"You shouldn't be here, Ad. This isn't the time for a cachiigrias."

(Kilesian: Cachiigrias - A Kilesian gathering after a ceremonial mating dance; Used similarly to 'family gathering')

A Kilese no'n with inky-black skin and galaxy-styled hair walked down a dimly lit metal corridor. His yellow irises narrowed as he looked behind him at Adalae, following close behind.

"Yeah, I know… I just missed you, Ohe." Adalae murmured, her eyes fixed on the floor.

Ohemone sighed, adjusting his orange bomber jacket's puffy collar matching his copper-colored undersuit and baggy pants. His spiky hair twirled into loops like the center of a lollipop, with each center having twinkling white stars.

The metal clanks of their boots stopped at the end of the hall in front of a large blue hexagonal hatch door. Ohemone clicked his shoes, then turned around while smoothing back his hair.

"If it weren't for that pulse Halm sent out, you could've been discovered coming aboard, Ad. We even had to blast the carrier as well so their defensive scanners went offline. You put a lot of people at risk here, including yourself."

Adalae lowered her head. "Yeah… I know…"

"But that's just like you, huh? Once you set your mind to something, you don't think, you just do." Ohemone sighed. "I hope you aren't causing your new team this much trouble."

The pink stars in Adalae's hair burned red as she stomped her foot. "I-I do not cause them trouble! Kjuru runi'o!"

(Myunor: Kjuru runi'o - A playful term used amongst Myuno children, similar to "Nuh uh!" though it has multiple meanings)

Ohemone widened his eyes and then turned around. He then smiled before latching onto Adalae and hugging her close.

"I'm just glad to see my little warsuna safe."

(Kilesian: Warsuna - Female sibling, usually used when referring to the youngest)

Adalae smiled, then nuzzled closer into his chest.

—CLANK CLANK BOOM

The floor below them rattled as a deafening boom echoed on the other side of the door. Ohemone pivoted and pushed Adalae away, drawing a PM-3 hand-laser cutter from his side holster. A cloud of smoke oozed from underneath the hatch as Ohemone continued to back away while holding Adalae close behind.

"W-what was that…?" Adalae whispered.

Ohemone gritted his teeth and looked behind him at the second hatch sealed shut, with crimson lights surrounding the edges.

"While the ship is on back-up gens, overrides only work once on each passing door; After that, they're sealed shut until the reset."

He stepped closer to the hatch, inching his finger toward the terminal, then hesitantly jerked. "It couldn't be them… They wouldn't be stupid enough to call for reinforcements and leave and arch-trail to their main carrier. Not only that, but I doubt they know the magnetic blast was from us. And it couldn't be one of their ships, they're all stranded out there… So who…?"

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Ohemone's eyes widened. He planted his ear on the door and focused on a faint voice on the other side.

—PWANG THUMP

He stepped back as a quick shot was heard, and a foreign object fell to the floor.

"Something or someone is on the other side. I think they broke through the ship's outer shell and tunneled through.

"They also seemed armed… Which means they came here expecting a battle." Ohemone inserted a single key into the terminal pad. "The carrier's outer shell is several layers thick of Stracnal. If they pierced through that, then they're dangerous regardless."

Before inputting the last key, he turned back to Adalae with narrowed eyes.

"We've got to get through these next set of doors to the main terminal hub before the security system goes back online. With whoever this is, along with recognizing your foreign vessel aboard, it'll attempt to lock us all down here and run through its defensive maneuvers. And we don't want to be down here when it does."

"S-so we're going to just, run through them?" Adalae murmured with a jolt of shock.

Ohemone nodded. "It's the only way. I'll open the hatch, scan for threats, then lay down suppressive fire for anybody I see. But we need to get to that door before them. Do you understand?

"Okay… Y-yes…" Adalae responded.

"Do you have a cutter or any type of piece?"

"N-no…"

Ohemone threw her his PM-3 cutter and took another from his opposite jacket holster. Adalae looked down at the cutter, slightly jittering between her fingers.

"You with me, Ad?" Ohemone looked back, his hand on the final sequence on the hatch.

Adalae shook her head of worry and then walked to his side. "Y-yes, I'm with you."

"Alright. We're going to hide on that right side over there, it has a denser covering. You're going to crouch down and I'll be right behind you standing up. You shoot anything that looks like its coming at us. Remember, it's them or us. No hesitation."

"Got it. Got it. No hesitation."

Ohemone pressed the final key, and the hatch began breaking ajar at an angle. He then ran to the rightmost side, his pistol pointed upward as he tilted his head past the growing opening.

Adalae closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She peaked past the doors, now with enough room to see a good portion of the dimly lit hall ahead. A humanoid torso perched on the opposite wall caught her attention. A breath escaped her mouth as she looked up at a pair of long, outstretched claws seemingly coming toward her.

Without a second thought, she fired several shots from her cutter — The green lasers sliced through the air and onto the mass, her eyes closing with each jolt from her weapon. Ohemone followed her lead, finding her target and letting loose a spread of green bullets of his own.

As Adalae fired her gun, the room became filled with smoke. With each shot, distinct short thumps accompanied the metallic sounds as the bullets pierced through the target and struck the wall. She averted her gaze and clenched her teeth, feeling the thumps reverberating throughout her body. The rhythmic chattering of her teeth matched the cadence of each shot she fired, while her arms grew increasingly numb as she started losing the sensation of the recoil.

—Click Click Click

Adalae, her eyes now squinted shut, attempted to spray another rail of fire. The clicks of her trigger echoed through the room as heat and smoke fumed from her cutter.

Ohemone put a hand on Adalae's shoulder, making her jolt and slump her back onto the wall with a gasp. He sighed, bent down, retrieved the gun from her quivering hands, and glanced over the side.

The object from before lay flat on the ground, lifeless.

"Okay, I think their down. I'm going to move in—"

"Why… Why did you guys leave me?"

Ohemone glanced behind him to Adalae slouched on the floor, her face shrouded with sparkling white tears. He then bent down and began wiping them with his sleeve.

"D-did I do something wrong?" Adalae whispered with a hick. "I didn't mean to argue with mader about your work, I was just… just worried…."

"That wasn't…" Ohemone sighed, then scratched the back of his head. "We'll… Talk this out later. For now, we've got to get through this."

Adalae sniffed and nodded, then took Ohemone's hand to stand. Ohemone peaked over the corner, then, in a swift maneuver, tumbled across the floor and raised his cutter before him. A white light gleamed from an attachment below his gun as he inched closer.