Author's Notes: I know this story hasn't been updated in forever, and I'll be lucky if anyone is left to read it, but I still just felt too inspired to write this to let it go. Even with all the fics in my library, I still consider this one of my most beautiful, challenging, and experimental fics. I love the world building, and I love the characters. Hopefully there are still readers who care about this story, because I do eventually want to finish this one :)

Chapter 8

Overlooked Reunion

It had been three day cycles since Vio Mah and Ting Ting had gone missing, and Dop had used his rounds to search wherever he could for them. He was worried after the death of Shir Lee. He knew that the culprit or culprits behind the vandalization had likely been anti-alien Irken soldiers. Vortians were special targets for these sentiments due to being the species that allowed Tallest Miyuki to die under their watch. Dop didn't agree, but he understood. He was still hurting from the loss of the former Tallest too.

He didn't go by Shkoogorgh's that day. He couldn't. He knew that if a restaurant was abandoned and left in disrepair for three day cycles that it would be torn down to make room for a new restaurant by the Irken Commission of Snackage. It was like a homeowner's association on steroids. Foodcourtia was one of the most profitable tourist planets in the Irken Empire, and because of this it had to look alive, fun, and perfect. If anything Dop was aware that Sizz-Lorr had probably wanted to tear down the bakery next door and expand for a long time now.

Dop sighed when he thought about the fate of his...he wanted to say friend. There were two possibilities as to her whereabouts. Either Vio Mah and her mother were dead, or else they were alive and now homeless with no way to make monies. Dop wanted nothing more than to find them, but he knew that was a fool's errand. Vio Mah would never forgive him for what he did, especially since it was Irkens that murdered her father. She would never accept his help.

The sullen cabbie pulled into HQ and went to the washing station to polish up his cab. Kee Wai was looking a little dirty, or maybe it was just him finding fault with everything because he was in such a bad mood. Either way he barely seemed aware of himself or his surroundings as he scrubbed away on his car.

"Hey, Dop!" Rolk called out from his place at the dispatch office, "We got a call from someone who wants a ride off-planet. Your cab's got that fancy new engine, right?"

"Have Nalb do it," Dop replied irritably, "I don't feel like going."

"Nalb's busy," Rolk informed him, "Listen, we can't say no to this guy. It's Invader Larb, and you know what kind of clout that guy has with the Tallest."

Dop sighed deeply and said, "Fine. I'll go. This better be a good cab fare."

"Oh, it will be," Rolk grinned, "You're going to Vort."

Dop groaned and rubbed his face to try to make the tension go away. Vort. Of all the flarking planets in the galaxy, why did it have to be Vio Mah's home world? He did not want to think about Vortians, or the invasion, or anything. Still, it was Larb, and it would be a big cab fare. At least 500 monies. Dop would be a fool to turn that down. Steeling himself, he dried off his cab and wiped the grime off his fuzzy dice. He was going to Vort.

Kee Wai grew more depressed and dispirited with each passing night spent in prison. She did well enough at her janitorial job that the Irkens didn't bother her, but that hardly seemed relevant anymore. Sol Ban was dead, her son was trapped in the bowels of the prison, and her planet's history and glory had been demolished. There were times when she wondered if she even wanted to live, but thinking about little Dun Lard gave her the strength to keep going. Maybe someday a Tallest would arise that would return Vort to its people. It was a pipe dream, but Kee Wai could hope.

As she passed by Yoli Chizel's lab, the maroon colored scientist noticed her and quickly motioned Kee Wai inside. Kee Wai knew she should keep working lest the cameras catch her slacking off, but the look on Yoli Chizel's face made Kee Wai forget all about that and follow her anyway. Yoli Chizel had clearly been crying, but the way she grit her teeth and scrunched her eyes could only be described as white hot rage. What on Vort had happened to her?

"Oh my goodness, are you alright?" Kee Wai whispered cautiously.

"Kee Wai, I just found something out. Something terrible," Yoli Chizel replied; her voice strained and raspy, "I was being led to the lab this morning when I overheard two Irken guards talking. I didn't hear the whole conversation, but I heard they...I heard...Oh, Kee Wai!"

