Striding down the corridor, silence reigned between Hunt and Anasazi as they headed for the meeting with the Randamal council. It was Tyr who spoke first.
"These bird people..."
"Randamals, Tyr," Dylan corrected firmly.
A nerve jumped in Tyr's jaw as he fought down his frustration. Now with more sharpness he began again, "These Randamals, do you believe they will join the Commonwealth?"
The question caught Dylan by surprise and he finally looked to the man who walked at this side. "I'm glad you're finally taking an interest in our possible allies."
But the look in Tyr's eyes didn't spark with curiosity but deadliness. "Interest, yes. I want to know if I should be finding ways to exploiting their weaknesses."
With a "I should have know" expression, Dylan pulled his look away from the Nietzschean.
They walked in silence for another twenty yards before Dylan firmly demanded, "Why are you here, Tyr? Really," and he watched the other man intently, hoping to detect the truth in the Neitzschean's reaction to his words.
Tyr answered without bothering to look Dylan's way, "Back on the Andromeda I told you that I should accompany you on these "talks". As usual, you were too stubborn to listen."
Dylan snagged onto Tyr's arm and brought them both to a halt, their eyes lancing into one another. "Why, is my question, Tyr. What is here on Randamal that you want?" The captain's tone was hard, unflinching. He wanted an answer, now.
"Nothing!" Tyr spat back. "This "race" has nothing of value."
"Exactly my thoughts," Dylan's tone was light but his eyes showed his deeper emotions. "So what's in this trip for Tyr?"
"Absolutely nothing that I can detect," Tyr countered with disgust.
Dylan's features became calculating. "Oh there has got to be something. Tyr Anasazi doesn't do anything without a personal motive."
"If that were true, why'd I save your life on that ice world." His voice edged with anger. "I put myself in the sights of my enemy's guns to rescue you. What value did that have for me?"
But the hard glint in Hunt's eyes told Tyr that his words hadn't swayed Dylan's opinion even more than the captain's next words. "You couldn't afford to lose an ally against your enemy. Lessens your chances for survival," Dylan answered firmly, without doubt.
A slow smile pulled onto Tyr's face. "Your former 1st officer must have taught you more about Nietzschean than I imaged."
All warmth left Hunt's expression and his words were like an icy blast, "Yes." Dylan took a step closer to Tyr, "He taught me to never trust a Nietzschean." Before Tyr could draw in another breath, Dylan was gone, his long strides eating up the corridor floor.
With a curse under his breath, Tyr took a few running steps to bring him in step with Dylan. He opened his mouth to speak as they turned a corner but they encountered one of their official hosts in the hallway.
"Captain Hunt. I hope you are feeling recovered," Senator Fina greeted in common, the trill of his species making the words almost a tune.
Snapping into his diplomatic mode, Dylan emerged with a smile, "Yes. Thanks to your medical treatment. Senator Fina, I'ld like you to meet my officer, Tyr Anasazi."
Tyr noted Dylan's omission of his title even as the senator bowed before him. 'As if saying I'm the weapons specialist is more of an obvious threat than my being Nietzschean." Knowing what was expected of him, Tyr stifled a sigh and bowed to the birdman before him.
Dylan was caught off guard by Tyr's courtesy to the Senator. Hell, he was caught off by Tyr's mere present here. The man had an angle, but Dylan couldn't for the life of him, determine what it was. Shutting out his personal problems, Dylan tried to read the senator's reaction to the newest guest. But with the race's feathered body, wings and beaked face, he wasn't sure how the species made an expression let alone how he could read it.
The senator refocused his black eyes on Hunt. "I will prepare the room beside your quarters for Officer Anasazi."
Dylan broadened his smile, "Thank you," was his only reply, deciding to not make excuses for Tyr's presence that were not demanded.
"Let me lead you to our meeting room," senator Fina said as he lead them down the corridor.
Tyr's presence was not so unexceptionally met as he and Dylan entered the meeting room. All eleven senators fell silent as the two High Guard officers crossed over the room's threshold.
Senator Fina quickly spoke as the seated Senators watched the Nietzschean openly. "Greetings fellow senators. Let me present Officer Tyr Anasazi."
Tyr bowed a greeting but remained silent, as did the rest of the room. It was a hard voice that finally cut through the air.
