Yvian gripped her alien ray gun, teeth bared. It wasn't really a smile. Yvian was pissed. She felt worlds better now that she was in armor with PAIN REMOVAL, but that just made her more eager to kill the things that hurt her. Motherless sons. Her boot and their asses had a rendezvous coming.

"How far to the nearest control center?" she asked Scarrend.

The Vrrl donned his helmet. "Eight kilometers. The Grey Ones have a fast transit system, but they are just tubes with beams similar to the ones that trapped us." His blood was up, too. Scarrend was still kicking himself for getting caught when he tried to free Kilroy. He was eager to make up for it. The Vrrl had more than proved himself to Yvian, but he didn't see it that way. "Walking will be safer."

"We'll need to go up first," said Mims. The human's mind was cold calm and discipline under a towering fury. He might not be Captain anymore, but he was still very protective of his crew. Yvian noted a faint undercurrent of fear. He'd almost lost Yvian, and he was keenly aware that Lissa was unarmored and vulnerable now. "Those restraining beams are all pointing down. If we're on the top level they won't be able to trap us like they did before."

"We better make it quick," Lissa pointed out. She was more scared than the others. Lissa could fight when she had to, but she'd never taken to it the way Yvian had. She was determined though, and even more pissed than Yvian. The Captain didn't blame her. If it had been Lissa that almost died, nothing would stop Yvian from murdering every motherless son she could find. "Before they figure out a way to stop us."

"Let them try," Scarrend growled.

"Scarrend," Yvian ordered. "You know where we're going, so you take point. Mims, you're rearguard. Lissa's in the middle with me, and Kilroy's in charge of smashing ambushes and defenses."

"Uh... Captain?" Lissa pointed at the line leading from Yvian's armor to Kilroy. "I think we're gonna have to stay close together."

"I know," Yvian flushed. She hadn't thought about that. The lines connecting their armors to the Peacekeeper unit weren't that long. "I'm just saying the order we should go in." She knew she wasn't fooling anyone. They were all psychic now. They'd pick up on her embarrassment just like she picked up on their feelings. The thought made her more embarrassed, and a little huffy. "I know what I'm doing."

"We can disconnect for a minute if we need to," said Mims. "We'll have to, if we want Kilroy to deal with defenses."

"This unit will not leave for long," Kilroy promised. "This unit will ensure Captain Mother Yvian's armor does not run out of power."

"Works for me," said Yvian. "Let's go."

The group left the torture chamber with Scarrend in the lead. No Grey Ones were waiting for them. Yvian wasn't surprised. If any of the things had come close, Kilroy would have killed them already. The Peacekeeper unit was in the middle of the group, mostly because everyone but Lissa was attached to him by a two meter cable. Lissa walked next to him, with Scarrend in front and Mims and Yvian in the back.

Walking in the little group felt awkward. Logically, Yvian could see there was plenty of space on her six foot tether. She could walk normally without stepping on anyone. It still felt claustrophobic. Yvian knew she couldn't move far, and she was forced to walk closer to Kilroy's heels than she would like. It made her anxious. She found herself with her head on a swivel, checking corners and scanning for threats even though she knew the Peacekeeper would see them before she could.

They walked for five minutes. Yvian saw one of the transit tubes Scarrend had mentioned. It was just a long tube filled with soft blue light. Under other circumstances she'd have said it looked fun. Now it looked like a deathtrap. No way they were using that.

Scarrend came to a stop. "This looks like a good place." He disconnected from Kilroy and leapt. The ceiling was high. Almost five meters. Scarrend reached the top easily. He used two hands to keep himself there, claws digging into the metal ceiling. The other two hands glowed as he coated his claws with plasma. They ripped a hole in the ceiling. Scarrend moved himself in a circle, tearing until he had a three meter hole. He dropped down.

"This unit will take Mother Lissa," said Kilroy. Everyone disconnected. The Peacekeeper scooped Yvian's sister up in a princess carry and jumped through the hole. Scarrend tucked Yvian and Mims under two of his arms and followed. His jump was less perfect. Yvian's arm scraped against the jagged metal edge. She was glad she was armored.

The group repeated the process six times before Kilroy informed them they were on the top level of the alien ship. Yvian supposed they were lucky it was only six. The Grey Worldship was bigger than some planets. They could just as easily have had to climb a hundred or a thousand kilometers. At that point, they'd have had to risk the transit system.

The Greys didn't try to stop them. The group got moving. They walked down empty corridors, weapons ready for an enemy that never appeared. With every step Yvian got more worried. Where were the things? They hadn't been shy about ambushing her before. What had changed?

"I don't like this," Lissa voiced their fears. "The Greys aren't just not attacking. They're evacuating. Look." She pointed into an open chamber. It was empty. "They're avoiding us."

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"Cowards," Scarrend growled.

"Maybe, but they're not stupid." Mims was starting to tense up. "They know what we're trying to do. If they're not coming after us directly, it means they've got a plan we don't know about."

"I think we should run," said Lissa. "Assuming Kilroy doesn't mind carrying me."

They ran. It was harder to do with everyone attached to Kilroy, but Yvian activated ENERGIZER and kept the pace Scarrend set. The corridors were starting to look like a maze, but the Vrrl never hesitated. He led them through twists and turns like he'd lived there all his life. It was that Vrrl memory, Yvian guessed. Yvian would have had to spend hours with a map trying to memorize the layout. Scarrend had memorized it with one glance into the mind of an alien organic computer.