Yoli Chizel started openly sobbing then, and Kee Wai was shocked by this display. Yoli Chizel never cried. She was tough and jaded. If something made her cry when the deaths of the hyper geniuses did not, then something had to be really wrong.

"Yoli Chizel?" Kee Wai called out tentatively.

"It's the babies!" Yoli Chizel wailed, "The Irkens are going to kill the Vortlings! Tonight! I tried to escape to find my son, but my handler caught me and strapped this on me," Yoli Chizel lifted up her sleeve to show a blinking black bracelet, "If I try to leave this room I'll explode. I can't do anything! They're gonna kill my baby and there's nothing I can do about it!"

Kee Wai felt like time was slowing down all around her as she took this in. Yoli Chizel wasn't the only one with a son. Dun Lard was down there too, and if they were all going to be executed...Kee Wai would lose everything, and so would many other Vortian parents.

"Why are they doing this?" Kee Wai whispered automatically; barely aware she had said anything.

"Why do they do anything?" Yoli Chizel snapped in reply, "Because they're Irkens! Death and gluttony are all they know, and it's also all they're good for! I hope their home planet explodes, and that their remnants get lice in their antennae!"

Yoli Chizel's anger once again gave way to screaming sobs, and Kee Wai backed out of the room; not knowing what to do for her friend. Kee Wai wanted to comfort Yoli, to give her a reason to go on, but she couldn't. She was too wrapped up in thinking about Dun Lard's fate, and how that would take away her last shred of hope. Her parents had likely died in what the Irkens called 'the purge of the useless', even if they weren't on Vort at the time. Her beloved husband had been killed for his brain. Now she would lose her only son.

No! There had to be a way out of this!

That was when Sol Ban's map came back to her mind. He had found where the Vortlings were being kept, and the last thing he did for Kee Wai was to give her that map. Had he known about this? She couldn't ask him now. However, she could find the Vortlings and save them. But...then what? She was trapped in this heavily guarded prison just like everyone else.

Wait...everyone else. That was it! Kee Wai was thinking too small. She couldn't save the children alone, but she could save them with the help of every other prisoner. She would have to time her movements carefully, but she had to act immediately. If she could overload the power in the prison's main grid then every prisoner would be free, and the riot would give the parents enough time to save their young and escape. All Kee Wai would need is her mop, her bucket, and the comm system.

Dop was so irritated. For all he knew his baker/friend could be dying of injuries or starving, and he was stuck driving some blowhard invader back to Vort. Any other time Dop would have loved to see the planet again and reminisce about his time there, but he didn't want to see the drained gulag it had become.

"And then I said 'Why not explain that to my boot?'. Get it? My boot! Hah!" Larb chortled on in the backseat.

That was another thing getting on Dop's nerves. Invader Larb never shut up! He was favored by the Tallest for his height and conquering ability, and therefore was very full of himself. Dop knew he was making a lot of monies off this guy, but it was still a pain in the spooch to have to fly through space in a confined snackey cab with him for the better part of two day cycles.

By the time they finally made it to Vort's inner orbit Dop was close to pushing his own self-destruct button just to get away from Larb. If he wasn't bragging about himself he was backseat driving. Dop knew how to pilot around asteroids and pulsars, yet Larb acted like he was riding with a student driver.

"Remember to wait for approval from orbital control," Larb instructed.

"I am aware of the regulations," Dop said flatly through gritted teeth, "Do any of these prisons double as fuel stations? I need more antimatter for the trip home."

"Of course. You can go to Prison Complex #0003. That's close to my palace. It was built over the old Galaxus Center."

"The Galaxus Center is gone?" Dop asked despite himself.

"Yes. What an eyesore," Larb sniffed in contempt, "It smelled of Vortian stink and looked like a dead Balogan beast."

Dop furrowed his brows in quiet rage but didn't say anything more. The Galaxus Center was important to Dop, strange as even he felt that was. It was where he met Kee Wai, who was the closest thing he ever had to a friend. At least, he thought she had been...until Vio Mah. This pattern of thought made Dop sad, because one old friend was merely a memory and the other was heading in that same direction.

Dop stopped the cab in front of Larb's Palace, and then impatiently waited for his monies. Instead of paying him right away, however...