"So now we see your true soul, Captain Hunt. You cower behind a Nietzschean at the first sign of adversity." A senator called Kaba insulted, his eyes burning into Dylan's.
'Damn you Tyr,' flew through Dylan's mind but outwardly he let a deadly smile pull onto his face, "I thought my Nietzschean officer and I could offer you our expertise on security." He let his look sear into Kaba a moment before he shrugged, "I mean, since I know first hand that some of your "adversaries" have found ways to gain access to this building."
If reading Fina's expression had been neigh impossible for Hunt, reading Kaba's was child's play. The Randamals wings fluttered a second, his eyes flicked shut and open and his feathers on his face changed from white to green. Yep, he was furious, Dylan knew that as a certainty. But the captain also sensed another reaction in the room, Tyr's. He knew the Nietzschean was trying hard not to smile. 'Great. Man can't smile for his life most of the time and now he thinks he wants to smile."
"Please Captain, Officer, take a seat," Fina, ever the peacemaker, polity offered as he indicated two empty chairs at the oblong table. Without further comment, Tyr, Dylan and Fina claimed chairs.
The meeting began civilly enough as a senator Magtana began; "We are meeting here to discuss our planet's possible indoctrination into Captain Hunt's Commonwealth."
Mentally, Dylan sighed and corrected, 'it is not MY Commonwealth! It is THE Commonwealth'
But Magtana was continuing on, "We need to determine if this unification would be beneficial to our planet as well as to the Captain."
'To the Commonwealth...beneficial to the Commonwealth,' rang through Dylan's head even as he realized all eyes were focused on him. Quelling his inner voice, he made eye contact with all the senators and began his campaign,
"Well, I'll begin by telling you the principles that the Commonwealth were founded on."
Now it was Tyr holding back a sigh. He would welcome an attack right now, even a Mogag attack would be preferable to the torture of "Negotiation".
Four hours later the negotiations had drawn to a halt but not a conclusion, thanks to Dylan's refusal to have the vote taken before all the policies and procedures were adhered to. The vote would remain two days away as originally arranged, much to the Randamals and Tyr's displeasure.
As Dylan thanked Fina for the continued hospitality, he reminded the senator of his prior offering of a tour of the city. The mere mention of the tour seemed to fluster the senator's feathers. "Oh but you can't go on the tour now, not after what has transpired? Someone sent a cyborg to kill you!"
But Dylan off handedly replied, "Hey, that's what cyborgs do."
Fina trilling voice rose in panic, "But we can't guarantee your safety, Captain Hunt. Not out on the streets."
"Well, you no longer have to worry about me." And Dylan put his hand on Tyr's shoulder and met his officer's glare, "Officer Anasazi has come here to protect me." Hunt saw Tyr's clenched jaw and knew the Nietzschean knew a taunt when he heard one.
"But.." Fina still protested.
But Dylan cut him off firmly but with diplomacy, "Relax Senator. My officer accepts full responsibility for any harm that may befall me."
Dylan and Tyr emerged from the meeting room and began the trek back to their quarters.
"Enduring any more of that could even make the strongest Nietzschean suicidal," Tyr spat.
A smile pulled onto Dylan's exhausted features. Just knowing that Tyr had suffered miserably made him feel better.
Tyr looked to the silent man at his side. He expected a come back, or a lecture, or at least a look of frustration from Hunt. Receiving no response of any kind from Hunt made him uneasy for some reason. He studied the man as they walked, "What? No rousing speech about negotiations being the backbone of civilization. No lecture about a poor attitude?"
Dylan smirked at Tyr's words but didn't give the Nietzschean his attention but simply said, "Nope."
They walked in silence for awhile, Tyr kept shooting looks to his Captain, expecting to catch an emotion on the man's face that he could decipher. To his frustration, Dylan Hunt was wearing his immensely effective poker face.
"Can you explain to me why I sat through four agonizing hours of debate only to have you deny them their vote?!"
"I sat there because I'm forced to play a politician's role," Dylan replied then looked pointedly to Tyr, "Why you sat there... that's the question you haven't answered. Yet."
Tyr ignored Dylan's probing and pressed again, "Why did you delay the vote? It was clearly going to go in favor of the Commonwealth! And don't tell me the same lies you told the Randamals about policies and procedures. You make all those things up as you go!"
