"This is a really bad idea" said Nevke. Looming in the viewscreen in front of the young pilot was a massive Grineer Galleon ship. Next to it their small Corpus shuttle felt tiny. He looked back hopefully at Teko and Khiy. "There is still time for me to turn this ship around."

"As much as I would really like to take you up on that offer Nevke," admitted Teko. "We have to do this."

"At least you get to remain on the shuttle" said Khiy. He was standing beside Teko, arms crossed, glowering at the Grineer ship on the screen. "You cannot get the stench of Grineer out of anything. It even manages to get into your helmet and clings to your hair."

Nevke let out a disgusted snort.

"Is it true Grineer eat Corpus?" asked Teso. He was seated behind them, staring wide eyed at the Grineer ship. "I hear they call it 'rich meat'."

Before Teko could respond, Veko, in his seat beside Teso asked, "Would Grineer eating Corpus be considered cannibalism?"

"No!" shouted Yevki from his seat in the rear hold. "You must be the same species for it to be considered cannibalism and the Corpus and the Grineer are most definitely not the same species."

Khiy glanced Teko. "You know, I have never really thought about that," he admitted. "Do the Grineer eat Corpus?"

"I would not put it past them," admitted Teko, scratching thoughtfully at his goatee. "And given their obvious lack of intelligence they may not even be aware of what they are doing."

"So it is possible," pressed Teso. "The Grineer do eat Corpus."

"I think I am going to be ill," said Nevke, swallowing hard several times.

"Thank you for that Teso," said Khiy sarcastically. He returned to glowering at the Grineer ship on the screen. "I could have continued to live the rest of my life happily unaware of that. Now, I will never look at the Grineer the same way again."

Teso sniggered. Without shifting his view Khiy reached out to smack the younger Corpus upside the head. He didn't miss.

"Commander" cut in Nevke, before Teso could say anything else. "I am receiving docking instructions from the Grineer ship. They want us to land in their hanger bay."

"Very good" said Teko. "Follow their instructions exactly. We do not want any misunderstandings."

"Yes sir."

"It's still not too late to turn around," said Khiy. "I'd rather not end up lunch to a platoon of Grineer Lancers."

"Khiy, you wouldn't be enough to feed a single Grineer Lancer, let alone an entire platoon," said Teko. He watched as Nevke expertly guided the shuttle into the Grineer landing bay. Beside him Khiy reached for his helmet and a Supra.

"No," said Teko, reaching out to stop him.

"What? No weapons?" Khiy's eyes widened. "No helmet?"

Teko shook his head. "And the Prova too Khiy. Leave it."

"Not even a Plinx?" asked Khiy.

"No," said Teko, dropping his own Prova. "If things go badly we will definitely not be shooting our way out of this."

"True" conceded Khiy. "Does not mean I do not think this is a really bad idea."

The shuttle landed with a gently thump.

"Excellent work Nevke," said Teko.

Beside Teko Khiy took several deep breaths.

"You know you will not be able to hold your breath the entire time," said Teko with a wry smile.

"I know," Khiy sighed. "Let's do this."

He strode briskly into the rear hold and crouched to one side of the hatch. Teko crouched on the other side.

"Ready?" asked Teko.

Khiy nodded.

Teko reached up to hit the hatch control. It slid open with a hiss. They were both immediately hit with the strong smell of Grineer. Behind them Yevki gasped, muttered something about forgetting how bad Grineer smelled.

"Do not shoot" barked Khiy in Grineer through the open door. "We are not armed."

Nothing.

"One of these days you must tell me how you learned to speak Grineer," Teko whispered to Khiy.

"Long story" muttered Khiy. He glanced out the hatch door, making sure to not expose his head.

"We are not armed" he repeated in Grineer.

Khiy looked back again to Teko, shrugged. "You would think they were expecting us," he said. "I told them we were not armed.

Teko nodded. He started to stand, putting his hands behind his head. Before he could reach the hatch Khiy shoved him back down then stood himself, his hands behind his head. He stepped out of the Corpus shuttle and into the Grineer hanger bay.

"I am Lieutenant Commander Khiy of the Corpus" he said in Grineer. "I am not armed. I . . . Drop." The last word he snapped in Corpus for Teko as he dropped to his knees.

