Requested Information: Sevai is shorter than the Tallest. He's about 4-5 inches (10-13 centimeters) shorter. Female Invaders tend to be taller than male Invaders by about that much, so female Invaders are (on average) around the same height as the Tallest. I can't personally can't imagine Red being taller than 6ft (183cm), but I've never really thought of an exact number.
I tried looking up how tall Professor Membrane is since the Tallest appear to be a similar height, and I discovered fans have measured him at 14 and a half feet or 442cm! So maybe not!
Vort's Assistance
As soon as the building operator told him the Tallest had landed an Irken vessel on the roof and was asking about him, Lard Nar headed for the elevator.
He took it all the way to the last floor then climbed up to the roof where he saw an Irken spittle runner parked near a small Vortian ship.
He squared his shoulders as he approached, expecting any moment to be threatened or vaporized by Irk's leader.
Although he would never admit it even under the threat of death, he was frightened. The tightness in his chest and the trembling of his hands made this all too apparent... but he needed to ask about Laes.
Veena was still translating the recording Chakri left behind, but from what she was able to decipher, it sounded like Laes was in trouble... his former cellmate's name had been used along with the Invader's word for "prison."
He shouldn't be scared. He was on his home planet surrounded by his own people... the Tallest didn't have any power here... except for what the Irken was capable of doing to him physically...
There was a flash of red light. It was a teleportation beam from the spittle runner.
Lard Nar watched as the Tallest appeared along with an Invader.
The Invader's colours were dull and its complexion was pale... the Tallest had probably been torturing it.
Then he realized it was Sevai.
The Invader looked very ill, and the bandages wrapped tightly around his chest were soaked in a light green liquid... blood most likely.
Irk's leader seemed to be helping the Invader walk. Even so, Sevai wasn't able to move very quickly, and he stumbled a few times.
"If it's getting this bad we should have gone to a medical facility first," the Tallest insisted, sounding more than just a little irritated.
The Irken's antennae were lowered, and he was frowning.
"That would have interrupted your plans..." Sevai answered in a low murmur.
One of the Invader's arms was draped over the Tallest's shoulders. Sevai's other arm was gripping his torso, and he cringed in pain.
"If interrupting my plans now means I won't have to carry you later, interrupt them. Seriously," the Tallest insisted.
Sevai's wings were dragging along the ground.
Lard Nar noticed a hole in one of them... he glanced at the other one and discovered there was a hole there too.
"What happened to you?" Lard Nar asked, hoping there wouldn't be any noticeable tremor in his voice.
He had a feeling he knew what happened... the Invader had been with the Tallest, and the Tallest had stabbed Laes before.
It was also no secret that the Irkens and the Invaders hated each other.
"I stabbed him obviously," the Tallest answered for Sevai.
The Irken's leader was keeping the Invader's arm over his shoulder while his other arm was positioned around Sevai's waist.
Without the Tallest's support there was no way the Invader would be standing...
"Did Laes make it back here?" Irk's leader questioned.
"No," Lard Nar replied. He swallowed the lump in his throat and met the Tallest's gaze. "Veena is translating a recording Chakri left... it mentioned Laes was in prison."
"Prison...?" Sevai repeated in confusion. "You mean... he is detained on one of our ships... correct?"
Lard Nar gave him a solemn look.
"Veena doesn't think so..."
"May I listen...?" Sevai asked.
"The recording device is on the bottom floor," Lard Nar informed him, glancing over his shoulder at the doorway. Then his gaze settled on the wounded Invader.
Sevai would likely be able to translate the recording, even in his injured state...but he didn't want the Invader to strain himself.
"I'll bring it to you, ok?" he offered.
"See? Even he thinks you shouldn't be walking around," the Tallest remarked, glaring sideways at Sevai who kept his head lowered.
"I apologize..." the Invader spoke in a quiet voice.
"Stop apologizing for being stabbed and poisoned. It's annoying."
"Poisoned?" Lard Nar repeated in surprise. He looked accusingly at the Tallest. "How did that happen exactly?"
"I didn't do it," the Tallest immediately replied. "His people did it."
Lard Nar's attention returned to Sevai.
