Warnings: There will be violence and death in this chapter.

Viewer discretion... reader discretion is advised.


For Better or Worse

Purple sighed as he folded his arms over his chest and leaned back against the wall. Red was too predictable.

Three... two... one...

BOOM!

The soldiers turned away and brought up their hands to protect themselves from the metal shrapnel while most of the prisoners just cringed. It was all they could do since they were bound and unable to move.

Purple shut his eyes for a couple of seconds since he didn't really feel like replacing his ocular implants if a piece of debris happened to get lodged in there. They were far enough away to avoid the blast, so no one was going to get set on fire or sucked out into the vacuum of space. Fortunately this ship seemed to have an automatic barrier that came up to keep the ship from imploding or whatever. Red didn't have a lot of forethought about that kind of thing.

When he opened them again, the hold was filled with smoke. He heard a few people coughing. The hold was a little close to the docking bay that Purple assumed would be blown to smithereens. Red had never been very good at hiding his emotions... and for some reason the other Tallest had a lot of them.

"Nice explosion," Purple commented with a smirk when Red emerged from whatever the heck he'd been in. It looked like a ship of some kind, but it wasn't something the Empire had ever seen before, and it was taking up all of the docking bay. Yup. If he hadn't gotten everyone to move they would have died in a fire explosion before getting thoroughly run-over by an ugly foreign ship.

Now that he thought about it, seeing that would have been pretty funny. It also would have likely destroyed his ocular implants. Maybe it would have been worth it. Oh well.

"Thanks," Red commented offhandedly. His eyes wouldn't meet Purple's, but there was no way he could possibly be feeling guilty or something. "I thought you were... and you just..." Red sighed and ran a hand between his antennae before letting out another sigh.

Purple shrugged his shoulders. "Well whatever you were thinking didn't happen," he remarked as he pushed himself away from the wall. "This ship is a goner though. I hope the one that you have runs alright. I mean it looks..." he studied the strange vessel for a moment. "Not that great."

"It looks like a pile of garbage, but it works," Red insisted, and his antennae flicked back when he heard something behind him.

Laes nearly tripped and fell on the ramp leading from the ship, but he recovered and was rubbing his head and watching the ground uneasily. "Er... uh... hi again..." he spoke sounding nervous.

Purple smiled and waved at the timid Vortian before raising an invisible brow at Red.

"What?" Red questioned with a scowl.

"Oh nothing, nothing," Purple remarked, raising his hands in mock-defence for a few seconds before lowering them. "I was just wondering where you found that guy since that awful junk ship definitely isn't a Vortian one."

"Both of us ran into a couple of stupid aliens," Red explained in an abrupt manner.

"So that's their ship?"

"It was their ship," Red corrected him. "Anyway, what the helk were you doing leaving the Armada?"

"I could ask you the same thing," Purple responded before gesturing at their audience. "But I think this is something we should talk about later, because of them."

Red glanced around the room. All of the soldiers were watching, and while the prisoners were trying not to be obvious about it, they were definitely listening to every word. He returned his attention to the other Tallest. "Yeah. Fine," he agreed.

Purple was impressed that Red hadn't lost his temper yet, but the atmosphere was heavy. It was only a matter of time before he flipped out. The crimson-eyed Tallest kept clenching and unclenching his hands, and his antennae lowered to show his growing irritation.

"Hey Red. Let's let the soldiers handle this one," Purple decided as he reached for the other Tallest's arm.

Red pulled away and shot him a glare. "I don't think so. These creatures have been annoying us for too long already."

"Oh come on..." Purple sighed and rubbed his temples. "I've been here for a while, and I'm bored now. I just want to go back to the Massive and eat a ton of curly fries. Besides, we have to check and see how much of the Armada was destroyed while we were gone."

"That stuff can wait," Red decided. He didn't sound angry, but he was.

Things were probably going to get pretty messy which would mean he would lose his appetite. Purple nearly groaned out loud, but if their soldiers knew they were disagreeing about something things would take even longer.

"Well fine," Purple shrugged, deciding not to push too much.

He noticed Laes had willingly gone to join one of the prisoners. The Vortian was sitting beside a grey alien child that had been tied up with the rest. Laes brought one of his arms over its shoulders to give it some kind of comfort.