A stream of bullets hit the empty air where Khiy had just been standing.

"I told you I was not armed" shouted Khiy in Grineer. "We are here to see your commanding officer."

He waited several seconds before standing again, making sure to block Teko's way off the shuttle.

"Khiy" hissed Teko angrily.

"Not now Teko" snapped Khiy in Corpus. "I speak Grineer, you do not. Reprimand me on the ship."

Khiy looked out across the large hanger bay. It was full of Grineer, all of them armed, all of their weapons focused on Khiy. There had to be at least one hundred soldiers glaring at him.

"I am Lieutenant Commander Khiy of the Corpus," he repeated in Grineer.

Still nothing.

"Maybe they are confused because you are speaking in Grineer not Corpus," hissed Teko.

Khiy briefly glanced back at Teko, doubtful. He shrugged then turned back to the Grineer.

"COR . . . PUS . . " he said slowly, patting himself on the chest. "YOT . . . KUY."

A door across the bay opened and an obviously higher ranked Grineer entered, flanked by two lancers.

"You. Corpus," he said in English. "You come speak to Captain."

Teko moved to push past Khiy.

"Are you sure there is nothing I can do to convince you to stay behind?" hissed Khiy. "No need to risk both of us."

"No Khiy."

"Very well," Khiy sighed and stepped aside to allow Teko to pass him.

Two of the closest lancers moved in to grab the Corpus Commander by the arms. Another two reached for Khiy. But before either of them could get a hold of him Khiy had turned back to the shuttle. He slammed his palm against a control panel next to the door and then typed a code on the now exposed keypad. One of the Grineer slammed the butt of his Grakata into the side of Khiy's head, dropping the Corpus officer to his knees. But he had succeeded. The shuttle door slammed shut, and the emergency security protocols were engaged. The Grineer were not getting inside without the code only Khiy now knew. The Grineer lifted the Grakata to strike again at Khiy. This time the Corpus caught the weapon mid strike, twisted it free of the Grineers hold but instead of keeping it he tossed it aside then put his hands behind his head and stood waiting.

"Foolish Corpus," snarled one of the Grinner. He grabbed Khiy by the right wrist, twisted his arm behind his back then pushed until Khiy's wrist was jammed between his shoulder blades. He grimaced but made no sound. The Grineer then shoved a Grakata into the small of his back. Another Grineer put a firm hand on Teko's shoulder while holding a Grakata to his side. They were both then pushed forward.

"Are you getting this?" hissed Teko. They had been walking for some time now. He glanced at the younger Corpus, who was definitely getting the harsher treatment.

"They are taking us on a circuitous route" said Khiy. He was bleeding from a deep cut over his right eye which was already starting to swell. "Either to try to confuse us or because they do not know how to get around their own ship but I can get us back to the shuttle. You?"

"I noticed that too," nodded Teko.

They fell silent again for several more minutes. Every Grineer they passed stopped to stare at the two Corpus prisoners without helmets.

"You would think they have never seen Corpus before" said Teko.

Khiy shrugged, or as best as he could shrug with his arm shoved behind his back and a Grakata jammed into his spine.

"The helmets?" asked Teko.

Khiy attempted to shrug again, then turned to glower at several laughing Grineer.

"This is intolerable" he growled at Teko.

"What?"

"They are laughing at my haircut" he snapped angrily.

"Well, Khiy, it is cut crooked," said Teko, glancing at Khiy's head. "You have been doing this for how long again? Over two hundred years?"

"It is not crooked. I cut it myself," hissed Khiy. "And they are laughing at you too."

"Now that is extremely rude," said Teko. "My hair is cut perfectly."

Khiy suddenly turned back and barked something in Grineer. There was a momentary pause as what he said registered with the Grineer and then they all laughed.

"What did you say?" asked Teko.

"That at least we have hair to cut into lousy haircuts," said Khiy.

Another Grineer shouted something at Khiy and he shouted back in kind. More Grineer laughter.

"What?" demanded Teko when Khiy didn't immediately translate for him.