"It's true..." Sevai admitted. He was leaning very heavily against the Tallest for support, and he kept his eyes lowered, seemingly unwilling to meet Lard Nar's gaze.
"I broke our laws... I should also be imprisoned, but since I am not... the venom has started to impact most of my vital functions..."
"Then you should be at a medical facility," Lard Nar decided, frowning.
"I've tried telling him that," The Tallest shrugged. "But he keeps acting like I'm going to chop his head off or something whenever I bring it up."
"Because your treatment options... thus far... have been very painful..." Sevai told him; his voice fading.
"If you wanted me to knock you out first, you could've just asked."
"I... I would rather you didn't..."
"Then stop complaining about it being painful," the Tallest exhaled sharply. "Good galre." He rubbed his temples. "Why are you so weak anyway?"
Lard Nar stared at them both for a moment. Was the Tallest actually showing concern for a non-Irken...? Was it even possible...?
He shook his head and turned away. Sevai must have something the Tallest wants... this was the only reasonable explanation for the Irken's strange behaviour.
"I'll have medical personnel and supplies brought here," Lard Nar decided, crossing his arms. "It'll be better for Sevai to stay in this facility considering there is very little we know about the Invaders' biology... I'll also let the building operator know."
"And the recording..?" Sevai asked.
"I'll bring it to you," Lard Nar reassured him.
Sevai smiled and gave a slight nod. "Thank you..."
"Alright... so where am I dropping him?" The Tallest questioned.
"The twelfth floor has the most resources for biological research and study," Lard Nar informed the Irken as he lowered his arms and turned towards the door. "Follow me."
He couldn't stop himself from trembling. There were large tanks bubbling with colorful unknown substances, and there were also many glowing humming devices he couldn't recognize.
The Vortians on this floor were wearing thick goggles and long rubber gloves. They also wore long white cloaks.
These were scientists... researchers...
They would likely use this opportunity to seek revenge for his race's involvement in the war they had with the Irkens... or perhaps for the Vortians who died in his people's custody.
How much abuse would his body be able to take...? How long would he be forced to endure their experiments?
Perhaps this kind of fate was something he deserved since he had also experimented on others before... experimenting on different sentient beings was considered necessary for their survival.
Did the Vortians think the same...?
His people often told stories of how their kind would be ripped apart, dissected, and poisoned by other races... although his own people had been the ones to poison him.
At least he knew their rules and policies, but when dealing with another race there was always a high level of uncertainty.
"Why are you shaking so much?" the Tallest questioned him with a frown.
The Irkens' leader was helping him walk, so the Tallest could feel him shivering.
Unlike him, the Tallest didn't seem to care that he was surrounded by potentially hostile Vortians.
"It's nothing worth mentioning..." Sevai spoke as he managed to force a small uneasy smile.
"If it's not worth mentioning, then cut it out," the Tallest insisted.
One of his legs suddenly buckled. He hadn't been paying enough attention to his own movements...
He felt the Tallest's grip tighten around his waist as the Irken's leader steadied him.
It hurt... he whimpered and squeezed his eyes shut. Inhaling through his clenched teeth, he let go of his mid-section and let his arm fall limp at his side.
No amount of pressure was helping the burning sensation anymore.
A couple Vortians began asking the Tallest questions while more ran around grabbing supplies and machines.
At least he assumed that's what the Vortians were doing... he couldn't understand them...
He assumed the reason he could understand the Tallest, and have the Tallest understand him, was due to the Irken's PAK. Those devices had originally been his people's technology, so it wasn't too surprising they retained some of his peoples' programming.
The Tallest completely disregarded the talking Vortians as he walked him over to a mobile floating bed one of the quieter Vortians had fetched.
Sevai felt his arm being lifted off of the Tallest's shoulder plates before he was lowered onto the bed.
His chest tightened. He tried to focus on his breathing.
Irk's leader was going to leave, which meant he was going to be alone when he was experimented on in this lab...
He stared up at the ceiling as the Vortians brought their devices as close as they could. They were surrounding him. Something was placed over his mouth. It was a mask of some kind... it made breathing easier but he could no longer move his mandibles.
Wires were also being attached to his body. He closed his eyes so he wouldn't have to see what they were doing.