Periodically, Kilroy disconnected from everyone and disappeared. He would reappear several seconds later. Yvian saw his handiwork as she ran. Smashed turrets and broken restraining beams. No bodies. Not a single Grey One dared to show its face. This entire section of the ship had been abandoned. Yvian's nervousness bloomed into full on paranoia. Where the Crunch were they? What were they doing?

"There!" Scarrend pointed at a large set of doors. Yvian's eyes darted around the corridors. Still empty. The group came to a stop in front of the control center.

"Kilroy?" Yvian asked. "Anyone home?"

"Negative," said the machine. "No life signs detected."

"Alright." Yvian spared one more glance around the corridors. Still no one. "Let's-"

White light enveloped Kilroy. Yvian had just enough time to see it happen before another beam encased her. Scarrend tried to leap away. He avoided one of the beams, but another caught him in midair. In less than a second, the entire crew was stuck floating in the light of restraining beams.

"No no no no no no!" Lissa protested. Scarrend was growling and trying to force his way out of the beam.

Kilroy disconnected the lines connecting him to everyone's armor. "Retrieve your connectors," he instructed.

Yvian hurried to do what the machine said. The beam could phase her through matter. If her connection line was outside of it... She snatched it to her just in time. Walls and floors flashed through her. From the side? Yvian wasn't falling. She wasn't moving at all. The Worldship was.

The ship accelerated. Metal and Grey Ones and all manner of things passed through Yvian. Faster and faster they came, until it was nothing but a horrifying blur. Yvian closed her eyes. Kept them shut. She didn't feel anything. Her body still wasn't moving. She heard herself muttering Crunch over and over.

Her eyes shot open when the falling started. Yvian was in the void. The planet sized Saucer was gone. A much smaller ship floated above her. Well. Smaller than a planet anyway. The Disk was still ten kilometers across.

A spike of rage and defiance turned her to look at Mims. He had a fist raised at the Saucer. He was yelling something, but the sound didn't reach Yvian through the void. The feelings were so white hot Yvian flinched away involuntarily. Not that she could go anywhere.

The touch of multiple minds answered the human. It was faint and getting fainter. Yvian noticed the alien saucer was shrinking. Getting farther away. The feelings were fear. Respect. Contrition. Concepts came with them. They weren't words, not really, but Yvian understood them. "Not playthings." "Put back." "Avoid."

Yvian swore softly. The Grey Ones had said that before. Yvian hadn't believed them. It had never occurred to her the sadistic little shits were being honest. She could feel the shock of the others. Mims and Scarrend got even madder. The human's rage quieted after a few moments, but Scarrend looked like he was screaming incoherently at the things. The minds withdrew a few moments after Mims calmed down.

"Captain Mother Yvian." Kilroy's voice filtered in through her helmet. She turned to see the Peacekeeper looking at her. One hand was outstretched. "Give this unit your connector."

Oh. Right. Yvian glanced at her HUD. Her voidarmor only had four percent power. It had taken hours for the Grey to pull them up from the Dream of the Lady. It would take hours to put them back. Yvian's armor wouldn't last that long, and she'd die without it.

Yvian gathered up her connection cord. She tossed it to Kilroy. It wasn't a good throw, but the Peacekeeper unit repositioned himself and snagged it anyway. Kilroy plugged it in.

Yvian spent the next few hours seething. Those motherless little shits. They'd harassed her for weeks. Abducted her. Bit her. Shot her. Now they were just going to leave? Before she could kill them all? It was gribshit. She would not let this stand. As soon as her mission was over, she was going hunting. Those motherless sons would pay for what they'd done.

The human's voice cut through her thoughts. "Let it go, Captain."

"They shot me," Yvian reminded him.

"All the ones that fucked with us are dead," he told her. "The others won't be coming back. Let it go."

"Their sadists, Mims," she argued. "Monsters."

"Yeah." The human nodded. "They are. But they're not trying to genocide your people or wipe out all life in the verse. We've got bigger fish to fry."

Yvian couldn't argue with that, so she changed the subject. "How do you still have power?"

"My armor's not running a bunch of lifesaving protocols," said the human. "Just air and comms." The man shrugged. "We should bake a cake for Scarrend after this. He did good."

"I don't eat cake." The Vrrl sounded tired. No, not tired. Depressed. "There's no reason to lie, Scargiver. Once again I was below the Apex."

"Negative," Kilroy cut in. "You brought this unit with you when you were abducted. You reactivated this unit in a critical moment."

"You more than pulled your weight, Scarrend," Yvian told him. She tried to project pride and gratitude, but she didn't know if it worked.

"I got captured." The Vrrl argued.

"So did Kilroy," Mims pointed out, "and he's a killing machine that can move two hundred kilometers an hour. Nobody's perfect, Scarrend."

"The human's right," said Yvian. "You did good today. Everyone did." She tilted her head. "I think we all deserve cake."

"As my Captain commands," the human said graciously.

The Dream of the Lady grew as Yvian fell closer. Even dark and without power, it was a welcome sight. She was falling more slowly, now. A few minutes later the beam carried her through a bulkhead and released her. She found herself floating above her bathtub in a room with no light. She grabbed the tub and pulled herself to an empty section of floor. She stood herself up and activated her grav boots just in time. The lights came on and gravity restored itself. Kilroy must have turned the reactor back on.

Yvian glared in the direction of the Saucer. She couldn't see it. It was too far even if there wasn't a bulkhead in the way. Yvian didn't need to see. She knew what it would do. The Grey ones were leaving as fast as they could.

"Yeah," Yvian said softly. "You'd better run."