"He said he did not know Corpus were so ugly without our helmets," said Khiy. "I told him that at least we did not smell like a latrine."

They were led onto the large Grineer bridge. An officer stood with his back to them staring out the viewscreen. The two Corpus were forced to their knees behind the officer.

"Commander Teko-S" said the Grineer officer turning to face them. "Your reputation precedes you."

Both Corpus barely held back gasps of shock. They had not expected this.

"As does yours Captain Vor," said Teko.

"And you must be the little angry Corpus who speaks Grineer my crew is talking about" said Vor turning to Khiy.

"Little?" snapped Khiy indignant. "Lieutenant Commander Khiy." He tried to rise to his feet but the Grineer behind him forced him back to his knees. He barked something at Vor in Grineer and the Captain laughed but then snapped something at the guards. Teko and Khiy were allowed to stand. Khiy, his hands now free, dabbed at the bleeding cut over his eye.

"Why are you here Commander Teko-S?" demanded Vor.

"The alliance between us . . . " started Teko.

"You mean the alliance you broke," snapped Vor. He made a gesture and a recording started to play loud enough it could be heard by everyone on the bridge.

"Attention crew" said Alad V. "Stand down. all stations. You'll be please to know that I, Alad V, have negotiated a peaceful and profitable transfer of power to our new . . . "

Vor started to make a gesture to stop the recording from continuing but Teko cut him off.

"No" he said angrily. "Let it continue."

"Fleet control firing synch re-engaged. Authorization Corpus Tech First Class Veso-R. Take your shot. For Profit."

"Alad V would have left us all to the Sentients" snarled Teko. Even Khiy was shocked by the amount of rage in his friend's voice. Not anger. Rage. Rage he had never seen in their over two centuries working together. "If not for the actions of Veso-R. Who was Corpus. VESO-R WAS CORPUS. My ship and every other ship in the Corpus fleet would have been destroyed or taken by the Sentients. If Alad V were not already dead I would kill him myself."

"So he is dead then?" asked Vor.

"See for yourself," said Teko. He removed a data pad from his belt, tapped in several commands then handed it to Vor. "My ship recorded his ship's final moments. The engine blew. It took Alad V and Veso-R."

He waited as Vor watched the video file.

"But if he somehow managed to survive that," added Teko. "I will kill that traitorous son of a Kubrow myself."

"And what does your Board of Directors have to say about this?" asked Vor, handing the device back to Teko.

"What do your Queens?" shot back Teko.

Vor said nothing. Several long minutes of silence.

"Very well," said Teko finally. "We have not heard from the Board of Directors in some time" he admitted.

Vor nodded but said nothing, his silence confirming to Teko what he had suspected; that like them the Grineer had not heard from their leadership either.

"The Sentients are not distinguishing between Corpus or Grineer," continued Teko. "We both need this."

"What do you propose Commander Teko-S?" asked Vor.

"That the Alliance between us continue," said Teko. "We will not fire on any Grineer not controlled by the Narmer and you will not fire on any Corpus not controlled by the Narmer. An exchange of prisoners. We plan to free Corpus and Grineer from the Narmer and we will return any Grineer we free back to you."

"You will free Grineer?" cut in Vor. Even Khiy was surprised by this.

"Yes," said Teko firmly. "Every Veiled Grineer is an additional enemy we must fight. Every freed Grineer is an additional ally in this fight."

"Very well," said Vor actually impressed. "We shall do the same. Any Corpus we free we shall return to you Commander Teko-S."

"And finally an exchange of information," said Teko. "Anything we learn to aid us in this fight against the Sentients we will share. And you do the same."

Vor said nothing, carefully considering what the Corpus was offering. He had not expected this; the Corpus always more eager to take than to give. They must be really suffering right now or was it this Commander. Coming here, unarmed, bare headed, ready to risk his life.

"And what does the little," Vor stopped himself. "Where does Lieutenant Commander Khiy stand on this?"

"I stand with my Commander" said Khiy. "I serve the Corpus."

"Are we in agreement Captain Vor?" Teko held out his hand.

"Very well Commander Teko-S" Vor took the offered hand. "We are in agreement."

"Then I look forward to fighting at your side in this battle Captain Vor."