A masked individual, leaning against the Tin-Can's ladder, held an energy cage by a handle, with Gum trapped inside, who kept trying to push himself against the energy walls, to no avail. Without saying a word, the figure gestured to both to get onto the ship, putting his second, free hand on a gun holster.
"Twy-" Jarvell got cut off as soon as he started speaking, a single gunshot being fired right next to his right ear. The figure put the gun back and once more gestured for them to get on. Understanding he wouldn't be allowed to say anything, Jarvell went and climbed on.
Twy'la slowly followed, only to be stopped before she could climb. The figure grabbed the bag off her and put it on themselves, before letting her have the cage and then gesturing to climb on.
Once they were all on the ship, the figure closed the hatch "Good. Keep being cooperative. I have orders to bring you both back alive, but that doesn't mean I won't hurt you if you try and fight back. Now, whichever of you is a pilot, go and start up the ship." The figure spoke with a distorted voice, and when both remained still, they sighed and took out their gun, pointing at Twy'la "We don't have all day. We take off, or I'll put you both in my ship's cargo. I'm trying to let you get to my employer in some comfort."
"Fine! Fine. Just don't shoot." Jarvell said, and headed into the cockpit. Sounds of the engine started, while Twy'la and the figure both sat down and buckled up.
"Big blue! Set the following coordinates! F137, Y192, B817, 097!"
Twy'la heard Jarvell repeat the coordinates, and upon getting confirmation, the ship took off from the planet. Twy'la kept her eyes on the figure, holding onto the cage with Gum inside.
"Can I let him out?"
The figure shook their head "I'm not dumb. Gelacs may not be native to these systems, but they are known. Mostly as zoo animals. Though never seen a pink variant remain pink around people before. Got yourselves quite the rare specimen. Could be worth plenty. Wonder if the boss will let me keep him."
Twy'la held the cage even tighter "You wouldn't!"
The figure shrugged, before unbuckling and standing up "Wait here. And don't bother with the energy pistols, I've already disabled them. Really should hide them next time."
As the figure went to the cockpit, Twy'la looked at Gum, who just looked back at her "I'm sorry Gum. Wish I could get rid of this stupid energy cage," she said, and looked down. Seeing her Cosmos rings, Twy'la pondered on something "Gum, let me try something. But stay right where you are."
Gathering some of her Cosmos around her hand, she put it against the energy cage. The Cosmos intially pushed against the energy, but soon started to phase through the energy, allowing Twy'la to get her hand through and touch Gum directly. Moving her hand through Gum with the Cosmos, Gum started glowing slightly, as if remnants from the Cosmos were sticking to him.
"You're glowing? The soldiers always said the green Gelacs glowed as they shot them, before they blew up. Were the Gelacs actually gathering our Cosmos into them, but the soldies overloaded the Gelacs?" Twy'la muttered as she removed the hand from Gum and the cage. Gum remained slightly glowing, just looking at Twy'la as she kept pondering about Gelac's properties.
"We're about to use hyperdrive, missy! Better be buckled!" the figure called out to Twy'la.
Grabbing a tight hold of the cage, the shaking of the hyperdrive soon began, and lasted for about a minute, before the ship came to a complete halt, with the engine becoming completely quiet.
"Gah, what kind of junk ship is this anyway? Can't handle a simple hyperjump like this!"
The figure came back into the back room, made sure Twy'la wasn't doing anything suspicious, before returning to the cockpit. Jarvell then came to the back, and buckled himself in the seat across from Twy'la. As she put the cage back on the table, Jarvell raised his eyebrows.
"Gum didn't do that before, did he? Or did he learn to mimic you?"
Unsure of what Jarvell meant, Twy'la looked at the cage, and her mouth almost dropped wide open. The glow went away from Gum, but now he had a pink ring circling around him, just like her Cosmos.
"I think he might be mimicing me with my own Cosmos." Twy'la whispered to Jarvell, taking a closer look.
As both of them took a look, the ring around Gum vanished, and instead Gum appeared to gain an outer, darker pink shell. And then he began pushing himself against the energy once more. The energy barrier got pushed, until Gum managed to completely roll out of the cage, and right onto Twy'la's lap. Blinking twice, Gum bounced from Twy'la, getting himself stuck to the ceiling.
Twy'la and Jarvell both looked dumbfounded by this sudden escape, before Jarvell looked at Twy'la.
"Can you make that type of shell around you?" he asked.
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"No? I don't know. Maybe?" Twy'la said with her eyes still fixed to Gum, seeing as any signs of the dark pink shell, or the glow from her Cosmos had vanished from the little pink blob.
"What are you two going on about?" The figure came back "I arranged for us to get picked up by my boss. Should not take long, since we are in the target system at least. And what are you looking at Mi-"
As the figure started to turn his gaze towards where Twy'la was looking, Gum dropped from the ceiling right onto the figure's head, completely covering the head, and beginning to dissolve the mask. The figure started to struggle removing Gum from his head, bumping against the room's walls, before Jarvell took the chance to undo the buckle, jumped the figure and pinned him to the ground.
"Stay there until he is out cold Gum!" Jarvell told him, to which Gum turned his eyes to Jarvell while remaining around the now exposed six-eyed alien's head.
