Hi! It's been a long time. Hey Veeveesomething! thanks for the OC! Oh yeah, whahts an artlen?

Nine

Xalcath strode about and about, seeming thoroughly anowned. While his new Emperor was warring with the Eyenroh, he had been forced to face many problems back on Groxia.

Although he did not know it, Zarkhator's rise to power had almost brought about a civil war to the Grox empire, the first in many a millenium. The Grox, as many know, hate all other species. So obviously many Grox were unhappy that a total stranger had risen to power so quickly, even though he did perfectly fit the title of their chosen one.

Xalcath himself did not approve of Zarkhator. He had been acting as leader until Zarkhator stepped in, and had not gotten over it. And, as an act of blind vengeance, had decided to gain that power back. It was time to bring in his most awesome soldier.

Xalcath looked up when his door slammed open. A tall, lithe creature strode inside, with powerful strides. She was obviously not Grox, but it looked like they had... worked on her. She was very humanoid, but covered in red fur, right to her head, with dark red stripes. With more of a cat-like head, she had big, round, crimson eyes. It looked as if she had survived an accident of some some sort, with machinary covering her right eye and the arm from elbow to fingertips. The female's right hand looked as if it had been replaced with a metal claw.

With her head turning scanning the room, she said, in a strong voice that seemed to demand respect, "You sent for me?"

Xalcath nodded. "Veara, you have heard of the Emperor?"

Veara's lip curled into a sneer, and said "Yes. Has he made yet another defeat?"

Zarkhator's actions had not been confirmed on Groxia, but rumors had sprouted.

Xalcath chose to ignore Veara's tone. "You must follow him. When he finds you, treat him with respect, and say that you were sent as reinforcements."

"Hmpf. And why do you care what he does? The Grox armies are so abundant, not even he could lose a battle against the Eyenroh."

"He is... different. The Will of Spode involves him somehow."

That got Veara's attention. "Wha-, how? Spode has not meddled in mortal affairs since the beginning of time!"

"An age is coming to an end, with a new one following closely. We must dominate all ages."

Veara seemed confused beyond hope, but managed an elegant bow. "I will track him."

"Good. Do not underestimate him."

XXX

Captain Niksneerg was a very prominent Eyenroh officer. He was no better at tactics than any other Eyenroh, but was much better at scaring prisoners enough to give in to giving information to him, to aide in his creating of tactics. This had earned him the title of Questioner, and he was obviously the best man to weedle out information from his mercenary captives.

Of course, the Wajmotob bounty hunter knew none of this. He was sitting on the edge of his prison bed, completely motionless. This was partly because he was nervous, and partly because he was covered in bandages from the attack by the Epic.

Niksneerg began by saying, in a emotionless tone, "Ready to talk?"

The Wajmotob simply spat on his foot.

The Questioner didn't even look down. Instead, he pulled up a chair and took out a long knife, and wiped the spittle off. His eyes were still firm on his victim though. "You know, even prisoners who don't talk are still useful. They're very good for alliances. Almost every planet has a good arena, and I know everyone loves seeing a large animal tear apart useless scum like you from limb to limb."

After seeing the Wajmotob's eyes widen slightly, he turned and left the room. He knew that no torture could take information faster than his own captive's torture in their brains; fear.

XXX

Tigracc was looking at the strange droid factory with something close to fascination. It was huge, and steam billowed from every nook and crannie.

Although the biulding seemed to be in overdrive, only five droids had been made. These five stood in front of the entrance to the factory, seeming oblivious to the world. The droids were made out of thick metal, but not enough to make them look very strong, even though each was carrying a small lazer. It looked as if three Grox could destroy the group in seconds.

They were obviously not very smart either. They only seemed to take notice of the orange visitor when he was right in front of them.

"Ack! Stand to attention!" cried the droid in the middle.

"He's an officer?" asked another.

"If he wasn't he'd attack us, right?"

"QUIET!" yelled Tigracc. After that there were a few roger rogers said, but nothing else.

Tigracc decided that his inspection was over. Sighing, he pointed to the droid on the left and said, "Ask Lord Ragnort to continue mining the other planets to create energy shields in the other cities. I believe the Grox are brewing some trouble."

XXX

The Grox, were indeed brewing some trouble, but Zarkhator had run into a few complications. Normally he would just ignore them and launch his invasion force anyway, but his complication was that there were approximatley 50 Grox dropships blocking the path to Merarth, so he was forced to deal with the problem.

On the command bridge of the Skystalker, the large screen which dominated the room fizzled and sparked before switching on.

The screen pictured a feline human cross creature, who was grinning maliciously.

"Hello!" she said, in an almost friendly tone. "My name is Veara. Sorry to block your path and all, but-"

Furious anyone would dare talk so friendly to him, Zarkhator roared, "SILENCE! I can see the ships you command are Grox made. Unless you are thieves, you must obey me, for I am the Grox Emperor!"

Veara seemed taken aback by Zarkhator's attitude, for she had never been treated in such a manner. "But I was just-"

"I SAID SILENCE! Every dropship you command will be inside my command ship, now! You, though will speak to me here, on the bridge!"

Veara flushed with anger, but the screen flicked off, and the dropships entered the Starstriker with the now open doors.

The Commander turned to Zarkhator and tried to whisper, "Sire, that was Veara! Xalcath holds her in very high regard. She's his favorite general, and for good reason too."

Zarkhator lifted the officer by his throat until they were eye to eye. "Are you disobeying me?"

"N-no m-m-master! P-p-p-please, l-l-l-l-let... g-g-"

The Emperor tossed him aside as if he were a rag doll, just as Veara entered. She turned to face her new leader and said in a threatening voice, "I was sent by Xalcath, with reinforcements."

Zarkhator did not even look at her as he spoke, "Were you now? Well next time, ask, or you will be in more pain than that slithering fool," gesturing to the Commander, who was gulping CO2 as if it was precious. "Enough delays! Head for Merarth!"

XXX

Niksneerg was sitting in a donut shop, munching a chocolate-with-sprinkles, thinking about how to weedle information out of his prisoners, when his radio began bleating. Picking it up, he said, "Hello, Captain Niksneerg speaking."

The other voice said "Hello, Captain, this is air control, we seem to have a... situation."

"Situation? What kind?"

"A full fleet of Grox invaders, with a huge command ship."

"Oh boy. On my break, too. Just my luck."

"They're letting out dropships..."

"Why do they think of everything? Fine, I'm coming up." Niksneerg then ran out of the donut shop clutching a coffee, flipped into his fighter, and left the planets atmostphere.

Then lay the true nightmare. The Grox had an equal amount of fighter ships as the Eyenroh, but the massive command ship was doing the armies real work, shooting down ships as if they were flies. Reinforcements would arrive from the niehbording planets, but the Eyenroh simply did not have enough fighters to destroy the Skystalker.

"Not a good day," muttered Niksneerg.

Finally invasion part 2! Oh, veevee? thx about the artlen thing.