A beam is shot from one of the Destroyers. But it wasn't a destructive one. It was beam that pulls ships closer. What the people from the Destroyers call a tractor-beam. It hits the Marveller, and pulls it inside the Destroyer's docking bay.
Immediately upon touching down, the Marveller is surrounded by soldiers, guns fully loaded, and aimed at the ship.
On one side of the ship, a door opens.
"Everyone, aim for that door!" an order is barked out.
Their eyes and guns never leaving the door, they all witness how three people leave the ship. One male, one female, and one robot. While the robot Alpha keeps his hands up in the air, Chen and Mary do nothing. Not even looking angry at the armed guards.
"Only three? The Judoon officer mentioned a fourth one," the commanding officer says.
Mary looks the man up and down, as well as the soldiers. The soldiers are dressed in white armor. While she can see the necessity in wearing such things, the commanding officer's uniform seems completely at odds, as it's made of black leather. It's almost as if he's a commander of a different army, who is now stuck with these white men. She remembers Zordon mentioning how this Destroyer seems to be made of technologies from two different people. If these soldiers are with the Galactic Empire, since their suits match with the ships, that must mean this commanding officer is a Peacekeeper.
"Where's the traitor called Zordon?" the commander asks.
"Traitor?" Alpha, for the first time ever, sounds angry. "How dare you call him that!"
The Peacekeeper shouts, "Stormtroopers!"
The men in white raise their guns at Alpha, who immediately shuts up.
Chen shrugs. "At least now we know what these people are called."
"He called Zordon a traitor," Mary whispers back at him. "Wonder what that's about."
"Silence!"
Mary looks at the Peacekeeper, trying not to laugh at the order he just cried.
Looking at the entrance to the Marveller, the Peacekeeper steps toward it. There is very little light in there, as he expected. It's a sign that they're hiding something in there that they don't want others to see. He grins as he moves toward it.
"Marveller! Stiletto!"
Upon hearing the command from Mary, the door to the Marveller shuts abruptly. A flash of light covers the ship, indicating a forcefield is now protecting it. Just to be sure, the Peacekeeper tries touching the door, and feels the shock from doing this.
He turns his head to Mary, anger visible on his face.
"Unlock the ship," he orders.
Mary giggles. "I don't take orders from you."
The Peacekeeper makes one hand-gesture, and the Stormtroopers aim their guns at her.
"Go ahead, shoot me," she says. "But then you'll never find out how to get in."
The Peacekeeper grins. "Aim at her companions."
As ordered, the Stormtroopers point their guns at Chen and Alpha. While the latter cries the word "aye" more times than usual, Chen merely grins, looking at his wife, who is not afraid, but aggravated instead.
"You shoot them, and I'll definitely never tell you!"
The Peacekeeper sighs. "This isn't a game, miss. So I sug..."
"I'm not playing games," Mary interrupts. "You hijack us, threaten us with our lives, and you expect us to roll the red carpet for you?"
The Peacekeeper shakes his head. "Zordon is not worth your loyalty."
"And you're not worth our cooperation," Mary bites back. "What's your point?"
The Peacekeeper rolls his eyes. He's met people who don't respect authority before, but usually they at least cave when their loved ones are threatened. These two don't even seem fazed at all about their situation. He tries a different approach.
"You don't need to tell us how to get in," he says. "We have our own ways of forcing entry."
Chen laughs. "Then why waste your time with us?"
"Aye-aye-aye-aye-aye!" Alpha cries out. "How can you two be so callous? Don't you understand what they might do to you?"
Looking at the robot, the Peacekeeper realizes that the answer to all his questions just spoke to them. He turns to his soldiers. "Take the humans to their holding cells. And take the droid to the labs for examination."
Chen frowns. "Droid?"
"I think he means Alpha," Mary explains.
If Alpha had the muscle for it, he'd have gulped. "Me?"
Before anyone can say anything, the soldiers surround the three. Separately, to make sure one cannot assist the other. And separately, they are being escorted to where the Peacekeeper ordered them to go.
