Here's another chapter, right on time, for you lovely people. Please enjoy as we start to see the groundwork for this team start to form!

Chapter 28: Unlikely Team

Somewhere in Space

The lone ship slowly floated through the emptiness of space. It was quiet, despite the fact that all four of the occupants were sitting in the control room. Guida sat in a chair in the middle of the room. His right hand resting over his mouth, and his elbow on the arm-rest. He was looking dead ahead, into space, as the ship moved on. Talia was sitting at the back of the room, in a chair in front of a small screen. She was sitting forward, keeping her eyes on the others, unsure of their intentions right now. Niku was sitting at the front of the room at the main control desk with the robot, Airen. Speaking of Airen. He was looking over at Niku, not sure what to say or do. Niku took no notice.

Airen looked over his shoulder briefly and then forward again. He looked over to Niku once more.

"You are an odd bunch," He said. Niku looked over slowly and then glanced over his shoulder. Guida didn't look away from the front window. Niku turned back to face the front and cleared his throat.

"I'm flying this ship, but I don't even know where we're going…" Niku stated, he turned around fully to face Guida. "Where are we going?"

Guida looked down at Niku, but had nothing to say. He closed his eyes and leant forward. He placed both hands over his eyes and sighed. Niku sat patiently. Talia stood up and walked over.

"Haven't you idiots planned this? You're the ones that wanted to escape," Talia asked, surprised they hadn't planned anything. Guida turned and looked down at her, but she could read nothing from him. He was either angry, or sad… or tired. It was weird. She just shut up, sighed and walked back to her seat.

"She's right…" Niku said, Guida turned to face his new ally and his brow furrowed. "I know we had plans, but… we never planned this far."

Talia dropped back into her seat and watched the two, in silence. Guida stood up and walked down to Niku.

"It was never going to be easy once we got to this part. We have nothing to go back to because of Yamo Niha," Guida explained. Talia looked down and shuffled a little awkwardly, but it went unnoticed. "We're going to find him. We're going to hunt him down. We're going to get our revenge and kill him."

Talia sat up slightly, but still remained quiet.

"It's not that easy…" Niku mentioned, standing up in front of Guida.

"No. It won't be," Guida responded, "But we will do it."

That was when she made a slight mistake. Talia scoffed to herself, but louder than expected. Both Guida and Niku turned to face her.

"Excuse me?" Guida said, a little annoyed. This girl meant nothing to him right now and she wasn't making him feel any differently.

"Huh…" Talia said as she turned to face the duo, standing across the room. She shook her head. "Nothing."

"No, no. I believe you made a sound," Guida said, stepping a little closer to the girl. She looked away, shaking her head.

"Yes. She did make a noise," Airen said, not turning away from his control desk. Both Guida and Niku turned to face him, even Talia looked over. "I believe it is something you people call a 'scoff.' Most commonly used when someone finds something amusing or even surprising."

There was an uneasy silence for a second before Guida turned away from the robot and walked closer to Talia.

"That's what I heard," Guida said, standing over her. Talia shifted a little more uncomfortably in her seat and looked up at him.

"I just…" She started, hesitating a bit. She looked down and thought. Guida standing there was putting some pressure on her, but she had to say something. "I just think… you guys won't have a chance against him."

"What do you…" Guida started, but was abruptly cut off when the ship was hit from behind and jolted all of them forward. Niku fell back towards the console. Guida fell back, tripping and falling and Talia was knocked forward, but managed to put her hands out to stop herself. Airen's head smacked onto the console in front of him, but he was fine otherwise.

"What was that?" The robot asked the rest of them as they steadied themselves in case of another impact.

"Someone hit us," Niku said, sitting back in the chair and looking at the small screen in front of him. "It's another ship… a larger one."

"I can get us out of this, but it will include running our fuel to the last drop," Airen suggested.

"What good will that do us if we run out of fuel?" Guida asked, clearly not impressed by this idea.

"Well, we will be fine, sir. There is a planet where we can land and be able to resupply and refuel," Airen explained to them all, "This escape plan will get us to that planet with just a tiny bit of fuel left over, but at a great speed. We will get away from these attackers safely."

