Va' Lox stood before a transporter marked with the code 79pluralKbeta. The guard narrowed his eyes at her.

"You must be mistaken, smeet," he snarled out the last word like it filled his mouth with slime just to say it. "Defects aren't allowed on Elite training ships."

"Sir! The Control Brain sent me here, sir!" Va' Lox saluted.

The pink-eyed guard snarled and his claws flashed. Va' Lox reacted instantaneously. The guard's claws were plunged into the metal. Grudgingly, he pulled out a scanner. A beam of light traveled up and down Va' Lox before shutting off.

"Subject: Va' Lox. Age: ten cycles. Eye color: green. Height: twenty three marks. Field of study: Elite training," it listed.

"Get in," snarled the guard, trying to pull out his claws.

The Irken female walked in through the doorway and saw a small room with about ten smeets strapped into chairs. Va' Lox choose the next seat in line and waited.

Some time passed and very few smeets joined them. By the time fifteen smeets were strapped to the wall mounted chairs, the door closed and a slightly tall, purple-eyed Irken male walked from the front of the ship, stopped in front of the smeets, and glared at them.

"You are now in Elite training," he shouted. "The Control brains choose each of you because you are the most likely to survive! You will have to kill, kill quickly, and kill efficiently. I expect many of you will die. You will only receive one of these uniforms when you pass my test."

He gestured to his purple, caped uniform. "This is Elite training Engineer course! Pass this and you will go to Alien studies course. I expect each and every one of you to be able to dissemble, upgrade, and reassemble a PAK within ten minutes by the time I'm done with you."

The ship speed away in the star spiked sky.