Chapter Two
The Christa finally stopped and the crew yet again breathed a collective sigh of relief. Elmira sat in the girls' bunkroom in a meditative state. She saw the entire ordeal. She was now seeing something else entirely. She watched as the girl named Freya fought against an unknown adversary. She watched as the entire crew of the Christa fought with her. Then, she saw something she had never thought possible. Water splashing. As if a mighty sea washed the galaxy clean. She couldn't figure it out. It was as if someone were trying to keep her from "seeing" anything. She opened her eyes and saw that everything was the way it should be now. She sighed and got of her bed.
Radu leaned his head against the wall of the airlock. He still had the girl in his arms, to be exact, she was on his lap, out cold. Harlan had the strange cat like creature on his head. It purred softly. Radu looked down upon the girl's face. She looked slightly different from what he had seen in his head. She looked younger and thinner. He looked at her ears. They had the small points on the tips, like an elf. He moved the high collar of her flight suit a little bit away from her neck and saw gill slits like on Suzee. Even her hair was longer and she didn't have the strange marks on her body. He looked up at Harlan and saw that annoying grin that he always got when he thought of something to pick at Radu with. "What Harlan..."
The smile got bigger. "Why nothing, Radu..."
Radu knew better. Harlan kept grinning at him. "Radu.... You like her don'tcha.."
Radu raised an eyebrow at him with a very stunned look on his face. "N-No...I don't l-like her.." Radu was getting angry at Harlan's stupid grin.
Commander Goddard grinned at the two boys and looked over at Suzee. She rolled her eyes and sighed. "Boys, boys... Why don't we just get out of the airlock before we accidentally space ourselves..." Commander Goddard said trying not to laugh.
Harlan got to his feet and the cat creature jumped down to his shoulders. Radu picked up the girl and stood. Harlan still had that same grin spread across his face. Suzee glared at them both and glared at the girl. She remembered that they did almost the same thing when she came aboard.
They got to the sick bay and Radu set the girl down on the examination table. THELMA walked in and smiled blankly at the dusty crew assembled. Bova, Rosie and Miss Davenport walked in afterward. She then looked down at Freya. "Who is this?"
Everyone looked at eachother questioningly. "We don't know." Commander Goddard shrugged.
"H-her name is Freya."
Everyone looked around and then turned to Radu who was in a corner by himself like he normally did. "What?", asked Miss Davenport.
Radu now felt like jumping out an airlock. It would be a more pleasant feeling that what everyone was making feel like. He felt more like a bit of bacteria in a petri dish being examined. "I-I said her name is Freya.."
Harlan was grinning at him again. He was his friend, but Radu knew that he enjoyed watching him quiver like a bug sometimes. Suzee hit him in the ribs with her compupad. Goddard walked over to Radu looking stunned. "Do you know this girl?"
Radu started to remember what the girl looked like in his vision. How his hand went through hers like a hand through a pool of water. "N-not really.. she was in m-my mind when I lost consciousness....I-I think she's...."
"Hmm.... Very interesting.... She's very much a water based lifeform..." THELMA continued to study Freya.
Goddard walked over to THELMA and let his mouth drop open again. He closed it and started to remember what he was going to say. "A...A what?"
THELMA opened Freya's flight suit and pulled the top part down to her waist. She was not wearing a white tank top like in the vision. She was wearing a very soaked, very red, short sleeved T-shirt. THELMA moved the girl's head from side to side as she inspected the gills on her neck. THELMA looked as if she were just cleaning a bulkhead, which was the basic blank expression she generally wore. "She can apparently breath under water...." She was indicating the gills.
Suzee walked over toward the body and got a closer look at Freya's gills. "Well.. she deffinitly isn't from Yensid..."
Suddenly, Freya's eyes opened with a spark and she grabbed Suzee by the neck. She had amazing strength and got up with just as much spark while still holding Suzee captive. "Who are you..." Her voice was harsh and low. She stared angrily at everyone assembled.
Radu came out from his corner and got closer towards the front. Freya let go of Suzee and threw her towards Harlan. She wasn't snarling anymore. She looked around at everyone and then spotted Radu. "I knew it....", she muttered.