Niku turned and looked to Guida. The purple-skinned alien looked over to the former Cold-Empire soldier and nodded.

"Fine, Airen. Do it," Guida commanded before sitting back in his chair.

"I suggest you all strap in, this will not be comfortable," Airen informed them. Talia sat back down and strapped herself in as the others did, but she honestly didn't have any of this scenario on her mind. She realised she had dug herself into a hole with Guida and Niku now and she would need to build that ladder to get back out of it.

Airen punched in the controls and the ship blasted away from the larger one following closely behind. That larger ship also sped up and continued to follow, but was managing to fall behind just a little bit.

"They are keeping up with us, but we will be able to lose them once we land. I am certain of this," Airen explained.

Airen continued to fly the ship, but Niku was noticing that they weren't falling any further back. They had managed to remain a safe distance in front, but they were still being followed.

"This is no good, we can't get away," Niku announced to the room. Guida slammed his fist down.

"This isn't what we should be doing," He stood up and walked forward, "We should turn around and fight them. We can't be weak and run away. This is just going to make things worse."

Talia stood up and rushed over.

"We can't possibly know who that is following us. We need to get away to safety and then you can think of a plan when we land," Talia was talking sense and even Niku nodded. Guida turned around slowly and glared at the teenager.

"You're not in charge here, you don't get to make the orders," Guida told her. She scoffed again and shook her head, clearly annoyed by this.

"What, and you are? Listen. We're not a team. You don't lead us. And I don't take orders from anyone anymore," Talia explained, standing up to Guida. He breathed through his nose, clearly angered by the way she spoke to him. "I just know that this can work."

Before Guida could say anymore the ship was hit again and this time an alarm went off.

"Our shields will not sustain too many more of those," Airen explained, "We are nearly arriving at Planet Gastu'un. We can land in their port and blend in."

Guida looked over to them and finally agreed. Talia walked off, out of the room, returning to her quarters as Airen continued to fly forward and bring the ship down onto the planet. He managed to pour most of the fuel into one last burst and blasted into the port, managing to land amongst a busy sector. The large ship got lost due to the amount of ships flying in and out of the port at one time.

Airen and Niku decided it would be best to lay low for a while and do their resupplying and refuelling at nightfall. This way they could go unseen and hopefully whoever was following them would have left.

As night fell, Guida told Niku and Airen to stay with the ship while he and Talia went to fetch supplies. Talia didn't understand why she was asked to go with him, but she did so without any questions. This was the only way to remain amicable right now, plus she wanted to make sure he didn't do anything stupid to get them arrested or found by those chasing them.

Guida and Talia entered the port and started to look around. They weren't exactly sure what it was they should be looking for, but they still did their best to remain low and look around. Talia goes up to a stall and uses a few credits to buy some food. As she re-joins Guida's side she attempted to hand him some of the food. Guida just looked down at her, but kept on walking. Talia sighed and rolled her eyes walking off to the left as Guida went on forward.

She walked over to a railing that looked down to the lower levels of the port, and that's when she spotted it. She backed up quickly, but instantly bumped into Guida. The girl stumbled forward, but quickly turned on her heal and looked up to Guida. He had a concerned expression on his face as he walked forward.

"What is it?" He asked as he looked down over the railing. Talia was going to stop him, but didn't act in time. "That's… it's the ship that was following us…"

Sure enough, it was. Guida turned and started looking for a staircase or elevator that would take them down to the next to level. Talia stepped in front of him and Guida stalled. He didn't look happy, but Talia was serious.

"We don't know how many of them there are… we can't just rush in," Talia tried to explain. Guida looked back over the railing and punched it, turning to face Talia again.

"So, what do you suggest?" Guida asked, even though he really didn't care about what she had to say. Talia looked over the railing again as a couple of aliens stepped out. There were two of them so far, but a ship with that size. It had plenty of cargo space and could probably house about 10 people.

"So far, I can only see two of them, but there could be way more inside," Talia explained. She turned around, but walked past Guida, clearly contemplating something. "Maybe if we can find a way to sneak around them? It is dark now."

Guida looked down again and then sighed.

"Fine."