"Cabbie, fetch my bags!" Larb ordered haughtily.

"Are you serious?" Dop asked indignantly, "I have to get back to Foodcourtia. It's a holiday!"

"You want your five stars on Irk Watch?" Larb asked threateningly.

Dop just sighed crossly and said "Yes, sir."

"Then less moping and more moving," Larb commanded, "My time is very valuable. Not that you would know what that's like. Chop chop!"

Dop growled softly as he got out of the cab and retrieved the suitcases from Larb's trunk. Most tourists would bring luggage that could float, but Larb had to be a jerk and bring along antique suitcases with no hover capability, no wheels, and stupid metal handles. All Dop could think at that moment was that this guy better leave a good tip, or else a few of his bags might get 'accidentally' vaporized.

The oppressive atmosphere of Prison #0003 was as stifling to the Vortians and as comforting to the Irkens as always. The Irken guards didn't realize anything was different that evening, but the Vortian prisoners knew.

Kee Wai had gone from cell to cell that day telling as many Vortians as she could about the upcoming slaughter of the children. They knew if the Vortlings were going to be saved that they would have to act as soon as the opportunity arrived. For the moment however, they merely looked out their clear force field walls with tense anticipation.

The guards walked past the cells with the precision and mechanical attitude of a digital clock. They had been overseeing the prisoners for so long that they didn't even look at them anymore unless something was amiss. That carelessness was exactly what the Vortians were counting on.

With the swiftness of a light switch being flipped, the light of the force fields was cut simultaneously and the crackle of the loudspeaker could be heard.

"Attention Vortian captives!" A high pitched voice called out over the comm, "Go to level 8 section B at once! Hurry!"

The Irken guards were caught unaware and stunned for a moment by what they were hearing. That tiny lapse in movement was all the prisoners needed to overpower the guards and start moving to where the voice had instructed. Level 8 section B was most likely where the children were being taken for execution, and the mob of rioting prisoners would have to move quickly to save them. Some took weapons and electric prods from the Irken guards, and together the mob ran toward their destination as one, their purpose noble and their hearts renewed with hope that had been denied them for too long.

Kee Wai, the source of the voice, quickly ran out of the commander's office and booked it to level 8, pushing her mop bucket all the way just in case she needed an excuse to be out of her cell. She only hoped they weren't too late. If the Irkens managed to kill Dun Lard before she could save him she would most likely die this night. If not from a broken heart then from an Irken's laser pistol.

She could hear the Vortians stampeding through the halls and corridors, most of them on their way to the same location as her. Kee Wai smiled in that moment, realizing she wasn't alone. Her people had come through in their darkest hour, and she was finally a part of something greater than herself.

As Kee Wai turned the corner she vaguely heard boot steps behind her. She knew it was the Irkens since Vortians didn't wear shoes, so she spilled her soapy mop water behind her in order to make them slip in their tracks. She then continued running without looking back. Pretending to not know anything probably wouldn't work at this point anyway. If nothing else they would recognize her squeaky voice from the loudspeaker.

Once on level 8, Kee Wai realized that the crowd was too large for her to push through easily. Now she panicked for an entirely new reason. What if she wasn't able to find her baby with all these people in the way? What if someone else took him? Trying to not let the knot in her heart grow, Kee Wai took a few deep breaths and tried to relax.

"Attention! Attention!" A Vortian at the front of the line yelled at the crowd, "Okay, parents form a line to reclaim any surviving Vortlings. Prisoners without children form a barrier on the outer perimeter to protect the rest of the group from Irkens! Move!"

Doing as instructed, or at least trying to, the crowd moved around to the best of their ability outside the level 8 door. Kee Wai pushed herself closer to the inside of the mob to try to find Dun Lard, not caring that elbows and hands were assaulting her face and midsection. She had to find her baby!

While Kee Wai was still searching among the children for Dun Lard, she heard shouting outside the room. She knew it had to be Irken soldiers, so she wasted no time in seeking out her son.

It took almost five minutes, which felt like hours in this high-pressure situation, but she finally located Dun Lard in a tiny cage with three other infants. She grabbed her own son and moved aside so others could check the cage for their own babies.