Judging by the lack of weapons and skill these people had, Purple assumed most of them were probably civilians who'd gathered here because they didn't want to return to their planets after his people had taken over. He didn't like them at all, but he didn't really have a grudge against them either... not like Red did.

Mass slaughter might be a little overkill, and gross, and not even necessary, and a waste of snacks if he threw up, but he'd never been able to change Red's mind once it was made up.

"Where's their captain?" Red questioned Purple.

"Ehh..." Purple shrugged again. "They all look the same to me."

"You aren't making this difficult on purpose are you?" Red asked, squinting an eye at his fellow Tallest.

Ugh. Why did Red have to go say it like that? Now it would sound like they were arguing again. Why was he always the one that had to think about these things?

"I told you I'm bored," Purple remarked. He wanted to lounge around eating a huge bucket of curly fries. That's it.

"And messing with you is kind of a sport, you know?" He added, smirking a bit.

Red scowled and Purple let out a sigh.

"Fine, it was a guy wearing a blue cloaked thing. I think Bann might have killed him already. I'm not really sure."

"Where?"

"The control room," Purple replied as he crossed his arms and moved towards the hall. "Follow me."

The sooner Red did whatever he wanted to do, the sooner they could both leave. The guards would make sure no one escaped until they returned.

Still, this was probably going to take longer than he wanted it to, and if he lost his appetite he was going to get mad for real.


The hostility hanging in the air was almost suffocating, but it let up a bit when the Tallest left the room. Laes let out a long sigh. He didn't realize he'd been holding his breath until his lungs started complaining. Breathing was good. He really should keep doing that.

"I thought you were dead..." Juelee mumbled under her breath. Her arms were tied behind her back and she was being forced to kneel just like the rest of the crew. "Why were you with the Irkens' boss?"

For some reason the Tallest hadn't ordered him to be tied up. This left him free to sit down and place an arm around the young alien's shoulders. There was no telling what the Irkens were going to do to them. This was definitely a 'hope for the best but expect the worst' scenario.

"I was kind of shot into space..." Laes admitted in a quiet voice.

He glanced up when he felt the guard standing behind them glowering down at him and Juelee. Talking was probably not supposed to be happening right now. He swallowed a lump in his throat and managed a meek smile. This was definitely more scary than being in prison.

"How...?" Juelee asked seemingly oblivious to the angry soldier who appeared ready to smack them both.

"Bann locked me in an escape pod..." he flinched when the soldier moved to hit him. Ouch. That hurt. "Then shot me into space..." he finished in a murmur, and he brought his good hand to his sore head.

"That's the Irkens way of telling us to be quiet..." he informed her as quietly as he could since she was staring at him wide-eyed after the soldier struck him.

Juelee became silent. She started chewing her bottom lip and she kept glancing between the floor and his face.

Maybe the Tallest would let them off easy? No... that wouldn't happen. The Tallest hated the rebels... they were all going to be brutally killed.

If he kept thinking that he was going to faint. He couldn't do that to Juelee. The poor girl was frightened enough already... Maybe Lard Nar had a secret plan and everyone could escape somehow. If that was the case, then why was the Smiley bomb activated...?

They really were going to die horribly...

"I really don't think this is necessary," Purple huffed as Red strode into the hold. The lavender-eyed Tallest followed close behind; his arms still crossed and his antennae pressed flat. "This is the soldiers' job. Not ours."

All of the Irken soldiers stood at attention while the rebels perked up to watch what was going on with wide frightened eyes. Laes hugged Juelee closer.

The red Tallest was dangling a battered and beaten alien by the front of its blue cloak. Oh gosh it was Drent... this was the first time he'd seen the guy's face. It was an ashen grey colour and he seemed to have a small white spike under each eye and two larger spikes sticking out from his head. He had black markings on his forehead and down each side of his face.

Was it some kind of tattoo maybe?

His glowing blue eyes were squeezed shut in pain.

Laes wasn't sure if pale grey was Drent's regular skin colour since it looked like the alien was probably suffering from blood loss. There was blood on his cloak and some was dripping onto the floor.

It was making Laes feel a tad bit nauseous and he was forced to look away to keep the room from starting to spin.

"All of you here thought it would be fun to resist the Empire, didn't you?" Red questioned as he dropped Drent to the floor. The alien let out a small cry of pain when he struck the ground. He tried to move, to crawl, to do anything, but he couldn't. His bones were broken.