No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't stop trembling... he willed himself to be still, but it did no good. If he resisted at all, he was sure the Vortians would lose their patience and tie him down... or worse things would happen...
He'd rather not think about it.
"We have to do everything manually since our technology isn't set up for his species," a Vortian carrying a stencil and a small screen explained as it jotted something down.
The Tallest's antennae lowered a bit.
"Ok... why are you telling me that?" He asked.
"Well er... you brought him in..." the Vortian reasoned.
"I brought him here so I wouldn't have to deal with him anymore," the Tallest stated as he turned to leave.
The snivelling Invader wasn't just an enemy of his people, but also annoying as helk... there was no way he could possibly care about a creature like that. It was impossible.
"Ah... ok..." the Vortian spoke, sounding confused and maybe a little disappointed.
Great. Now the rebel pest was standing in the doorway... The Vortian's arms were crossed, and in one of his hands was the Invader's recording device probably.
"You could answer a few questions before taking off," the rebel spoke with a scowl. "The more information we have about his condition, the better chance he'll have at surviving..."
Why did Vortians always have to know everything? Couldn't they just figure it out on their own?
He sighed as he dragged a hand down the side of his face.
"I stabbed him in the chest, and sometime after that his people poisoned him with some kind of horrible organ melting venom." He shrugged. "What more do you need to know?"
"How long as the venom been in his system?" the rebel asked, undetoured.
"I don't know..." Sevai had been poisoned after they'd spoken the first time so.. "a day? Maybe two?"
It was his best guess.
"Did you give him any pain-nummbers?"
Why did that even matter?
"I gave him some cooling gel. That's it."
"What for?"
Vortians never stopped asking questions did they? It was no wonder most of his people could only tolerate them for short periods of time.
"For his antennae," he decided to answer even though it was annoying.
"Why?"
His eyes narrowed at the Vortian.
"You're really annoying, you know that?"
Why did it matter why he did it? He didn't need to answer any of the stupid rebel's pointless questions.
He stepped past the Vortian and continued into the hallway.
There were four Irkens rounding the corner. Four? He was pretty sure he only sent two. ..Maybe three.
"Sir..." the one in the lead spoke.
The Tallest recognized him because of his metal leg, but he couldn't remember his name.
"What is it soldier?" He asked; his antennae lifting slightly. He was at least mildly interested in what they had to say.
"Do you still want us stationed here sir?" the guard standing at the front motioned to himself and the rest of the group.
"Yeah, that's fine," He replied.
He'd forgotten about the two he sent, and he really couldn't remember why the other two were here. In any case, it wouldn't hurt to keep them all here for now considering the Vortians were useless when it came to defending themselves.
Vort had almost fully recovered from his peoples' conquest. It would be good to have a few of his followers keeping an eye on things to make sure it stayed like that.
The Vortians themselves also seemed to be recovering... some of them were keeping their distance, but that was to be expected.
He wasn't sure what their agreement with the Invaders was, but that could be worth looking into.
"And me sir?" the short guy wearing pilot clothes asked, pointing at himself. It sounded like he was used to being overlooked... probably because he was short.
"The Invaders were here not long ago, and there's still one in this facility, so I'm ordering all four of you to stay," he decided, and he watched in amusement as the smallest one in the group dipped his head to hide his fallen expression.
Then his attention returned to the one he assumed was a prison guard.
"Contact me if you find out anything more about the Invaders... or that Vortian guy: Laes or whatever."
"Yes sir," three of them agreed in unison.
The other one remained quiet and he kept his eyes downcast. This was unusual for a soldier... but he didn't have time to ask them a whole bunch of questions right now. He needed to get into contact with the patrols he had operating all over the place.
Even though he'd lost a lot of soldiers, his people were still mostly organized.
Until the last Irken fell, they would keep fighting.
I'll just drop this thought blurb here: I've thought about insects a lot while writing these particular fics. I even compared queen ants to wasps to see if they're similar in size (they are).
To me, Irkens have always seemed very similar to ants. They love sugary food and drinks. They keep their larva (smeets) protected underground. They will war with almost anything they come across, and they also act on behalf of the collective, or in this case, the Empire.