"Oof!" Ty said, landing in the bottom of the pit. Well, at least that's over. Ty never really, truly appreciated personal space before; he'd always considered it a given. His skin was still crawling. He had a goofy feeling, probably to do with whatever had been shoved down his throat earlier. It was better than the terror-spite-resignation cycle he'd been going through, though. Somewhere in his mind he was aware that mixing unknown chemicals, especially in his condition, was a bad idea. But it felt good, and he'd take what he could get in this miserable place. His stomach still hurt. Whatever he'd been given didn't take it away, instead letting him ignore it. Ty smiled, though the dull throb warned him he was really in for it when it wore off, but right now he didn't care. He was so tired. He couldn't sleep, and eventually night came. Orange and yellow feet appeared in front of him. Okay, happy feeling gone now. They came closer.

Earlier that day...

One of his captors suddenly pushed her sisters off herself, pointed at him and began gesturing. The whole group turned his way. Ty's stomach sank when they approached (all ten of them...), which got worse as they closed in. Move move move! He couldn't, not very far. His shirt vanished, torn to shreds by the dozens of hands now reaching for him. He gasped and held his breath, staying stiff as a board, eyes squeezed shut. On realizing they had not eviscerated him, he looked at what they were doing.

They pried and prodded, like he was a prize-winning science project. At least with the Queen there had only been one set of antenna, a lone pair of mandibles... She was gentle, they weren't. He was getting overwhelmed from mingled stress and pain, which only served to make them even more persistent. The feelers were ticklish, and there were more hands touching him than he could keep track of. Stingers waved and intertwined above him. Mandibles clicked, and they nipped at each other to get a better look at him. Somebody was entirely too interested in his kneecaps. The most he could do was struggle in their combined grasp, but it only encouraged them. Ty soon gave up, waiting for their curiosity to be satisfied, and hoped it was only curiosity.

Finally, mercifully, they left him alone. They were gone so fast it was like they hadn't been there at all... Except for the two black-and-white ones, who weren't done with him yet. Ty still had stars in his eyes, and his abdomen felt like a gaping pit of fire. He dared to look at it and gasped in outraged horror: The stings didn't look the same as before. The first few sting wounds were bruised and inflamed, just deep flesh wounds. The final one radiated a malevolent inky black all around the site, fading to greenish-purple a few inches away, and was seeping yellowish liquid from blisters the size of his thumb. He silently pleaded it was just the lingering effects of the venom. The alternative, that there might actually be something to worry about...

It's not going to matter soon either way. He squeezed his eyes shut at that teary thought.

One left, leaving him with the burn victim. "So... What's your name?"

"I am Mildei."

"I see... can y-" the words died when she grabbed his mouth.

"You not allowed to say. Macrurus say so. I tell her, you hurt more."

Ty shook his head in understanding.

"Yes, good. I get water, other drink. You stay quiet."

She left too, and both Soldiers came back shortly after, carrying metal containers. They cornered him (not hard to do since he couldn't go anywhere), and Mildei grabbed his head and tilted it back. He tried to fight back, accomplishing nothing. The other one easily pried his mouth open and dumped the contents of a container in it. He had to swallow or choke, and he recognized the substance as water (with something in it). He coughed loudly, spitting some out, and they did it again, making him drink more before switching. A strong, sickeningly sweet jelly-liquor slithered and burned down his throat, followed by more tampered water. His stomach threatened to reject the food, but it stayed down. At first, he was furious and worried about what happened- what did they just force-feed him?- but then...

"Oh..." he whispered, leaning back and cheering up against his will. He felt better. A little. He hadn't realized he was still shaking until he stopped.

"Rhyssa beg very much, beg us feed you." Oh, Mildei was so looking forward to her repayment!

He nodded his appreciation. He was still feeling betrayed, but... "Tell her I said thanks?"

"No."

Now...

"I see you had some fun while I was away," Macrurus began. She was in a good mood, at the moment. Her subordinates had finally made something the Queen was impressed with. Her Rhyssa was going back to normal. Life was good.