Hugging Dun Lard close to herself, Kee Wai ducked her head and allowed her horns to mow over anyone that dared to stand in her way. Normally she wasn't so aggressive, but she knew time was short and the Irkens were pressing in on them. She had to get out now!

Kee Wai ran past the mob, past several shooting Irkens, and didn't stop until she slipped on her own soapy water trap in the hallway on level 4! She fell on her bum and grunted in pain, but she didn't make too much noise since she didn't want to disturb Dun Lard. The baby wasn't sleeping, but he wasn't fussy either. It was as if he knew he was finally safe with his mother.

Struggling to get up while holding an infant, Kee Wai skidded and slid along the floor until she was sure-footed again. A few other parents were running alongside her at this point, some holding their children's hands and others carrying them. She searched among the faces for anyone familiar, but she didn't find anyone she recognized.

Part of her wondered if anyone would save Yoli Chizel's son. Yoli Chizel was trapped in the chemistry lab, so Kee Wai could only hope for a brave soul to have noticed the lone child and saved him. She felt terrible that she wasn't that person, but she didn't even know which child belonged to her colleague.

The mad dash soon came to an abrupt half. Four Irken soldiers stood at the end of the hallway, pistols aimed at the group of escaping parents and young children. Kee Wai gasped, realizing they had run straight into a trap.

The Irkens shouted no orders and made no demands. Instead they immediately opened fire on the Vortians and their young! A few parents and Vortlings were shot dead, and Kee Wai felt pain go through her leg. She had been shot!

Unwilling to give up when escape was so close, Kee Wai flung herself and her son from the closed glass window to the left of her! She fell four stories from the prison complex, and made certain to fall on her backside so Dun Lard wouldn't be crushed. She was sure this was the end, that she and Dun Lard would die, but for once she was able to avert disaster.

Kee Wai landed on a dead shrub, not comfortable by any means but it was just enough to break her fall somewhat. She was scratched up and bleeding, and her leg was cauterized from the laser blast, but she was alive. She checked her son before even attempting to leave the bush and saw that he had a scratch on his face, but was otherwise fine. They had survived!

Kee Wai needed a place to hide...a place to run. She stumbled out of the shrub with the baby in her arms and looked frantically around for anything that could save them. That was when she noticed the fuel station. It wasn't crowded, but there was one space-worthy craft refueling that didn't look like it belonged to the Irken military. She didn't know whose it was or why it was there, but it didn't matter. If she could hide inside it until she was off the planet, then she and Dun Lard could start a new life away from Vort.

She opened the trunk and climbed in, slamming the door behind her. Kee Wai noticed that this trunk connected to the back seat with no barrier between them. Good. That meant it would be easy to get out of the craft later. She snuggled in with Dun Lard and stayed as quiet and still as possible, hoping that the Irkens wouldn't bother to check the vehicles before they left. Kee Wai felt guilty for Sol Ban, for Yoli Chizel, and for so many others, but she and Dun Lard had to survive. Her son was all that mattered now.

Dop grumbled as he made his way out of the commissary of the prison and back to his cab at the refueling station across the street. This week had been one of the worst of his life, and it didn't seem intent on getting better anytime soon.

First he was banished from his favorite bakery, then Vio Mah and her family were chased away and possibly killed, then he got stuck chauffeuring Larb the Louse around Vort, and then to top it all off he didn't get a tip! Dop was about to pull out his own antennae when he went into the commissary, which he was then kicked out of due to a prison riot. Could the week get any worse?

The only snack Dop was able to buy was some greenish grey mush they fed the prisoners, and the only fuel they had available was the chump grade, but it would have to do. Kee Wai would sputter and protest, but the cab would make it back to Foodcourtia. Dop knew he would be so happy to be home, even if he had to eat at some backwater Irken grease factory for the rest of his life.

He got into the cab and flew off, paying no attention to the prison complex he was leaving behind. He hoped Larb got stabbed or zapped by one of those Vortians. He deserved it, if for no other reason than he was a bad tipper.

