Chaif." The woman looked through the wall at the doctors. "So. Unknown alien. Three eyes. Could be zero, one, or two, so we need to test it. Any useful information?"

Chaif chuckled. "No, Charis. Not from this one, at least. His companion, unfortunately, died; his suit had recording devices and a translator in an unfamiliar format. We're studying it right now, but... if they have a translator, this will be trivial. We should be able to speak with him by the time he wakes up."

After a few moments of work removing the armor and a layer of underclothing; all ridiculously heavy; the figure was naked; showing more hair further across the body in the moments before a blanket covered him, and they started carefully cleaning the injured arm and checking his vitals.

"Definitely male, at least. I'm going to insist his property be retained and remain unmolested, unless we have some evidence of a crime. Pretty clearly he wouldn't have launched himself in that thing; he's far more likely a victim here."

The Inspector shrugged. "That's fine. We'll store it away for now. The helmet seems to include his own translator; if we could access it.."

"As the Shield on duty, I insist that his property not be interfered with unless he is convicted of a crime, it is necessary for public safety, or he dies. You can learn enough from his friend's translator to get it working. I will also allow you to check his helmet for weapons... before returning it to him to serve as a translator... as it is within your rights to ensure he isn't armed during interrogation, since clearly you'll need to talk to him about what happened. Obviously, his armor is likely full of weapons as well, and is intended for combat purposes, so feel free to retain that as well; though if we could inventory the contents of the sphere, there may be other possessions of his inside."

"All easy enough. Do we really need to give him his helmet back, if we learn enough from the other unknown?"

"What if they are actually two different species, or spoke different languages, and he needs a translator for what the other one can understand? And besides... as of yet, I've no proof he's a criminal. Why take it away?"

Chaif nodded slowly. "Fine. Shall we meet back here when he awakens? I'll review the footage from the corpse and send it along once it's properly formatted."

Charis smiled. "Not at all. Just make sure to have me here before you start questioning him."

Chaif nodded slowly. "Not a problem at all. You realize he's likely going to be executed, and none of this matter, right?"

"You think anyone would launch themselves like that?"

"Even if it's accidentaly, if he was involved in the launch...."

Charis shrugged. "Perhaps. Perhaps not. Lets see the recordings, then talk to him. But until we have proof he's a criminal...."

***

Jason hadn't really been expecting to wake up. Then again.. this was the ninth time this had happened, if he recalled correctly; waking up somewhere strange after being knocked out in combat.

The room was oddly familiar; pure white walls, floor, and ceiling. The ceiling softly glowing white. A bed, also smooth white; and a soft silvery blanket over him. On the table beside the bed were... a dull grey, simple, prosthetic hand... and his helmet. Cracked, but clean. He lifted the blanket a moment... yes. Naked under the blanket. And.... once again, his left hand was gone.

How long had he had it back? Not long enough. Who had made him this copy? He lifted the prosthetic; and as he started trying to determine how it worked, a figure entered.. with hairless bronze skin, strange bony ridges along his forehead, and four pale white orbs for eyes. Jason reached over, and tapped his helmet. "Record, and translate if you can."

The figure... the most humanoid non-human he'd seen. He looked like a star trek extra rather than a true alien, right down to a long-sleeved pink shirt and pants, both seamless... which ended at a pair of six-fingered hands. "Hello there! I am your doctor for today; though unfortunately I know little about your species anatomy. I am only allowed to ask questions about your physical condition and operation of the prosthetic hand. How do you feel?"

Eyeball slid the hand into place. "I feel... fine. I seem to have recovered from the battle well enough. Where am I?"

"I am sorry, sir, but I can't answer or ask questions about anything but your physical and mental well being. If you would please focus on moving both hands in the same way at the same time for forty-seven seconds, starting when the blue light on the hand appears, it will attempt to calibrate."

Jason blinked. Doctor not allowed to speak about where he was? This... didn't bode well. Reminding himself to wait for the actual light, rather than moving as soon as he saw it with his precognition, he started focusing on moving both hands at once, stretching, flexing his fingers. After the first few seconds, the prosthetic started moving. "The helmet doesn't need to translate. I assume you copied our language from the files on my helmet already?"

The doctor just stared at Jason and watched his hands; not bothering to repeat himself. When the blue light faded, Jason seemed to have fairly good control of the prosthetic. "...May I have some clothing?"

The doctor chuckled. "You seem to run along that mid-line between the species with enough fur they prefer no clothing, and the ones with little enough they wear it. This, I can help you with. Someone will be in to see you shortly. Ahh... do you wish to keep the helmet, or need any head, hand, or feet coverings? I don't know of your species modesty requirements."

He picked up a soft white bundle; and laid it out on the table beside the helmet. What seemed to be a white long-sleeved shirt and white cotton pants; only perfectly seamless as well. No shoes, but they would cover everything but his hands and feet. "Some shoes for the feet, please. The helmet will do for a face covering, and my species only covers our hands when needed."

When the doctor stepped outside; the wall simply letting him pass through as if it weren't there; Jason dressed in the simple clothing; and then put on the helmet.

The interface inside triggered. There were a few minor cracks... but it had adapted, and was working well enough. The room he was in was shielded, but clearly a hospital room. They'd given him a humanoid doctor... likely to make him more comfortable, since there couldn't be many humanoid species out there. Even let him keep his helmet.

He glanced down at the prosthetic limb. His helmet began a scan; almost immediately pinpointing several deliberate weak-points; they'd made sure the hand wasn't capable of enough grip strength to cause harm... and had a remote shut-down in it.

So. He was probably a prisoner. But a very well-treated one. Who exactly was he about to meet? The local version of a police interrogator? What exotic sort of species would they be?

He was intensely startled when the door slid open to reveal... what seemed to be an attractive, bald woman, with an athletic, almost precisely human build; her keen features only marred by the six black eyes peering back at him in two neat vertical rows.

She smiled, revealing long rows of perfect, sharp, teeth. "Hello there, Jason Bennet. I am Charis, and I am your Shield. " She extended a pair of simple white shoes to him; slip-on sorts. "I regret to inform you that, after reviewing the footage, quite possibly, you will be executed for accidental launch of a dangerous projectile at a populated world. I'd like to talk about how we can prevent that from happening."

She knew his name, had reviewed the footage, and apparently he'd broken the law. Lovely. Was he about to turn fugitive on an alien world?

Another figure entered the chamber; virtually identical, wearing sleek green powered armor; his eyes were drawn to the shoulders; hers had gold stripes, while his had white, but otherwise the only differences were the very subtle allowances for her female form.

He smiled as well, tapping a strange bronze object against his hip. "Though, first we should probably test you. But... amusingly enough, we seem to be on opposite sides from our usual roles here. Even accidentally, launching a projectile at a planet is a major crime, but considering the monster you killed... well. First things first. Place this to your head for us. You might want to remove the helmet; some kinds of metal block the scan."

He extended the bronze object without ever stopping that smile. "The next few moments will likely decide the path of the rest of your life."