Hi.

"This is the Spirit Laythe, surrender your vessels now or be fired upon."

"We ain't doing none of that! We're getting outta this solar system whether you like it or not!"

Below the hulking form of the battlecruiser was the planet Laythe. The vessel's nuclear engines fired, bringing it closer to the two Laythe SSTOs that were trying to escape.

"We will warn you one more time, this is the Spirit Laythe, surrender your vessels now or be fired upon."

There was no response for a few seconds. The Spirit Laythe fired off a guided missile, striking one of the SSTOs and destroying it entirely. The debris of the vessel formed a small cloud as chunks of it drifted past the Spirit Laythe.

"Why you -"

The second SSTO cut off communications with the Spirit Laythe, and proceeded to fire its engines towards the battlecruiser. The large vessel scrambled another missile, firing at the approaching SSTO. It tore off the SSTO's wing, but the vehicle kept on going.

In a brilliant explosion, the SSTO rammed the Spirit Laythe. Debris was scattered everywhere as armor and structural pieces of the battlecruiser dislocated off the ship. The ammunition inside the ship went off, and a large cloud of debris formed suddenly in Laythe orbit. The crew had less than a second to react after the ship was rammed, and none managed to get to an escape pod.

"This is the KSC transmitting to all Joolian vessels, we have lost contact with the Spirit Laythe. It may be a technical malfunction, either way we don't have comms of whats going on Laythe as of right now. Over."

Beep beep . . . beep beep . . .

The steady and surprisingly comforting sound soothed her. She opened her eyes, but quickly closed them as the room was too bright. Slowly opening them again and adjusting to the light, she examined her surroundings.

The room wasn't large, but it wasn't too small either. She was laying in a bed on one side of the room, and opposite of the bed was a window, warm sunlight streaming through its blinds. On the wall was a circular device with little sticks and numbers on them, making a small ticking as the red stick moved around.

Her injured wing was held down to the table with straps. The hole was bandaged up and there were a few tubes sticking into it.

Next to her was what looked like a box with a glowing line on it. The line would go up twice, with the machine giving that weird beeping noise, and then fall back down just as quick. It would do that every second.

Looking around again, she thought to herself "Where am I?"

Hearing the door click, she turned her head in that direction.

She tensed up when she saw that . . . Kerbal creature.

"Relax, relax," the Kerbal spoke in a feminine voice. "We aren't going to do anything to you."

"That's what they always say!" she yelled back.

"You could say that," the Kerbal replied. "But are you in chains right now, with poles stuck through your wings and your fluids painfully pumped out for study? You're lucky I was able to pull a few strings so R&D wouldn't do that to you."

"So," the winged woman replied icily. "You're all the same."

"You're?" Valentina asked. "What'd you mean by that, you met us before?"

"Do you not seriously know?!" the woman replied, pointing a finger accusingly at the Kerbal. "Your kind attacked one of our patrols, kidnapped a few of ours, and injured several others!"

Valentina was speechless for a second. "Now, let's wait for a moment and clear up some misconceptions." Valentina decided to take a step towards the hospital bed. "My name's Valentina. Valentina Kerman. Now, what's yours?"

"I won't answer your questions!" the winged woman said. "Now tell me where I am!"

"Well, let's settle on a deal. I'll ask a question and you'll give an answer. You ask a question and I'll give an answer. A fair deal, am I right?"

The woman huffed, before looking at Val. "Fine. My name's Updraft."

"Interesting name. Now your turn to ask a question."

"Okay, where am I?"

Valentina was thinking for a moment. Key points for interrogation was to give information, but not enough information to satisfy them. And not too much, either.

"We're located at the Kerbal Operation Base's hospital."

"Well, no duh. But where are we, exactly?"

Valentina smiled. "That's not how it works. My turn to ask a question."

Updraft gave an angry look at Valentina. "Now, where are you from and what are you here for?" Val asked.

Updraft thought about this question for about a minute.

"I'm here for . . . Nothing of your business!"

Valentina frowned. "I think it is all of our business. After all, we caught two of your buddies in our fort, not to mention the large barrage of missiles that hit our base earlier. I think we deserve to know about that, so tell us now."

"Wait, the two others?" Updraft tried to get out of her bed. "What, are they okay? How are they?"

Val stomped her foot down. "I said one question at a time, and we take turns! Also, get back in your bed, you're in no condition to be walking!"

Updraft sat back down as pain in her injured wing kept her bedridden. She winced as her wing shifted in its straps.

"Okay, you still haven't answered your question. Tell us. Now."

Updraft sighed. "Us three were went here to . . . try to find a way to fight off your species in our homeland."

'This is interesting' Valentina thought.

Updraft spoke again. "My turn to ask. Where are we, exactly?"

"We're located on the edge of the second-largest continent of this planet, approximately 1,500 from the northern pole of this planet."

Updraft blinked. That wasn't the answer she was hoping for.

". . . or, you're also located on the continent of Falmart. Now, you said earlier that you needed to fight off my species. How, and why?"

Updraft replied, "Well . . . there were members of your species up north, near where my people live. They built large castles and fortresses made of metal, and we haven't tried to approach them. They've attacked us in patrols and captured a few. They're trying to search for our well-hidden homes, and we've been looking around down this way with the strange constructs we have stolen from them."

Val nodded. That explains the barrages of missiles into the KOB.

"Now, about my companions," Updraft continued. "How are they?"

"One of them, Keen Feather, was captured earlier with minor injures. He's in this hospital along with the one that was alongside you in the fighting earlier."

"That one's Downdraft, my stubborn twin brother."

"Twins? Now that's rather interesting, our DNA scanners were a bit confused when scanning your blood samples."

Valentina built her question off of Updraft's previous response to the question. "You said that members of my species attacked your people. Please, explain how their uniform looked."

"Well, it was a rather disgusting orange color with those large glass and metal globes that our weapons couldn't scratch. I prefer your uniforms, they're a nice white and red color."

Orange. Only two organizations on Kerbin used those uniforms The old and outdated space program and the KSC 2.

Valentina hit her fist on the top of the nearest table nearby, startling Updraft.

"Gosh dang it! I thought we got rid of those guys!"

"W-what? Did I say something wrong?" Updraft asked.

"No, you told us the right thing. I'll be going now, you rest up."

Valentina closed the door to the winged human's room.

"So?" Bob Kerman asked. "Info?"

"At first she didn't want to tell us too much. So I told her that, if she wanted to ask us questions we ask her questions. A question for a question.

"So, she is apparently the same species as the other two intruders - both of which haven't woke up yet. Her name's Updraft, and the other person that was with her was her twin brother, Downdraft."

"Convenient names, aren't they?" Bob asked.

"Yep. But that's not the important part," Valentina replied, walking down the hallway.

"Wait, hold up. What do you mean by it's not the important part?" Bob Kerman asked, trailing after her.

"There's a piece of information that overshadows everything else we know."

"Well, then, tell me!"

Valentina continued walking. "The KSC 2's forces are still alive."

Bob Kerman stopped in his tracks. "Now, how is that true?! I saw the destroyed ships myself, there is no way none of them could've possibly come down from orbit!"

"But they did, and now they're on this planet,"Valentina replied icily. "We left a job half done, and we're going to finish it. Tell everyone to prepare supplies and weapons, we're going to take those guys out."

I was going to make this a little longer, but I didn't want to expand the wait time for you guys.