The zoomy-fast warp drive made the stars look like they were slowly moving away from Dop as he navigated through space. He liked this part of driving his cab, the part where he could be alone with his thoughts. Well, he normally did, but this time he couldn't stop thinking about Vio Mah. Dop realized in that moment he needed more acquaintances, since apparently he was too attached to the Vortian baker.

Dop was already out of Vort's solar system and heading toward the wormhole that would lead to home before anything of note happened. The drive had been quiet and monotonous, but then out of nowhere he heard a soft cooing noise.

Dop turned his head slightly, but he couldn't see anything. There was no one in his backseat. Thinking his antennae had a defect, he typed into his day planner a time to schedule an appointment with a doctor. Fortunately he had long ago learned how to steer a snackey cab with one hand.

Dop tried to ignore the momentary lapse of sanity, but then he heard what sounded like a smeet whining, followed by a hissing sound. At this point Dop was getting nervous. Did his cab have a hitchhiker? He couldn't exactly get out and check since he was in deep space. He would have to wait until he docked at the hub before he could figure out what was going on. If it was a stowaway, he would report them to the authorities later. After all, no one stole wages from an employee of the Irken Empire without reprisal.

Meanwhile, in the trunk of the cab, Kee Wai tried desperately to silently shush her baby. He was getting fussy from not being fed or changed in hours, but Kee Wai could do nothing about it. Her body's milk had dried up long ago, and she had no diapers. Not only that, but shortly after leaving Vort she had figured out to her horror that the ship was being piloted by an Irken! If he caught them she would be killed along with her son.

When she wasn't focusing on keeping Dun Lard quiet, Kee Wai's mind wandered to dark places. What if this ship was going back to Irk? It was a small cruiser with passenger seats, so it could be a civilian vehicle. Then again, it could also be what modern voot cruisers looked like. She could be riding in the storage compartment of an invader's ship!

Wherever this ship landed was where Kee Wai and Dun Lard would have to make their new lives. She would have to find a job, or maybe even steal. Once she had enough monies, she would have to find a kind soul to smuggle her and Dun Lard to a neutral planet...if such a place still existed.

If she could just keep the baby quiet until they landed then perhaps they would have a chance. The Irken didn't seem to notice the noise they made, so perhaps they would escape unharmed.

Dop meanwhile was trying to ignore the noises coming from his trunk. They were getting louder and more desperate. He could tell now that it was an infant and a female of some kind. Probably Vortian, since he hadn't made any other stops on the way to the planet. They were likely escapees from the prison riot. Just his luck that he would end up with prisoners in his ship. He wanted to call it in, but they might be armed, so he decided to wait until he landed.

It seemed that his chance would come sooner than later. The wormhole was in view, and Dop breathed a sigh of relief that this awful assignment was almost over. He was beginning to wish he hadn't installed that new engine, but at least he would get the 518 monies from Larb's cab fare.

Foodcourtia was dead ahead, but Dop didn't waste time with orbital control this time. Vort had regulations, but Foodcourtia had an even more powerful force: tourism. The gravity was so strong from the sheer number of snackers on the planet that his cab was pulled down without much effort from the stabilizers. Many wondered why Foodcourtia became so dense during the Foodening, but Dop just assumed some oddly heavy aliens came to the planet every 20 years around this time. At least, that made as much sense as anything else the uneducated Irken could come up with on the spot.

He flew to the Northern Hub, his home jurisdiction. He was so happy to see that huge purple building and the hundreds of other snackey cabs docked for maintenance and reassignment. After this little misadventure he wasn't about to take his parking lot paradise for granted again.

"Dispatcher Rolk calling Dop," Rolk's voice blared through the speakers, "Are you ready to land?"

"Yes," Dop replied professionally, "Be advised of a Spoopy Dooper coming in from the dust cloud. Repeat, a Spoopy Dooper coming in from the dust cloud."

"Understood," Rolk replied calmly, "Dock at wing 74-8."

"I obey," Dop said before cutting off the transmission.

Dop had used a secret code with Rolk to avoid the stowaways panicking. A 'Spoopy Dooper' was the Foodcourtian word for a criminal trying to sneak a free ride in a snackey cab, and 'dust cloud' was their word for the trunk. Technically the code meant someone who dined and dashed, but since that was one of the only crimes one could be arrested for on Foodcourtia it was the only code that applied even somewhat.