"It's the best option," Talia said, trying to sound friendlier than she had previously. Guida looked at her and shook his head as he walked off to the left. "Where are you going?"

"If we're going to try and sneak around them it would be best if we came from different sides," Guida explained as he continued on that way. Talia looked down again and tried to find a good route down. She was just relieved that she had remembered to bring a small dagger with her. Her swords would draw too much attention in this scenario.

Both of them managed to get down there quietly and unseen, but they still need to get close to the ship and at least try to take out these two members of this crew. Perhaps they could pick them off one-by-one and eventually take them all out. It shouldn't be too difficult. Guida didn't want to use any sort of guns, or his energy, so he decided to grab something from nearby to use as a weapon. He managed to find a hammer, but it probably wouldn't be good enough.

Back at the ship, Niku was taking a moment to walk through the ship and check everything was good with the machinery and in the cargo areas. He took a look through the living quarters of all the occupants. He knew that it could be seen as being very nosy and rude, but he had to be wary and keep his guard up. He got to Talia's room and walked inside, closing the door behind him. A small light came on. It didn't reveal much to the former Cold Empire soldier. A small bed, neatly made. A table and chair. Then a bathroom area, but there was something shiny inside the small closet space.

Niku approached it, warily. He slowly opened the door and that's when he saw them. Two blades. They were sheathed, but they were good looking swords. He looked to the door and reached for one of the swords. He attempted to take it by the handle, but as he touched it the whole thing started to glow red and the metal on the handle gleamed. It started to burn at Niku's hand and he had to let go. He backed up, grunting and gripping his hand.

He looked back at the sword as the light faded, but before it completely disappeared it shone around a small logo on the hilt. It was an insignia he instantly recognised, but didn't expect to see. He was knowledgeable about a few things. Like how these swords couldn't be held by just anybody. Niku knew what this meant and he wasn't sure what to do about it right now, but he was slightly worried. He took both swords, this time making sure not to touch the handles.

Back at the strange ship, Talia and Guida were on the approach from their individual sides. Guida couldn't see a way to get closer to his target. The Alien, a fat and tall pink-ish alien with some spikes on his body (Dodoria Species), was leaning against a railing, but he was facing the direction that Guida was hiding in. Guida was concealed behind some boxes and in the dark so he couldn't be see. He lifted his pistol and made sure to have it aimed on the target.

Meanwhile, Talia was getting around and towards her opponent. She didn't take in too much about his appearance, but he was pretty scrawny and holding a rifle. He was just pacing back and forth, unaware of Talia approaching from behind the boxes. She was about to dart to the next box, but the alien started walking towards her and she had to drop back quickly. Doing this caused her to accidentally shift the box and this drew the attention of the alien. He started to slowly make his way towards the box, gun trained on it.

Talia cursed to herself as she gripped the blade tightly and took a breath. The man was just about to come around the box and catch her. She shifted slightly and got into a better position. The alien came around the corner and noticed Talia, but before he could say anything or call out she leapt towards him, kicked the gun of his hands and then plunged the blade right into his throat. She stood there with the blade embedded in his neck as the blood poured out onto her arms.

She retracted the blade and the alien dropped to the ground, dead. Talia dropped to her knees breathing heavily, she hadn't expected to flat out kill that man, but her instincts took over. She shook it off and started to move closer to the ship.

Guida finally believed he had his moment and took a shot towards the larger alien, but he shifted slightly causing the bolt to strike him in the chest… which was protected by armour. The man stumbled back, hitting the railing, but he instantly shot out trying to catch a target.

"Who's there?!" He yelled as he continued to fire blindly. Guida dropped into cover and cursed to himself. Talia could clearly hear the noise and had to freeze, not wanting to get found as well. Guida leapt out of cover and started firing towards the alien, but he wasn't doing a great job. Talia spotted this and cursed out loud. She started rushing towards the scene.

Guida wasn't lucky enough in this scenario and took a blaster bolt to the ankle and that caused him to trip. Guida crashed into the ground and Talia tried to speed up to make an effort, but she was stopped in her tracks as a larger alien stepped in front of her. Talia fell back to the ground and looked up to see quite a tall and tough looking alien… with four arms. She cursed and tried to get up and attack, but the Alien grabbed her and took her towards the ship.

