Days earlier...

It was really dark. His eyes tried to adjust, but it was impossible. There was no light whatsoever. The roar of wings and bodies moving above him was faded, so Ty knew he had to be pretty far underground. There was an Apocritan gripping each of his arms, and suddenly they shoved him forward. His steps echoed on rock. Ty felt cold and gelatinous, from fear and venom. His eyes squeezed shut. He knew what was coming, tried not to think about the sharp 'crunch!' in his immediate future... A whimper disguised as a cough escaped him. Another set of hands grabbed him, yanking him forward, and he suppressed the urge to scream. He would not give them the satisfaction. He refused..!

Crunch!

Buzz bit into a nice cold pickle, wondering where XR had wandered off to. His plate was loaded with delicious (but hideous) food. They were having a light lunch in a room, all dark hardwood and heavy curtains. An artificial waterfall trickled on one side of the room, and there was a painting of a rain forest. Slight marks on the floor revealed that some furniture had been switched out for the table, which was polished to a mirror finish. Buzz poked at some stubble visible in the reflection, reminding himself to shave later. One of the walls was retractable, so there was a lovely view of the Ambassador's estate. It was on the edge of a plateau, and by looking out Buzz could see down into the valley (Talnak owned a lot of land). Short, scrubby plants with white and yellow flowers burst through rocky soil in clusters, and people were harvesting the orchard. The delicate cinnamon-scents of the ripe fruit drifted upwards.

He was annoyed with the Ambassador's insistence on lunch before anything else, but there was no arguing with him. In fact, Talnak seemed determined to talk about anything but their mission. Right now, as he had been for the last quarter of an hour, Talnak was trying to pry details about Jo-Adian crop production from Booster- "For trade! I haven't gotten a chance to speak with the Jo-Adian representative!"- but Booster had been away too long for any current information.

"Well, what kind of things do they make on Lahila? Maybe I can see what Pa Munchapper thinks about a deal," he asked. "I don't know what he'd want, though, things are going well last I heard."

"Ha! What does your Pa need, is the better question. We've got plenty of agricultural products you might appreciate," Talnak jumped on the opening. "Mostly organic pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides, completely ecofriendly and all that. I hear Jo-Ad's got a bit of a hornet problem?"

"Oh, yeah, bunzel hornets. They're not very nice, but they're the major bunzel pollinators so we don't get rid of them unless they're nesting somewhere bad."

That didn't seem to be what Talnak wanted to hear. "Hmm, I see. Well, I'm sure you'll think of something, you seem like a reasonable young man."

"Thanks!" Booster said happily, reloading his plates (again). The Ambassador turned to Mira, who was getting more and more suspicious. She couldn't say why, but she really wanted to dig around in his head. He seemed to notice her feelings. Both people smiled politely at each other, and Talnak offered her a pitcher of water, which she graciously accepted. It was pretty dry outside, and her hair was getting really frizzy. Mira decided to bring up the reason they were there in the first place. Again.

"So Ty is stuck on this planet next to you guys? Have you heard anything from him or anyone else since you forwarded the distress signal? Anything at all?"

"He did try to contact us a few days ago. Converted to your clock, I think four or five. It didn't go so well, the connection was bad, but he did say that his ship has suffered extensive damage during his landing. He himself has made contact with the locals and has thus far avoided capture," Talnak answered. "Anyone want that last bread roll?" Buzz took it. It was lumpy and bubblegum pink. The Lahilans had a very different idea of what constituted 'good presentation'.

"Well, we do need to know more about where we're going before we go get Ty, so if you would be so kind, Ambassador..." Mira continued where she left off. "Not that I don't like this nice lunch, it's really generous of you, but we're on a mission."

Talnak exhaled. Ha, he can't put it off any longer, Mira thought. "Ah, yes. I believe my assistant has the appropriate files by now. A moment, please," he pressed a button on his watch, and several minutes later a well-dressed younger man darted in. He had a scraggly beard, and his hair was a mix of... Well, hair, and quills. He had a manila folder and two discs. Talnak took the items from his assistant, and flipped through the folder before handing it to Buzz, who also flipped through it. The assistant left the room as quickly as he'd arrived. The information looked like it was useful, this time. There were more details about the Apocritans, with some pictures of them. Buzz winced at one- a big group of the aliens had someone clenched in their jaws and were pulling in all different directions. More were swarming into frame at the time the shot was taken. Yikes. They were definitely a sinister-looking bunch.

"I'm very sorry about the lack of details. A lot of it is proprietary information," Talnak excused himself. "Copyrights and patents... You know how it is with lawyers."

"It's alright, I ah, think we've got enough to work with here," Buzz answered. He took that particular picture out before passing the folder to Booster. "I can see why you waited until after lunch. What are these discs?"

"The first one will get you past the satellites. It took some work, believe me, but Lahilan technology is lightyears ahead of theirs," the Ambassador said, elbowing Buzz playfully. The two men shared a chuckle at the pun.

"So the Apocritans didn't benefit from your partnership?" Mira cut in.

"Oh, they have benefited, just not as much as they could have. I suppose it's for the best, they're a bit more interested in meals than deals. Your captain can show you what I mean, haha," he joked. Then, to Buzz, "The second one is the landing site based on the most recent transmission from Parsec. There's a handy little map, too, and other geographical data, things like that. Hopefully Ty's still doing well," Talnak grinned at Mira. "You sound interested in our partnership with Apocrita, Princess Nova."

"Ranger Nova," she corrected, "and yes, since nobody's mentioned any of this before. It can look suspicious to certain people." Mira kept her annoyance in check as best she could. Something about him grated her nerves.

"Ha, there's people out there who are suspicious of everything!" he said with a wave of his hand, "But yes, if you truly must know, Pri- Ranger Nova, you are more than welcome to ask."

Buzz and Mira spoke at the same time.

"Well, to start with-"

"Okay Team, we've had our break-"

"Oh, sorry Buzz, you first."

"Thanks. Ambassador Talnak, we really appreciate your help. I wish we could stay, but our missing Ranger is still out there and based on what you're telling us, it doesn't look like we can afford to stay much longer..." he stopped and looked around. "Does anyone know where XR went?"