Kee Wai meanwhile had noticed that the Irken said they were going to land. She would have to act quickly if she and her son were going to leave this ship undetected. Her leg hurt from where she had been shot, and she knew running was going to be difficult. She just hoped she wouldn't have to run. She held Dun Lard tightly and breathed in and out a few times to prepare herself for the next phase of her escape.

Dop prepared to land the snackey cab in the spot Rolk had indicated, and to his mild surprise there were already soldiers surrounding the space, ready to take action against the criminal.

"I hope I can park without squishing anyone," Dop said to himself, but then leaning out the window he shouted, "Hey guys!? Could the guy in the red shirt move a little to the left!?"

The guard pointed to himself, and Dop nodded. He scooted away from the parking space, and Dop gave him a hand signal indicating it was what he wanted.

Kee Wai was getting nervous. Why were there Irkens in a parking space for a ship? Was this planet crowded? Was she on Irk? Perhaps a parking structure planet? If this was Conventia she was in trouble, since that planet usually hosted Invader Con. She gulped, hoping this wasn't something bad for her.

Dop lowered his cab carefully since the soldiers insisted on crowding his spot. He was beginning to regret calling them, since surely he could handle a starved Vortian prisoner and an infant by himself. Two shots from his laser pistol and it would be over. Easy. Why did his programming always nag at him to follow regulations when they made no sense?

Once Dop parked the soldiers immediately surrounded the trunk, the guns in their PAKs out and pointing toward the car. Dop got out of the cab and followed them, rubbing his aching back the whole way there.

"Hey!" Dop shouted when he saw them pointing guns at the closed trunk, "Don't shoot Kee Wai, you idiots!"

Kee Wai heard that, and she gasped. Not only did the Irkens know there was a stowaway in the ship, but they knew her by name! If they knew her name, then they likely knew she started the riot. If that trunk opened she and Dun Lard would be vaporized for sure!

"Kee Wai?" A soldier asked sardonically.

Dop roughly pointed to the inscription on his cab, his face annoyed and his demeanor like someone daring anyone to argue.

"Right, of course," The soldier snorted, amused by the cabbie's overprotective attitude toward his car, "We're just here to arrest the criminal. Nothing else."

Kee Wai had to think of something and quickly. She once again cursed her ineptitude when it came to intellect. She was sure Sol Ban or Yoli Chizel would have found a way out by now, but here she was cowering in the corner of the trunk with her baby's life on the line.

Then suddenly it hit her. The trunk connected to the back seats. Cautiously she peeked her head up to peer over the seats and out the windows. Sure enough, no one was guarding the back seat. She still had a chance, but rather than brain power she would have to rely on her speed, which she feared she might not have. Her foot had been injured. What if she permanently broke or damaged something? Vortian legs were sensitive to breakage. When she looked down at her son, who looked back up at her, she realized she had no choice. She had to try.

"Open the trunk, cabbie!" A soldier commanded Dop.

"Are you going to start shooting in my cab?" Dop asked crossly.

"If we have to," The soldier replied.

"You mean if you want to," Dop countered, "This cab is my lifeline, and I don't want you dunderheads costing me a boatload of monies in repairs. I've already had a bad week, so if you damage my snackey cab you will feel the wrath of a Tallest!"

Rather than be intimidated, the soldiers just started laughing at him. He was shorter than them, he was fatter than them, and his shirt was covered with the stains of dozens of long-ago eaten snacks. He wasn't exactly a threat to these guys.

Their momentary lapse into jocularity cost them dearly however, because in that moment the right side back door opened, and a Vortian female with an infant raced out and started running away from them; hiding behind every ship she could. The soldiers looked scandalized when they realized their prize was escaping, and Dop almost didn't care. They were going to shoot his car.

The soldiers took off after the Vortian, and Dop opened the trunk to see if everything was alright. Nothing had been stolen, but he noticed the telltale sign of Vortian blood on his carpets.

"Flark," Dop sighed tiredly.

Kee Wai ran into the streets of Foodcourtia with Dun Lard in her arms and a group of angry Irken soldiers at her heels. She needed a way out and fast!