"Shibo, bring that other one!" The four-armed fighter yelled out to the fatter alien as he walked up the platform onto their ship. Both Guida and Talia were taken to a brig area and thrown into a cell. Again. Talia sat up against the wall and scowled at Guida. The former Patrolman was feeling his ankle, still in some pain, but Talia didn't care.

"I should've left you… instead you get us caught," Talia said, not holding back. She was angry and didn't want this to happen. They had no idea who these people really were. "I don't know why I bothered."

Guida glared at her, but didn't have anything to say. He turned away from her, but as he did the cell door opened and the two of them were lifted up and their hands were bound.

"We're gonna take you to the boss," Shibo explained, chuckling. The four-armed fighter (Tufa) was standing in the doorway, smirking as the two went past him.

"Hey, da girl's cute, eh?" Tufa said, nudging Shibo as he went by. Shibo just shook his head and continued on. Tufa chuckled as he followed. Once they entered the next room, Guida and Talia were knocked down to their knees. "Our boss will be in soon, then he'll 'ave some questions for ya."

Guida continued to look down, but Talia looked up, ready to greet whoever their captor was. She clenched her fists, even though they were bound behind her back and she couldn't do anything right now. The door in front of the duo opened and two more aliens entered the room.

"Where's Skanch?" One of them asked. He sounded snake-like with a hissing effect with his voice. Tufa started to stumble over his words as he tried to explain what had happened.

"It appears that Skanch was killed by the girl, you shoulda seen the blood Kuiku," Shibo explained. Kuiku was the snake-like one. The last one to speak looked at Talia smirking, but he didn't say anything. Talia looked him up and down quickly. He was light purple skinned, with a dark purple Mohawk style, and was about average height and… and…

Talia looked over to Guida, who was still looking down. This final man looked over to Guida and had to do a double take. He stepped back once after seeing him.

"Guida… this one's the same species as you," She said in a hushed tone. Guida looked to her with a questioning look and then up at this other man. Guida looked up and immediately recognised who he was looking at, but he wasn't expecting this.

"Shirken?" Guida questioned as he stood up, but was instantly hit with a shock baton and fell back to his knees, grunting in pain. "How… how did you survive?"

Guida asked this while still looking down at the ground, but looked up, a glare on his face.

"Brother."

Talia turned to Shirken quickly and then back to Guida. She wasn't expecting that piece of information. Shirken clearly wasn't prepared to have whatever conversation was coming and Guida wasn't sure he wanted to have this conversation either, but he thought everyone he cared about was dead.

Shirken clearly wanted to say something, but his lip was trembling for a second.

"You were a fool to go after the Dark Blades, Guida…" Shirken uttered, completely dodging the question. "It was never going to end well for you."

Guida looked back down, breathing heavily and unsure of what he could say in response.

"I know…" Guida said, quietly, tears forming in his eyes. "I didn't know what it would mean… what it would mean for them all… I… I didn't know."

Guida looked up and straightened up, knowing he couldn't stand, but wanting to be on his brother's level.

"I thought I was doing the right thing…" Guida continues, before taking a breath and composing himself. "But I still need to know why you weren't there."

Shirken licked his bottom lip and turned his head away, his eyes darting around nervously.

"I demand to know," Guida said, but was knocked down to the ground again. This time by Shibo's fist in his lower back. Guida arched and hit the ground in pain. Talia tried to get her hands free, but couldn't manage it.

"I made a deal," Shirken said, quickly, and certainly not confidently. "I told Yamo Niha that I could get you to him if my life was spared…"

Guida stopped moving for a second, but then slowly moved so he was on his knees and looking towards Shirken. Talia noticed that all emotion seemed to drain from his face in that moment and she couldn't get any sort of read on him.

"I… I…" Guida tried his best to get some words out, but it wasn't happening. The tears started to roll down his cheek as he took a deep breath and glared up at Shirken. "Why didn't you try to defend your own family!" Guida yelled out, surprising everyone in the room. Talia flinched slightly.