Tyr's words finally earned him Dylan's attention. He met his weapon officer's look head on and lowly replied, "Yesterday I know their vote would have been split and now, miraculously it seems as if they are all in agreement."
"And you of course don't trust that," Tyr chided with a sigh.
"No. No I don't."
"Maybe the attack on you has made them realize they need the stability your Commonwealth offers," Tyr supplied.
"Possibly but I think it's a little more complicated than that. I want to know more about the group that sent the cyborg after me. I want to know their concerns."
"What?!" Tyr exclaimed just as lowly. "All they were 'concerned about' was killing you!"
Dylan continued as if he didn't hear Tyr's outburst. "I want to know their objections to the Commonwealth, objections that the senators don't seem to hold. I need to talk to this group myself."
"The only talking we should do with them is with a gouse gun." But Tyr knew that look in Dylan's eyes only too well. The man would not be swayed. "So you insisted on keeping your tour of the city to draw out your opponents. And I guess you expect me to not only protect you from another assassin's attack but to capture the assassin and arrange them to meet with you."
"I don't need your protection Tyr," Hunt firmly corrected, earning him an unpleasant look from his companion. "What I do need is another hand to round up the assassin."
"Oh I live to serve," Tyr sarcastically replied.
"Good," was Hunt's come back.
The "tour" was so controlled that Dylan almost thought he would spot tourist plaques along the streets. Tyr walked at his side, his stride lazy but his eyes alert. But on this tour, Dylan knew there would be no need for Tyr's attentiveness because contact with the faction seemed very unlikely.
"Senator Fina, I would like a tour of your factory district. I hear your productivity exceeds that of your competitors," Dylan requested of the Senator that was presiding over the tour with a running commentary.
Fina shot a look of surprise to Hunt but continued, "Oh you will fully enjoy our next area of interest. It is a museum.."
But Dylan cut in, not with anger but with childlike simplicity as he came to a halt, "No. I don't want to see that." Fina stumbled to a stop and stared at his guest open beaked. The whole entourage, which consisted of Dylan, Tyr, Senators Fina, Kaba and Magtana and 2 security guards, found themselves stopped in the center of the Market Square.
"If I'm not mistaken, the factories are this way," Dylan said as he pointed to the west, looked to Fina who gave a nod of his head. Without further debate, Hunt strode off to the west even as Tyr matched his steps with a hitch. To all involved, the two guests were now leading the tour.
Tyr felt his tension rise as he sensed the innumerable potentials for danger on this new "tour" of Dylan's. He lowly shot to Hunt, "Had I known you wanted to surrender to your assassins, I would have stayed on the Andromeda."
Dylan shot Tyr a challenging smile but it was Fina who spoke next.
"Captain Hunt!" the senator trilled behind them. "Please return to the market! It is not secure here!"
As if to prove that point, Tyr yelled, "Dylan!" even as he tackled Hunt to the ground seconds before laser fire blasted into the wall where Dylan had been. More fire strafed the buildings even as Tyr and Dylan both laid flat to the ground. More lasers zinged over their heads and into the vehicles they were hiding behind.
Almost simultaneously, Dylan and Tyr pushed themselves off the ground and crouched behind the vehicles. Their eyes met and their differences became inconsequential. Adversity was one hell of a way to strengthen a friendship.
"Well you smoked out your fan club." Tyr sallied. "Now what?"
Dylan held up a small metallic ball, "I throw this smoke bomb, you got left, I go right," and he made to throw the ball but Tyr seized his arm, halting the motion.
"You are the target!" Tyr growled, searing his look of exasperation into Dylan's eyes, "You will stay here. I'll handle the assassin," his words both men knew were orders.
But Dylan was not going to back down. He gave the orders. He didn't take them. "I want them alive Tyr. Now on the count of 3 we'll go."
The Nietzschean's hold increased, "You are staying here or else neither of us are moving. There will be no compromise, Dylan."
Dylan was surprised at Tyr's actions. Out of all the times the Nietzschean disagreed with Hunt's orders, he had never tried to issue orders upon Dylan.
"Decide now before our prey eludes me," Tyr pressed, clearly stating again that only he would pursue the assassin.
Knowing that Tyr would not budge on this issue, Dylan angrily replied, "Fine. Bring them to the storage shed outside the palace in an hour."
And with that capitulation, Tyr nodded and Dylan threw the smoke bomb. Tyr broke from cover and a mere second later was swallowed up by the smoke.
