Soon enough is a joke. Even after about three hours of circling the remains of the Starblazer, the detector remains silent. Although he doesn‘t speak much, Slicer feels Lappor's growing anxiety. It tempts him to barrel down on the smaller Menkar, but he decides against it. The Jäger must be kept on its curse as the danger to get damaged by the debris is too high. Besides, he does not know how Felrani would react.

Since they have started their search, she hasn‘t spoken a single word. As if her bubbly self got put on standby, Slicer muses as he glares at her every so often. There is definitely something fishy about her. I would bet my fins on it if I still had them. Especially the metal collar around her neck seems odd to him. Although reminiscent of the gill-protectors handed to the most important members of the Fleet — Slicer had one too, but he was forced to get rid of it to hide his involvement with the Fleet — this collar was too tight to be a protector.

Suddenly, the communicator of the Jäger cracks to life again. Static consumes the whole inside of the spacecraft as everyone stares at the small blinking light atop the device. Slicer swallows hard and wonders if the Creature of the Void is still there. Lurking for everything that might comes across the giant corpse of the Starblazer. Do they use wreckages as baits?, he worries and tightens his grip around the controller until his knuckles turn white.

Following his instinct he switches the radar to a boarder area. With a bling, the radar zooms out and shows not only the debris close to the Jäger but also the whole wreck of the Starblazer. Tense, Slicer watches the circling line while the static from the communicator becomes unbearable loud.

„What in the Void…”, he mumbles as the radar suddenly malfunctions.

Instead of the debris and the remains of the Starblazer it just shows what appears to be a solid mass completely around them. Not long after a static shock hits the Jäger like a wave and causes all electricity to shut down. Immediately, Slicer pushes his shock away and tries to restart the board computer. He fails. He tries again with the same out come. There's just one possible culprit.

„You!” he snarls and turns to Felrani who looks at him with a toothy grin.

But before he can attack her the Jäger and everyone inside it get swallowed by prefect darkness. Everything is silent. Slicer feels the hair in his neck raise.

Light.

Blinding light floods the cockpit of the Jäger and causes Slicer a stinging pain in the eyes. He hisses and immediately places his arms before his face. At the same time he can hear the hull opening, although the lock is still in place. Blinking the tears and pain away, he forces himself to look up. What he sees makes him feel sick.

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The Jäger doesn‘t float through space anymore. It now stands inside the hold of a giant spaceship. But before he can really take in his surroundings he gets yanked out from his seat. As if he’s just a sack, he gets thrown out of the Jäger. He lands with a loud thud on a walkway made of dark metal. Before he can recover from the sudden change of space, he gets slammed against a cold steel wall. His arms get yanked backward and secured with shackles made from metal.

He wants to fight and take as many down as possible. But he cannot move even his pinkies. His will simply doesn‘t reach his limbs anymore.

„He's a feisty one”, says someone with a deep voice right behind him.

„Has certainly anger issues”, replies Felrani happy-go-lucky.

„Indeed, he has punched me more than enough times”, remarks Lappor, but he does not sound nasal anymore.

„What's going on?”, Slicer presses through forceful clenched teeth. „Lappor!”

„How remarkable! He can break through it!”, the one with the deep voice says.

„He certainly has the necessary willpower”, says a female with a somber voice. „Take him to the Captain, Relten.”

„As you wish, Angora”, the one with the deep voice replies bemused and pulls Slicer away from the wall.

Immediately he pushes him forward, which causes Slicer to stumble a few steps before he finds a suitable pace. He wants to ask what all of this means but before can even take a deep enough breath to begin his tirade a black cotton bag gets pulled over his head. The only thing he notices are the hands pulling his horns through the fitting holes. Once that is done, the bag gets pulled shut around his horns. He can feel the string unpleasantly pressing against their base.

Slicer gets pushed forward. His fate dangling on a thin threat. What an odd way of dealing with me, he thinks and bares his teeth. This seems to be the Deep Space Fleet… But what about Felrani and Lappor? That she's involved makes sense, but him? Old doormat Lap? It's impossible that he's a Pactkeeper! Damn this fool. I'm going to end them all!

His thoughts are interrupted by a harsh yank on his shackles. Growling he bites the remark on his lips down and continues to curse his captors in his mind. Without slowing down his keeper pushes him further and further as if trying to confuse him. And much to his chagrin, Slicer has to admit that he is lost.

After about fifteen minutes, his journey comes to a sudden halt. Something hisses in front of him. A door most likely…, he muses slightly nervous. As he is pushed forward, he hears someone talking. A soft, melancholic voice.

„… wasn't easy”, says the owner of the voice. „But we found him on K441.“

The bag is removed from Slicer's head with an unpleasant tug. Momentarily blinded, he hisses and closes his eyes. At the same time he gets a kick against his back and falls forward.

„That was unnecessary, Relten,” says the one who has spoken earlier. „I doubt he's much of a danger.”

„I know your voice,” Slicer says and looks up into a light grey face with blank greyish white eyes surrounded by white hair. „You're Restimil Vadias.”

„How quaint,” Restimil replies with a faint smile on his grey lips but he doesn‘t face him properly. „It's good not to waste any time on introductions, Aranian.”