Cripes. Laes turned away again. When did he start watching...? He was going to be sick... he covered his mouth with his metal hand. Shoot, he wasn't supposed to move it. His arm was still sore.

Then he realized Juelee was seeing and hearing everything. He tried to get her to look away but she wouldn't.

"You Irkens are flurkin' barbaric!" Lard Nar's voice shouted without reserve. If Bann hadn't been holding him back, the former leader of the Resisty would have probably fought with the red -eyed Tallest. "He can't even walk and you're still tormenting him! Where's the honour in that!? Where's your pride!? You're bloody sick!"

"I don't give a dlark about honour!" Red snapped, and there was a crunch sound followed by a horrible shriek of pain. "This is what happens when you filthy aliens try to stand up against us! You die!"

"Oh great..." Purple's voice sounded annoyed or something. It was hard to tell over the screaming. "How long is this going to take exactly?"

A few of the captured aliens spoke up, hoping somehow their words could stop the assault on Drent. It was no use. The Irken soldiers struck them down and silenced them easily enough.

"Juelee... please don't watch this..." Laes tried to coax the young alien. He wanted to say something too, but he couldn't. His voice wouldn't come out any louder than a whisper.

"I'm not a baby..." Juelee responded in her usual straightforward way. "I'm going to watch. I'm going to watch so I know I'm right to want the Irkens dead."

The guard wasn't too pleased by this comment. Juelee winced in pain when an armed Irken kicked her. "I won't cry," she insisted.

Laes wanted to cover his head and curl into a small ball. He closed his eyes, unable to watch and not wanting to listen. This was the Tallest he'd fought sand worms with. This was the same guy who let him cling to his arm when he'd become unconscious after getting captured by a couple of weirdos.

That had been more than just a little awkward. It would be nice to wake up somewhere normal for a change. His bed maybe? He didn't have a bed anymore though.

Then it happened. The screaming stopped. Laes was too squeamish to see what happened to cause that. It was probably something terrible he didn't want to see. All of the captured rebels had gone quiet too. All except for Lard Nar.

The former captain was still shouting in anger. There were a lot of unpleasant words he was using. Comparing someone to a Shorgat was one of the worst insults out there. Those things ate their own offspring and their own feces pretty regularly, plus they looked like lumpy piles of slobbery dung.

That was a mental image that didn't need to happen.

"It's ok Mr. Laes," Juelee spoke in order to comfort him. It was a tad bit embarrassing that he needed to be comforted by a child... right now it was all he could do not to throw-up though.

"Mr. Drent doesn't have to feel pain anymore... he's gone."

That was probably not how children should be viewing death.

Drent had been fighting to stay alive all this time. In his final moments he hadn't even resorted to begging.

"Which one should I kill..." Red began, but he was interrupted by Purple.

"Can't we just ship them back to their planets to do slave labour and let the whole thing fizzle out normally?" he complained. "This is really cutting into my snacking time, plus it's like really gross."

Laes looked up. He caught a quick glimpse of Drent's lifeless body, but he made himself look past that at the Tallest. Were they actually disagreeing with each other...?

"I'm not leaving until all of them are dead," Red stated, sounding a bit more calm than he did before.

Bann must have been able to gag Lard Nar because there was no yelling anymore. Laes took a quick look and nearly saw Dren't body again. Why were his eyes being drawn to that...?

Lard Nar had been tied up and gagged pretty good. Even so, the former leader of the Resistance was still struggling.

Purple let out a sigh, drawing Laes' attention back. "Really? So you'll kill all of them right? We don't want any of their friends to survive and start plotting revenge, because if we kill them, their allies will definitely do that."

The lavender eyed Tallest drew small circles in the air. "The cycle of revenge will continue on and on and on and on, and it will become more and more annoying. We don't have control over the ones that escaped and formed resistance things like we do with the planets and people we've actually conquered."

He brought his hand back to his side. "So I'll go along with whatever you want to do, but I just thought I'd remind you that even if every Resisty member on this ship dies right now, it's not going to end. We're going to have to keep doing this, and it's starting to get really annoying. Especially since I could be snacking and not being grossed-out right now."

"Letting them go would make more trouble for us later," Red insisted, squeezing his hands into fists. "Why the helk are you protecting them anyway?"

Purple shrugged his shoulders. "I really don't care what happens to them. You can kill them or not kill them. I don't care. I just don't want to wait for you to do it, but I cant exactly leave you here since there's only one working ship right now."