As the alien continued struggling, Jarvell took the gun and tossed it to Twy'la, who was watching from the seat. The alien continued struggling for three minutes before becoming still. Jarvell started loosening his grasp, just to make sure the alien was indeed knocked out. Nodding to Gum, the little pink blob rolled off the alien's head, at which point the alien sent his legs up, wrapping them around Jarvell's neck.
"Didn't think it'd be that easy, did you? I'm one of the more notorious bounty hunters in this galactic arm for a reason!" The alien called out as he grabbed Gum with his glove, which briefly started dissolving, before Gum turned into ice, and then grabbed Jarvell's arm, which in turn also turned him into ice.
Moving away from the big, four-armed guy, the alien stood up and patted himself down "Tsk. I don't like using that on targets that are wanted alive. Always takes them a while to thaw out. And the bigger they are, the longer it takes. Though," he glanced at Twy'la with a nasty grin "It does mean that if you try anything, I can just start breaking off pieces from your friends without killing them. So be a dear, and don't cause trouble."
While Twy'la wasn't physically frozen like Jarvell or Gum, she felt herself frozen from the sudden shift in attitude this alien presented. It was clear that he desired blood now.
"Tsk, that was a brand new mask too. Wonder if the boss will cover that," the alien sat down across from Twy'la and looked at her "So I guess none of you are locals, right? Don't look local at least, Doing jobs around this galactic arm for the last fifty years certainly gave me a grasp over who is local and who isn't."
Twy'la shook her head "Y-you don't l-look local either."
"Nah, I'm not. But where I'm from doesn't matter. You just remember this. If the bounty hunter 'Space Breath' comes after you, then you are not escaping."
Hearing the name, Twy'la lowered her head. As 'Space Breath' sat there, looking pleased at the show of fear, he started hearing soft laughter. Taking a closer look, he saw Twy'la was actually working hard to not laugh at his face.
"What the hell are you laughing at , huh? I'll freeze you as well!"
"S-sorry! Sorry!" Twy'la started taking deep breaths to calm herself "That name is just hard to take seriously. Space breath? That just sounds if someone smells you, they'll smell space."
Growling at her, he sat back down "Well, I didn't pick the name. In the Uma systems, registered bounty hunters get names based off one of their traits."
"Then what's the trait that got you named like that?"
"I can be in the vacuum of space without needing any breathing equipment. So essentially, I can 'breath in space'. My species have four lungs that are capable of sustaining us without needing to keep breathing consistently. We can take a single breath once a month and be fine. Record is once a year breath for some of us."
Twy'la raised her eyebrows "That's amazing. So what's your actual name?"
"Oi! Aren't you getting too comfortable with a bounty hunter that's holding you hostage?"
"Sorry, I guess I was."
Sighing, he stood up and moved Iced-Jarvell to the seat and buckled him, before putting the Gum Icicle back in the cage.
"The boss should be arriving soon. Stay quiet and don't cause trouble." he said, taking a couple of steps towards the cockpit, before stopping and glancing back at her "And it's Veira."
About a minute passed, and Twy'la felt the ship start to shake. And it wasn't due to the Tin-Can's engine, rather due to something outside. And then the shaking stopped, Veira came back to the back and opened the hatch "Drop the weapon and head down."
Doing as she was told, Twy'la went out, and quickly found herself surrounded by Uma soldiers, before a few went onto the Tin-Can.
"Welcome! Friend of the wanted winged one. Welcome." the commander said, watching as the frozen Jarvell and Gum were carefully brought off the Tin-Can "All three of you will recieve fitting accomidations. But for now, let me bring you over for a little talk."
Several soldiers surrounded Twy'la, making it clear she had to follow things. Before she could take a single step, one of the soldiers quickly put on a collar on her neck.
"Apologies. This is simply a precaution," the commander told her, before showing a button "Don't act naughty like your winged captain and you won't get zapped. Cooperate and you won't get zapped. Simple as that."
Not saying a word, Twy'la started following him quietly. She was hoping Jarvell and Gum will be okay, but for now, it seemed like this man had intel on Kree and she wanted to find out what he knew.
"Your winged captain never bothered sharing her name, or anything. She was incredibly persistent for someone who underwent the interrogation methods we put her through. Perhaps you could tell me," Gillex stopped and turned to her "Why would my government suddenly dictate that she, a person who was never seen before, ever, suddenly be wanted for a lifetime imprisonment?"
"I have no idea." Twyla said, keeping anything else to herself. If Kree didn't share anything with him, then that made her determined to do the same.
"No idea? Well, that is unfortunate. Perhaps after I show you something you would be more inclined to actually tell me if you know anything."
Gillex led her into a room, with a single screen that covered the wall. The floor was bloody, and there was a single chair with a remote on it. Gillex grabbed the remote and pushed Twy'la onto the chair, before the door behind them closed.
"Lets enjoy a little movie, shall we? I prepared it especially for all three of you, her crewmates." Gillex said, and pressed the remote.
The screen turned on, and the same room they were in was shown, only it showed Gillex and Kree. Twy'la's eyes widened in horror as the screen started showcasing the interrogations, or tortures, Kree went through.
"Enjoy the movie. There is three months worth of it. Though the best part doesn't come until about the halfway part." Gillex whispered into Twy'la's ear, before the door opened, Gillex left the room, and the door locked Twy'la in the room, with nothing but the movie for her to see.