She passed many aliens and many businesses as she made her getaway. Since she had never been off world, she didn't know where she was, and if she had been given a moment to soak it in she might have been awed by so many strange creatures. As it stood however, all she felt was fear.

Kee Wai ducked under a cart selling exotic rocks and ran into a crowd of blob aliens that didn't even notice her. The soldiers looked around, but she was hidden by the blobs, so they couldn't locate her. They ran in a different direction to look for the fugitive, and Kee Wai continued walking with the blobs to stay concealed.

That impromptu strategy had somehow worked. Kee Wai was lost, she was hungry, and her leg felt like it was going to split in two, but she and Dun Lard had made it out of there alive. Dun Lard seemed to notice her relief, and took that moment to grab her arm. She smiled down at him, love and hope for their future filling her hearts.

Not knowing where to go, Kee Wai just wandered the streets for a while. She noticed that every establishment had strong smells coming from them. They all seemed to be places for food and snacks. She also noticed the planet didn't just have Irkens, but many alien races. What was this strange planet?

She stopped when she saw a bench and sat down. Dun Lard was probably as hungry as she was by now. It had been so long since she had seen her son. He was so much bigger now than he had been, and Kee Wai didn't even know if he could eat solid food yet. He was over a Vortian year old at this point, but being in Irken captivity had likely stunted his cognitive development.

"Hey, pink lady," Kee Wai heard a raspy voice whisper.

Kee Wai looked around, and in a small alley between two restaurants she saw an orange alien with a turquoise shell on its back calling out to her. His tentacle beckoned her to come closer, and though she was nervous she didn't exactly have anyone to help her navigate the planet. Perhaps this was a friendly face that could tell her where to get some baby formula.

"Did you want to speak to me?" Kee Wai asked the shelled alien.

"Yeah," The alien confirmed, his three eyes looking her up and down, "You're a Vortian, right?"

"Yes, sir," Kee Wai replied, "Have you been to our planet? I mean, before the invasion?"

"Nah, I never been there, but I know an opportunity when I see it."

Before Kee Wai could figure out what was going on there was a gun pointed to her forehead. She squeaked in fright as she realized she was being mugged, but then it got worse.

"A lot of races will pay a pretty penny for a Vortian slave," The shell-backed alien told her, "Docile, obedient, intelligent, and with such lovely horns. I bet I could get 200 monies for the horns alone. Monies get pretty tight around here during The Foodening. I hope you understand."

"What's a Foodening?" Kee Wai asked despite that being the last thing she cared about. She just wanted to stall for time while she thought of a way out.

"Heh heh, you're funny," The alien chuckled halfheartedly, "Now the question is, do I kill the kid or sell him too?"

"No! Not Dun Lard!" Kee Wai pleaded, "I'll cooperate, just please let me keep my baby."

"No can do," The alien replied coldly, "Vortians with kids don't work as hard. Sorry toots, nothing personal."

The alien then aimed the gun at Dun Lard, and Kee Wai turned so her back was to the alien. If he wanted to kill one of them, he would have to kill both of them. She was not going to sacrifice her son to save herself.

The shot never came however. She heard weird grunting noises coming from behind her, and out of curiosity she turned around. She saw that the alien's tentacles were tied around his body, the gun was shoved in his mouth, and a figure in a black cloak was tightening the knot on his appendages.

"Wow!" Kee Wai exclaimed in relief, "You saved my life! How can I ever repay you?"

"Don't mention it," A deep feminine voice replied, "After all, we Vortians have to stick together."

The cowl was pulled back to reveal a Vortian female with purple fur, charcoal black horns, and intense yellow eyes. She also had a fresh cut on her face that stretched from her mouth to her left cheek.

"You new here?" The purple female asked.

"Yes, ma'am," Kee Wai nodded, "Please help me. The Irkens are after us. I caused a prison riot and now-"

"Say no more," The purple female interrupted her, "You're lucky I found you. The Irkens on this planet are just as cruel and unfeeling as the ones on Vort. Don't worry, I'll take you back to my hideout. You and your child can rest there. By the way, what's your name?"

"Kee Wai, and this is my son Dun Lard. What's your name?"

"Vio Mah."