TBC (I'ld love to know what you think!)
"These bird people..."
"Randamals, Tyr," Dylan corrected firmly.
A nerve jumped in Tyr's jaw as he fought down his frustration. Now with more sharpness he began again, "These Randamals, do you believe they will join the Commonwealth?"
The question caught Dylan by surprise and he finally looked to the man who walked at this side. "I'm glad you're finally taking an interest in our possible allies."
But the look in Tyr's eyes didn't spark with curiosity but deadliness. "Interest, yes. I want to know if I should be finding ways to exploiting their weaknesses."
With a "I should have know" expression, Dylan pulled his look away from the Nietzschean.
They walked in silence for another twenty yards before Dylan firmly demanded, "Why are you here, Tyr? Really," and he watched the other man intently, hoping to detect the truth in the Neitzschean's reaction to his words.
Tyr answered without bothering to look Dylan's way, "Back on the Andromeda I told you that I should accompany you on these "talks". As usual, you were too stubborn to listen."
Dylan snagged onto Tyr's arm and brought them both to a halt, their eyes lancing into one another. "Why, is my question, Tyr. What is here on Randamal that you want?" The captain's tone was hard, unflinching. He wanted an answer, now.
"Nothing!" Tyr spat back. "This "race" has nothing of value."
"Exactly my thoughts," Dylan's tone was light but his eyes showed his deeper emotions. "So what's in this trip for Tyr?"
"Absolutely nothing that I can detect," Tyr countered with disgust.
Dylan's features became calculating. "Oh there has got to be something. Tyr Anasazi doesn't do anything without a personal motive."
"If that were true, why'd I save your life on that ice world." His voice edged with anger. "I put myself in the sights of my enemy's guns to rescue you. What value did that have for me?"
But the hard glint in Hunt's eyes told Tyr that his words hadn't swayed Dylan's opinion even more than the captain's next words. "You couldn't afford to lose an ally against your enemy. Lessens your chances for survival," Dylan answered firmly, without doubt.
A slow smile pulled onto Tyr's face. "Your former 1st officer must have taught you more about Nietzschean than I imaged."
All warmth left Hunt's expression and his words were like an icy blast, "Yes." Dylan took a step closer to Tyr, "He taught me to never trust a Nietzschean." Before Tyr could draw in another breath, Dylan was gone, his long strides eating up the corridor floor.
With a curse under his breath, Tyr took a few running steps to bring him in step with Dylan. He opened his mouth to speak as they turned a corner but they encountered one of their official hosts in the hallway.
"Captain Hunt. I hope you are feeling recovered," Senator Fina greeted in common, the trill of his species making the words almost a tune.
Snapping into his diplomatic mode, Dylan emerged with a smile, "Yes. Thanks to your medical treatment. Senator Fina, I'ld like you to meet my officer, Tyr Anasazi."
Tyr noted Dylan's omission of his title even as the senator bowed before him. 'As if saying I'm the weapons specialist is more of an obvious threat than my being Nietzschean." Knowing what was expected of him, Tyr stifled a sigh and bowed to the birdman before him.
Dylan was caught off guard by Tyr's courtesy to the Senator. Hell, he was caught off by Tyr's mere present here. The man had an angle, but Dylan couldn't for the life of him, determine what it was. Shutting out his personal problems, Dylan tried to read the senator's reaction to the newest guest. But with the race's feathered body, wings and beaked face, he wasn't sure how the species made an expression let alone how he could read it.
The senator refocused his black eyes on Hunt. "I will prepare the room beside your quarters for Officer Anasazi."
Dylan broadened his smile, "Thank you," was his only reply, deciding to not make excuses for Tyr's presence that were not demanded.
"Let me lead you to our meeting room," senator Fina said as he lead them down the corridor.
Tyr's presence was not so unexceptionally met as he and Dylan entered the meeting room. All eleven senators fell silent as the two High Guard officers crossed over the room's threshold.
Senator Fina quickly spoke as the seated Senators watched the Nietzschean openly. "Greetings fellow senators. Let me present Officer Tyr Anasazi."
Tyr bowed a greeting but remained silent, as did the rest of the room. It was a hard voice that finally cut through the air.
"So now we see your true soul, Captain Hunt. You cower behind a Nietzschean at the first sign of adversity." A senator called Kaba insulted, his eyes burning into Dylan's.