Now to deal with this thing...

"I couldn't stop them," Ty explained. "They took me."

"Did I say you could leave?" She could smell who'd been touching it, what they'd fed it, that sneaky pair. What were they thinking? Ah well, she could still make this work in her favor.

"No, but like I said, they-"

"So you disobeyed me?"

Ty mentally squirmed in his spot. This was one of those questions with no right answer... "Yes, I'm sorry for that."

"Good. I know they wouldn't have run off with you if you hadn't tried to get out."

She knew! "I'm sorry, I don't know what I was thinking." He really didn't want to play along, but more than that he didn't want to see what she'd do if he didn't. He still felt lightheaded, and the shaking had returned.

Macrurus ran her stinger through her jaws to clean it. "Hmmm... What to do with you..." Too bad she couldn't sting it again. By the looks of its belly, this squishy foreigner wasn't reacting to the venom as she expected. From what little she'd seen of Lahilans, they stayed paralyzed and didn't change colors or get the skin-bubbles for another few days... if they were still around by then. Useless for questioning, obviously, unlike this one. It didn't have to know she couldn't, and she brandished the appendage as though she was thinking about it.

No! Ty thought. "I'll do what you want," he slurred. "Because... you're the boss," he hastily added.

"That's probably the best decision you've made here," she teased. "Lucky you, I'm feeling generous. All you have to do is tell me what I want to know, and I will let you sleep in a nice, safe place. Not out here, where something can easily come in..." she let Ty's mind fill in the blanks. As if to emphasize her words, something flew over them. He bit his lip nervously and sighed. He'd already told her the truth and she refused to believe him; this couldn't possibly end well.

"Alright." He was doing the wrong thing... he wasn't supposed to give up, not even a little. He only had to tell them his name and rank. Anything else was too much, endangering others. But none of what she was asking was secret information... so it couldn't hurt to answer, right? His jaw worked. No, it couldn't, especially since he already had. These people weren't after the Galactic Alliance, or some politician, or Star Command. They were after him, personally. His answers could only help or hurt himself. Nobody else was at risk. Except whoever's coming.

He was completely prepared for Macrurus to pick him up and get in his face again. He wasn't prepared for the comforting hand running though his hair. Another hand rubbed his back, the claws dragging on exposed skin. Was that intentional, or just the result of having daggers for fingers? He arched away from the touch, not wanting a repeat of the earlier near-maulings. She creatively interpreted it as a sign he wanted a hug. He wasn't fooled. "You know, I overreacted earlier, I admit it. All I want is your honesty," her voice was soft and calming. She cradled the back of his neck, so he didn't dare move. That was definitely intentional! What is she doing!? She relaxed her grip, enough to make him look at her. "So why don't you just tell me the truth? Why did you really come here?" Still soft as a smothering pillow.

"I already told you," he said in as strong a voice as he could muster. He was so tired, and was starting to feel weird. Not sick, just... wrong. His eyes wouldn't focus. "It was an accident." Like she would listen.

"Then tell me about your mission," she suggested. "With the Lahilan..."

"That was an escort mission. Lahila just joined the Alliance," he said without thinking. Oh that was a bad idea, wasn't it? She hadn't believed him before. Here it comes.

"Really."

Okay, not the reaction he was expecting...

"Yes." Then, an idea came to him. Maybe he could salvage this! "Rhyssa told me about how horribly they treated you guys. Really awful stuff." She bit the air, her grip tightening... Bad idea. One or both of these was a sore topic with her. He forced enthusiasm through the waves of... whatever was happening to him. "So it's a good thing none of that is legal, for Alliance members! Right?"

She watched him quietly for a minute, and he fought off the cobwebs in his head just enough to hear her. "And you expect me to believe this."

"No. But if you give me a chance I can prove it," Ty quickly rattled out, trying to sound eager to please. Let this work... just give me an opening...

"We'll see about that," she lied. "How did they become your followers?"

