The team examining the box quickly found the mechanism to unlatch the lid and open the box. With a nod from Carrie, they began to undo the locks and lifted the lid. As soon as the lid was raised, they bolted as quickly as they could from the box and took cover behind the lines of Nephilim in the hangar.

Nothing happened.

After waiting for a minute, Carrie waved another team toward the box and they approached cautiously. As they moved closer and closer to the box, they raised their rifles and aimed them squarely at the open space in the box. Finally, they came close enough to see inside of it and, after making sure whatever it was, wasn't dangerous, they waved Carrie over to them to inspect the box's contents.

"Rickshaw, I need a medical team in the brig," Carrie said over the open line between us. "There's a Rif'nay'fex in this. And it's alive."

"Give me a report," I demanded of the doctor in charge of the Rif'nay'fex we'd taken into our custody. I felt that declaring them a prisoner or hostage was a bit hasty, given how little we knew about the creature we'd found.

"There's not much I can give you," the man told me. "I've only had a little experience with alien bodies, and even with the diagrams you've been able to provide, I don't know anything about this species' makeup. For all I know, cutting what looks like an abcess on the neck will drown the alien in its own blood. Now, I'm assuming you want this one alive, so I don't need to explain how bad that would be for you."

"You're right about me wanting it alive," I said. "Can't you give me anything? Like, why is it asleep? Is it sedation? Malnourishment? Old age? Disease?"

"I can say confidently that it isn't age or disease," the doctor said. "Sedation is where I would place my money if I were betting man. Malnourishment would have the body in a state of crisis and there's no signs of that as far as I can tell."

"Very well," I nodded. "Can I trust you to be on call for them at any time?"

"Do you have another Xeno-specialist medical doctor onboard?" he asked.

"No I don't," I said. "I've never worried much about that sort of thing since we left the Milky Way and all the planets we were going to were cleared of everything that wasn't Scourge."

"Then I'm on call for my new patient," the doctor nodded. "Will your goons be staying here?"

"They have to," I told him. "This is a member of the race that recently attacked the Milky Way. Until I can determine if they're not dangerous to us, they stay under guard."

"Fine," he said. "Just make sure that they know I won't tolerate them antagonizing my patient and making their condition worse."

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"They were chosen because they can be professional," I assured the doctor. "Everyone on guard duty for this will be cautious about the potential state of the prisoner. If anything happens the cameras will show us who started it and I assure you that I will be handling the punishments if my men were the instigators."

"That's all from me, doctor," I said. "Please send word when your patient wakes up. If you're not here when that happens, the guards have orders to send for you before anyone."

"I'll keep you in the loop," the doctor said. "Thank you for seeing me Demigod."

"No trouble," I said as I stepped out the door and into the corridor.

"If that thing twitches in a threatening manner to you or the doctor, subdue it," I told the men on guard outside the door. "At all times, try to keep it alive. We have questions, it may have answers."

"Yessir," the four of them said as I made my way back to the bridge.

"How'd things go with our new friend?" Carrie asked as I stepped onto the bridge.

"Well enough," I said, shooing her out of my chair. "Wish they were awake, but the doctor's on call and looking after them."

"That's good," she said. "I had Bunny put the security detail together for this. That okay?"

"It's fine," I said. "She needs more experience with that sort of thing. Be a terrible thing to promote an officer and then have them be incapable of doing any of the work."

"That's the truth," she agreed.

"Micheal, Benjamin, has anyone found anything else?" I turned my attention to the two men.

"No sir," Benjamin said turning in his chair to look at me. "The Leprechaun and the Hidden Dragon detemined that the trail they detected was only a comet's tail. Not a starship's burn trail."

"Well, I expected something like that," I sighed. "Been a while since they were here. Any trail's probably gone dead. Cai, any chance you can determine the direction they might have been travelling based on the coordinates you projected and the location of the pod we found?"

"None," Cai told me, projecting his voice through the bridge's intercom and being heard by everyone. "I do not have the data neccessary to do so and using only two point such as those you mentioned will only cause such a degree of error that I will be incorrect or unable to answer."

"Well, it was worth a shot," I said. "Guess we're waiting on Sleeping Beauty to wake up then."

"Bummer," Carrie said. "Lunch?"

"I could eat," I agreed, rising. "Mike, Ben, try not to scratch the ship's paint when you switch over. I think you're shifts are ending soon."

"Do our best sir," Micheal said with a wave.

"Enjoy your lunch, sirs," Benjamin said turning back to his console.

I was setting my plate down when Cai informed me that the doctor was calling me.

"Patch him through," I told Cai before turning to Carrie. "Raincheck? The doctor's calling."

"Go," she waved me away before grabbing the sandwich I had chosen. "More for me."

"Doctor, how can I help you?" I asked as I stepped out of my private dining area and began to make my way toward the brig.

"I'm sure you can guess since I'm calling, but the patient is awake," he told me as I moved into a run and Cai began to send out a message to the Cybers to have their hosts make a hole for me to move through. "They've been speaking in their language and they seem agitated. I don't suppose you know where to find a translation guide for them?"

"I'm on the way," I told him. "As for translation, that'll have to wait until I'm there. If they're speaking the same dialect of language that we know then I'll be able to understand them and make myself understood. If they aren't, my Cyber will be able to begin pinpointing the changes and working on a solution."

"That's good," the doctor said. "They won't let me enter the cell and examine them. The guards had to intervene and remove me for a moment so I wasn't hurt."

"Well, they're there for your safety as much as the patient's," I said. "I'll be there as fast as I can."