'Damn you Tyr,' flew through Dylan's mind but outwardly he let a deadly smile pull onto his face, "I thought my Nietzschean officer and I could offer you our expertise on security." He let his look sear into Kaba a moment before he shrugged, "I mean, since I know first hand that some of your "adversaries" have found ways to gain access to this building."
If reading Fina's expression had been neigh impossible for Hunt, reading Kaba's was child's play. The Randamals wings fluttered a second, his eyes flicked shut and open and his feathers on his face changed from white to green. Yep, he was furious, Dylan knew that as a certainty. But the captain also sensed another reaction in the room, Tyr's. He knew the Nietzschean was trying hard not to smile. 'Great. Man can't smile for his life most of the time and now he thinks he wants to smile."
"Please Captain, Officer, take a seat," Fina, ever the peacemaker, polity offered as he indicated two empty chairs at the oblong table. Without further comment, Tyr, Dylan and Fina claimed chairs.
The meeting began civilly enough as a senator Magtana began; "We are meeting here to discuss our planet's possible indoctrination into Captain Hunt's Commonwealth."
Mentally, Dylan sighed and corrected, 'it is not MY Commonwealth! It is THE Commonwealth'
But Magtana was continuing on, "We need to determine if this unification would be beneficial to our planet as well as to the Captain."
'To the Commonwealth...beneficial to the Commonwealth,' rang through Dylan's head even as he realized all eyes were focused on him. Quelling his inner voice, he made eye contact with all the senators and began his campaign,
"Well, I'll begin by telling you the principles that the Commonwealth were founded on."
Now it was Tyr holding back a sigh. He would welcome an attack right now, even a Mogag attack would be preferable to the torture of "Negotiation".
Four hours later the negotiations had drawn to a halt but not a conclusion, thanks to Dylan's refusal to have the vote taken before all the policies and procedures were adhered to. The vote would remain two days away as originally arranged, much to the Randamals and Tyr's displeasure.
As Dylan thanked Fina for the continued hospitality, he reminded the senator of his prior offering of a tour of the city. The mere mention of the tour seemed to fluster the senator's feathers. "Oh but you can't go on the tour now, not after what has transpired? Someone sent a cyborg to kill you!"
But Dylan off handedly replied, "Hey, that's what cyborgs do."
Fina trilling voice rose in panic, "But we can't guarantee your safety, Captain Hunt. Not out on the streets."
"Well, you no longer have to worry about me." And Dylan put his hand on Tyr's shoulder and met his officer's glare, "Officer Anasazi has come here to protect me." Hunt saw Tyr's clenched jaw and knew the Nietzschean knew a taunt when he heard one.
"But.." Fina still protested.
But Dylan cut him off firmly but with diplomacy, "Relax Senator. My officer accepts full responsibility for any harm that may befall me."
Dylan and Tyr emerged from the meeting room and began the trek back to their quarters.
"Enduring any more of that could even make the strongest Nietzschean suicidal," Tyr spat.
A smile pulled onto Dylan's exhausted features. Just knowing that Tyr had suffered miserably made him feel better.
Tyr looked to the silent man at his side. He expected a come back, or a lecture, or at least a look of frustration from Hunt. Receiving no response of any kind from Hunt made him uneasy for some reason. He studied the man as they walked, "What? No rousing speech about negotiations being the backbone of civilization. No lecture about a poor attitude?"
Dylan smirked at Tyr's words but didn't give the Nietzschean his attention but simply said, "Nope."
They walked in silence for awhile, Tyr kept shooting looks to his Captain, expecting to catch an emotion on the man's face that he could decipher. To his frustration, Dylan Hunt was wearing his immensely effective poker face.
"Can you explain to me why I sat through four agonizing hours of debate only to have you deny them their vote?!"
"I sat there because I'm forced to play a politician's role," Dylan replied then looked pointedly to Tyr, "Why you sat there... that's the question you haven't answered. Yet."
Tyr ignored Dylan's probing and pressed again, "Why did you delay the vote? It was clearly going to go in favor of the Commonwealth! And don't tell me the same lies you told the Randamals about policies and procedures. You make all those things up as you go!"
Tyr's words finally earned him Dylan's attention. He met his weapon officer's look head on and lowly replied, "Yesterday I know their vote would have been split and now, miraculously it seems as if they are all in agreement."