"Then do you think you could just let me kill them already?" Red spoke, and one of his antennae twitched. "You're the one making this take longer."

"I just want snacks Red," Purple remarked as he stood up straighter. "I don't care about these annoying aliens. Just throw them out an airlock if it's such a big deal."

The airlock? Laes looked up at the ceiling. There wasn't one of those in here from the looks of it. He accidentally looked at Drent's body again. He needed to stop doing that... his stomach couldn't handle any more gore.

"Bandeval," Red spoke, and Bann straightened as his grip on Lard Nar's shoulders tightened. He'd been holding the former leader of the Resisty back while Drent was murdered. He'd been following orders all this time.

Even so, he glanced quickly at Laes.

"Yes sir?" he answered, meeting his Tallest's gaze briefly before dipping his head.

"You found them, so you kill them," Red decided as he turned to regard Purple. "I'm taking him back to the Massive before he gives me a headache."

"Finally," Purple remarked, sounding pleased.

"S-Sir...?" Bann questioned; his eyes widening in shock. "You mean... just me? All of them... that will take a while..."

Red scowled at the young soldier. "No. You tell the soldiers what to do. I want them all dead though. Understood?"

Bann nodded.

"Good," Red spoke, and he started for the strange alien vessel. "Come on Purple."

"Um... the children?" Laes spoke out, and both Tallest turned to him. This was the worst... having the Tallest staring at him with a room full of armed soldiers ready to shoot at anything that moved.

"What about them?" Red asked with a scowl.

"They uh... well they didn't really choose to be here..." Laes said, hugging Juelee close. "Can't you... I mean just the kids... not kill them?"

Red glanced at Purple who shrugged in response.

"Are you sure you want them all dead?" Purple questioned with a smirk. "Even the funny guy?"

Red paused for a moment. He seemed to be debating this. "Actually..." he gestured to Lard Nar. "Start with that one. I want to watch him die."

Laes deflated. So he really didn't have any say with the Tallest at all... and now he was going to have to avoid watching and listening to Lard Nar getting brutally killed...

Purple let out a huge sigh and crossed his arms.

"We'll leave right after," Red promised.

"Fiiine..." Purple turned his attention to Bann. "Do it fast so we can leave already."

Oh cripes... the situation couldn't get much worse than now. Laes let go of Juelee so he could bury his face in his hands. This was it. Everyone here was going to die. It didn't matter what he did or said. Nothing would work. The Tallest really didn't care about anyone.

He and Lard Nar had lasted longer than he thought they would, his optimistic side told him. The whole Resisty wasn't going to be destroyed either. Most of them had escaped. Also he was about to find out if there was an afterlife or not.

It wasn't all bad. His dreams of having a family would never come true, but he'd had a job and his own apartment for a while. He'd also lived through the invasion and the horrible zappings and occasional beatings at the prison. Why was he standing?

A soldier tried to grab him, but Laes managed to avoid the large gloved hand. He was sure the Irkens were pointing their weapons at him, of course they would, he was trying not to think about this. His body was moving faster than his brain had time to panic, or think. Was he running away or running to somewhere?

It was to somewhere. Lard Nar. Like he was going to let his former cellmate die without at least trying to stop that! Not after all of the pain and suffering and jokes and conversations he'd experienced! It wasn't going to be for nothing!

And then excruciating pain happened. Was that a laser that had gone through him? He grasped the wounded area as he fell onto the cold hard floor. Whatever it was hurt a lot. If he was trying to be a distraction maybe it worked... maybe Juelee could get away... maybe...

"Laes!"

A couple people shouted his name, but he was too disoriented to recognize their voices. His wound was burning. It felt like that spot had been set on fire. His vision blurred and then darkness started to creep in.

Before he passed-out he felt the whole ship stammer and shake, and a brief worried thought came to him: no one was in the control room. The Resisty's vessel was floating through space with no one monitoring where they were drifting.


Author's Notes: You think someone would have realized there was no one piloting the ship sooner, but no.

So pretty much what Purple was saying was the Resisty hadn't been doing a whole lot lately and just leaving the rebels alone might do more harm to their resistance than killing a chunk of them and spurring their friends and hidden sects into action.

Doing that would REALLY interfere with his snacking. Or so he thinks. Like how many more rebels are they going to have to kill after this whole mess? Such a pain.