"They're members, not followers. They got some representatives, and had them talk to our representatives, and then they signed some legal work." His head wobbled with the effort of holding it up.

"That can't be all," Macrurus snarled. Then she tried to comfort it again; too much force was no good when it was half-sedated like this.

He shied away from her touches. "Well, obviously there's more to it than that, but that's the actual process. The simple version."

"So what else is there?"

Everything was spinning. "Well, they have to follow the rules." Wow, Ty, that's real convincing. Great job!

"So if we joined, we would be subjects of yours, we would belong to you?"

"No, everybody still has their own laws. They're pretty flexible." One needed to look no further than Tradeworld and Rhizome... She loosened her hold some more. Did he strike gold? For once? More importantly, did he say that or think it... This was getting hard. "It's all diplomatic, everyone has a say."

"I don't see how that would work." There just had to be some trick to it! What was the catch, how did they keep order, control? Something that big couldn't possibly be held together by words. The Hive sure wasn't! It must be these Space Rangers. She looked at her captive, at its exhausted expression. She'd better hurry. This was bad, how fast her venom seemed to be working... Its eyes rolled back and she shook it. It laughed, an unnerving sound. She shook it again, and this time it fearfully woke up. "It's all right, I won't hurt you if you cooperate." She lowered the foreigner to a kneel. "See?"

"Yeah, sure..." he didn't believe she was telling the truth. But she wasn't touching him anymore, that was good. And she was giving him time, room to breathe...

You know exactly what she's doing! She's trying to get to you, don't give her anything she can use! Just hold on until help arrives. Help is on the way. His resolve crumbled even as he thought it; he'd be long gone by the time they got here, more than likely.

They must have been on the same wavelength. "Now, your allies. What will they do when they arrive?"

"They'll look for me."

"And what else?" Macrurus knew they would cause problems, but what kind- poison, fire, something else?

"That's all, I promise." He might not be able to help himself... but he was a Ranger! He was going to at least try to help his would-be rescuers.

"Oh, you promise. Well, that solves everything! I should turn you loose this second!"

"Please listen to me!"

"I am, you won't stop lying!"

"Well, what do you want me to say?" Anger was starting to override common sense.

"The truth. What are you foreigners going to do to us? You have Lahila at your side, what will they do, now they have your support?"

"What is wrong with you? Nobody's going to do anything! You people want to be left alone, fine! That's great, we will gladly let you carry on with your psychotic behavior by yourself. Have fun!" He winced at his own spiteful voice, knowing he'd made a mistake.

The insectoid picked him up and slammed him against the side of the pit. He yelled. "The truth, foreigner, or I can make this worse!"

"Go right ahead!"

She did it again, harder, before punching him in the gut. He turned white, unable to make noise, and she let him stumble before catching him again. Apparently whatever he'd been drugged with couldn't keep that at bay. He jolted at the gentle hand on his face. It turned him to her. "Well?"

Just get away from me, please... "I already did," he choked. He breathed heavily, shakily, trying to distance himself from his stomach. He had to give her credit, aiming for the same weak point over and over wasn't very inventive, but if the goal was torment it worked. Ty was wondering if he should just make something up so she'd leave him alone, (but what if she catches me lying?) reluctantly deciding against it. He was so tired, so sore, and he was ashamed to admit he felt like he was going to cry again. And still she wouldn't leave.

He could sense her fury building up. "Soon, I take you to Mother. If you insist on these lies, then I will just have to see how honest your allies are. I need not make an offering of all of them..." When he didn't respond, she continued. "I can do this all night." He sniffled, but still didn't say anything. "Do you enjoy this?" He fiercely shook his head. "I bet they will. I wonder, foreigner, if any of them can outlast you? What do you think?" Ty did his best not to react. His heart was racing. "I guess I'll just have to find out on my own, won't I? That's going to be fun. For me, anyway."

"No! Don't hurt them... Please..? They're only coming because of me, please don't..." the words shot out before he could stop them.

Now we're getting somewhere, she thought. Time to push harder.