"I was scared," Shirken answered, "I didn't want to die…"

"But my wife… my children… they had to die?!" Guida screamed. He was seething with rage now. Talia swallowed and looked down to the ground, not sure how she fit into all of this. She spent time racking her brain to remember if she'd seen this race when with Niha, but then she remembered taking out Mothership XIV and knew it was best to keep out of this.

"I only thought about my own survival…" Shirken added.

"And you'll die because of it!" Guida yelled as he stood up again, but was shocked and dropped to the ground again. Shirken looked away and cleared his throat.

"We're taking you both to Niha, he'll probably kill you Guida, but the girl… he needs the girl," Shirken explained while looking at Talia.

"No!" She said, raising her voice and drawing all attention to her. Guida slowly looked over to her, but she completely forgot he was there for this moment. "I'm never going back to him!"

Guida wanted to say something about that and enquire further, but wasn't given that chance as Talia leapt up, kicking Shibo back into the wall, her hands still bound. She managed to catch the baton and spun around, throwing it into Tufa's face. As Kuiku approached her she kicked him away and then powered up, managing to break free of the binds. She had been silently preparing her energy while Shirken and Guida had been talking and managed to channel it into her hands for a second. She still had more to learn.

Shirken dropped back against the door, unsure of what could happen next. Talia freed Guida from his binds and then went to rush off, but Guida had other ideas. He went for Shirken and grabbed him around the throat.

"Where can I find Niha?" Guida asked, angrily. He punched Shirken in the gut and smacked him around the head. Shirken stumbled to the side and shook his head. He looked over to Guida and moved forward to attack too. He and Guida start to tussle as the others finally get to their feet. Talia noticed this and knew it would be difficult now.

"Guida, we need to get out of here!" She yelled and tried to fight the others back. Guida continued to fight as Talia avoided the other three and managed to run off down the halls of the ship towards the exit. The three of them turn around to try and help their leader, letting Talia get away. She finally gets back to their ship and alerts Niku.

"We need to go and get Guida, they're gonna kill him otherwise," Talia explained. Niku was more than willing to help, but had to take a moment.

"I have something to ask you…" Niku said, holding up Talia's swords. She eyes them up for a bit and swallows. "Where did you get these?"

Talia took a moment to try and find a simple and believable excuse, but these swords were also only connected to her genetic structure and would only work for her. There wasn't a good excuse she could use.

"You're one of them…" Niku said, coming to the conclusion himself.

"That doesn't matter right now, Guida needs help," She said, getting Niku's priorities straight.

They acted quickly to get the ship off the ground and down towards the others. Airen kept the ship in the air and started firing the stun weapon down towards the other ship. While Airen did this both Niku and Talia jumped out and went to go and get Guida. He was still busy fighting Shirken and trying to hold off the other three as well, but not doing too well. Niku got in there and managed to draw enough attention to fight a couple of them.

"Guida, we gotta go!" Niku said, getting Guida's attention.

"But Niku, they know how to get to Niha!" Guida responded. Niku went quiet, and was clearly contemplating it, but he shook his head.

"It's not a good idea right now, we have to go!" Niku responded. Guida knocked Shirken off of him and then rushed to the exit with his allies. They were still being chased. Shirken composed himself and pointed down the hall of the ship.

"Make sure that girl doesn't escape!" He commanded to his three allies and they rushed down after Talia. Kuiku managed to grab a stun weapon and shoot Talia just as Guida and Niku leapt to their own ship. They dragged her back on and got their ship off the ground and blasted into the atmosphere.

Guida and Niku landed on their own ship, but then noticed Talia wasn't with them. Niku went to Airen.

"Hey, robot! Get after them!"

Airen saluted and they began the chase. Guida was trying to process everything that was going through his head, but turned to Niku as the former Soldier approached him.

"They're going to lead us right to Niha," Guida said, smirking up at Niku. Was this their chance?

Thanks for reading, as always. I hope you enjoyed this and look forward to seeing how things resolve in the next chapter! If they do get resolved...

Anyhow, thanks again, and please write a lovely review or send me a PM if you just want to chat about something related to my story. Also, it is my birthday on Saturday, so, keep that in mind.

Next Time... Chapter 29: One Opportunity