Somewhere during escort, Chen, Mary and Alpha are forced into a corridor that goes into two directions. Chen and Mary are forced to in one, while Alpha is pushed into another. Mary shouts after Alpha, but only gets a stomp in her stomach for it. Chen, in his anger, starts toward the Stormtrooper who stomped her, but stops as soon as he sees the same trooper aiming his gun at her. Though he retreats, he doesn't change the contemptuous expression on his face.
One Stormtrooper places his hand on Mary's arm, to help her up, but Mary pulls herself away from him. "Don't touch me!"
A sigh can be heard through the Stormtrooper's helmet. "I have been ordered to escort you..."
"Did you hear the word "harass" in that order?" Mary questions him. "I thought you people were all about upholding the law!"
Upon hearing this, the Stormtroopers exchange some glances. One of them reaches out to her, but thinks better of it, and instead aims his gun, motioning her to move forward.
One of the Stormtroopers mutters under his breath. "We should really revise some of our laws."
Once they arrive at a door, which is labeled "droid-repair room", the Stormtroopers stop. One of them opens the door, while the other pushes Alpha into the room.
"Hey!" Alpha shouts back at them. "Why are you pushing me in here? I don't need repairs!"
The Stormtroopers don't say a word. They shut the door in Alpha's face, followed by a beeping sound.
Alpha, unsure of what he just heard, presses a button on the side of the door. Nothing happens. He raises his hand to try again, but it's stopped.
What is stopping his hand, Alpha wonders, so he looks to his arm.
Another arm is holding it. Alpha does not recognize the robot that's holding him, but its height and dark color tell him enough.
"You are here for examination," the robot says. "You can only go once that's done."
"What examination?" Alpha asks, "I'm not broken."
"That is for me to decide," is all the answer that the robot can give him.
Alpha mutters another "aye-aye-aye", but that doesn't stop the robot from dragging him deeper into the room.
The Peacekeeper, still obsessed with trying to find his way into the Marveller, takes out his tablet. He is aware that the Peacekeeper's database on Earth's culture is limited, but it's the best chance he has at getting through the shield.
He activates the screen of his tablet, where he types in the word "stiletto". His thought is that if he can figure out what the word means, it may give him a clue as to what word would unlock the ship.
According to the database, depending on the context, "stiletto" can mean either a blade, or the heel of a shoe. Next to the second definition, the Peacekeeper sees a picture of a shoe. Though the color is different, it is still the same sort of shoe that he saw Mary wearing. So, if one type of heel locks down the ship, another must unlock it. He looks for other types, and reads one word out loud.
"Wedge."
No response. A shake of his head later, the Peacekeeper tries another word.
"Kitten," but again nothing. "Block."
He reads several of them, but none of them work. He looks further. Maybe, because the heel is only one part of the shoe, he should try other parts. He looks at the database, searching for the right words, and tries them.
"Sole," nothing changes. "Ball. Lace!"
Still nothing.
A sigh escapes the Peacekeeper's mouth. Maybe she was talking about blades after all. He looks at names of Earth blades, and tries those.
"Katanna," this time he's no longer waiting for something to happen first. "Short sword! Short stick! Switchblade!"
Several more words later, and he throws the tablet at the forcefield. It causes the small device to explode, but the Peacekeeper doesn't care anymore. Looks like he is outsmarted. And by an Earthen person, no less. His bosses aren't going to like this, he thinks to himself.
The dark droid examines Alpha. He clearly has never seen anything like him before. Tubes for arms, blocks for feet, and a saucer for a head. This robot was not built for efficiency, that much is obvious. When it looks at Alpha's back, it notices something. There seems to be a slot there.
"What is this slot?" it asks.
"It's where I read discs," Alpha explains.
This, the droid understands. "So this must be the only direct link I can make to your memory banks. Good to know."
From its worktable, the droid raises a disc, that is connected to a wire. At the sight of it, Alpha tries to run.
"No! Don't stick that in..."
He cannot complete his sentence, as the disc is slipped into Alpha's slot.
This being done, the droid now waits for the information that the disc can provide him with.