"And you of course don't trust that," Tyr chided with a sigh.
"No. No I don't."
"Maybe the attack on you has made them realize they need the stability your Commonwealth offers," Tyr supplied.
"Possibly but I think it's a little more complicated than that. I want to know more about the group that sent the cyborg after me. I want to know their concerns."
"What?!" Tyr exclaimed just as lowly. "All they were 'concerned about' was killing you!"
Dylan continued as if he didn't hear Tyr's outburst. "I want to know their objections to the Commonwealth, objections that the senators don't seem to hold. I need to talk to this group myself."
"The only talking we should do with them is with a gouse gun." But Tyr knew that look in Dylan's eyes only too well. The man would not be swayed. "So you insisted on keeping your tour of the city to draw out your opponents. And I guess you expect me to not only protect you from another assassin's attack but to capture the assassin and arrange them to meet with you."
"I don't need your protection Tyr," Hunt firmly corrected, earning him an unpleasant look from his companion. "What I do need is another hand to round up the assassin."
"Oh I live to serve," Tyr sarcastically replied.
"Good," was Hunt's come back.
The "tour" was so controlled that Dylan almost thought he would spot tourist plaques along the streets. Tyr walked at his side, his stride lazy but his eyes alert. But on this tour, Dylan knew there would be no need for Tyr's attentiveness because contact with the faction seemed very unlikely.
"Senator Fina, I would like a tour of your factory district. I hear your productivity exceeds that of your competitors," Dylan requested of the Senator that was presiding over the tour with a running commentary.
Fina shot a look of surprise to Hunt but continued, "Oh you will fully enjoy our next area of interest. It is a museum.."
But Dylan cut in, not with anger but with childlike simplicity as he came to a halt, "No. I don't want to see that." Fina stumbled to a stop and stared at his guest open beaked. The whole entourage, which consisted of Dylan, Tyr, Senators Fina, Kaba and Magtana and 2 security guards, found themselves stopped in the center of the Market Square.
"If I'm not mistaken, the factories are this way," Dylan said as he pointed to the west, looked to Fina who gave a nod of his head. Without further debate, Hunt strode off to the west even as Tyr matched his steps with a hitch. To all involved, the two guests were now leading the tour.
Tyr felt his tension rise as he sensed the innumerable potentials for danger on this new "tour" of Dylan's. He lowly shot to Hunt, "Had I known you wanted to surrender to your assassins, I would have stayed on the Andromeda."
Dylan shot Tyr a challenging smile but it was Fina who spoke next.
"Captain Hunt!" the senator trilled behind them. "Please return to the market! It is not secure here!"
As if to prove that point, Tyr yelled, "Dylan!" even as he tackled Hunt to the ground seconds before laser fire blasted into the wall where Dylan had been. More fire strafed the buildings even as Tyr and Dylan both laid flat to the ground. More lasers zinged over their heads and into the vehicles they were hiding behind.
Almost simultaneously, Dylan and Tyr pushed themselves off the ground and crouched behind the vehicles. Their eyes met and their differences became inconsequential. Adversity was one hell of a way to strengthen a friendship.
"Well you smoked out your fan club." Tyr sallied. "Now what?"
Dylan held up a small metallic ball, "I throw this smoke bomb, you got left, I go right," and he made to throw the ball but Tyr seized his arm, halting the motion.
"You are the target!" Tyr growled, searing his look of exasperation into Dylan's eyes, "You will stay here. I'll handle the assassin," his words both men knew were orders.
But Dylan was not going to back down. He gave the orders. He didn't take them. "I want them alive Tyr. Now on the count of 3 we'll go."
The Nietzschean's hold increased, "You are staying here or else neither of us are moving. There will be no compromise, Dylan."
Dylan was surprised at Tyr's actions. Out of all the times the Nietzschean disagreed with Hunt's orders, he had never tried to issue orders upon Dylan.
"Decide now before our prey eludes me," Tyr pressed, clearly stating again that only he would pursue the assassin.
Knowing that Tyr would not budge on this issue, Dylan angrily replied, "Fine. Bring them to the storage shed outside the palace in an hour."
And with that capitulation, Tyr nodded and Dylan threw the smoke bomb. Tyr broke from cover and a mere second later was swallowed up by the smoke.
TBC (I'ld love to know what you think!)