"I'm sorry... I didn't mean to do that.." She looked around at everyone and then started to giggle self-consciously. "Who'dda thought that I'd attack someone of the Christa crew...*giggle*!"
She looked down and saw that only thing keeping the pants portion of her flight suit on was her belt and blushed furiously. "OOPS! Um... D-does anyone have any clothes I can wear?"
Goddard puffed up his chest and walked towards Freya and glared at her menacingly. "How dare you attack one of my students and then ask where.."
Freya cut him off. "I was only askin, guy. I didn't mean to infringe upon yer sensibilities by asking if I could barrow something dry."
Radu and Harlan smirked and stifled their laughter. Goddard turned on them and glared them to a halt. He turned back to Freya who was playing with her wet green hair absent-mindedly. "*Achem!*"
She turned back to Goddard and smiled. "Is something wrong?"
"Yeah! I want to know why you attacked my crew and why you sent a message to Radu and ... ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME!"
Freya was looking around and then turned back to Goddard with a smile. "Did you know that yer wrinkles show when yer angry?"
Goddard smacked his forehead and stalked back to where he was before, rubbing his temples. Miss Davenport walked up and tried her best to look authoritative. "Um... p-please tell us w-why you wanted us to find you...."
"Why? Um... I guess you were the only ship in the area I could reach with my mind." She looked over at Radu and she sat down, her chin in her hands. She looked back at Miss Davenport. "NEXT QUESTION!"
Miss Davenport nearly jumped to the next deck when Freya shouted. "Um.... Why..why...uh..."
"Spit it out lady... I'm getting cold here."
Miss Davenport walked back to the crew and sat with Goddard rubbing HER temples as well. Harlan smirked and congratulated the girl silently. He stepped up and smiled his best smile. "Hi... My name is Harlan Band. I'm the captain of this vessel. I was wondering...."
"Yes?..." Freya smiled her best smile.
"Did you by any chance find out what Radu likes in his girlfriends when you were in his head? I'm sure Suzee, the one you basically gave new meaning to "strangle sensation", and his current girl, Elmira, would most like to see what their chances truly are." Radu blushed a deep shade of crimson.
Freya giggled. "No... I'm sorry... I can't answer that one.... All I did was tell him how to find me.... Or was that to just find my pod..arrgggh! I am so bad with my memory..." She held her hands on the sides of her head.
THELMA came in and walked up to Freya and smiled her blank smile. Freya raised an eyebrow. "Eh? What the hell are you."
"I am THELMA..It stands for.."
"Boredom if you ask her again.", drawled Bova.
Freya stood and looked THELMA over. "An android....how clever...Are you linked with this ship?"
"Yes I am..."
Suzee stepped forward and smiled. She still rubbed her throat, but it didn't hurt anymore. Freya looked at her hand at her throat and frowned. "I'm sorry... I didn't mean to hurt anyone..."
Suzee smiled even wider. She looked nervous. "OH! It's alright, really.. um... what species are you Freya?"
"Me? Oh... I'm from the planet Selar...It's...well.. a very long ways away from here..."
"Oh? They're a long way from their planets as well... I was just looking at the schematics of your ship that was blown to bits after we retrieved you.... It seems you use bio-technological ships?" Suzee was very nervous. Normally she wouldn't be, but after being manhandled by Freya, she was a little terrified of her strength.
"Yes, we use living ships so to speak.. The Shekra. Um.. they don't like us too much."
"I'll say.. you caused us more problems than we started out with when we last fought the Spung." Bova again felt the need to add his thoughts.
"The Spung...?"
"You don't know about the Spung?" Suzee said in a flat tone.
"Um... Could I get some dry clothes please?" She had ducked behind Suzee and pointed to her chest where now she was obviously cold.
Suzee blushed and grabbed a nearby blanket and handed it to her. "Here."
"Thanks." Freya wrapped the blanket around her and sat down.
Radu got closer and wrung his hands nervously. "I.. I think she ought to go get some clothes and let her eat something before we start questioning her again."
"Oh it's you! I was wondering when you were going to join the conversation." Freya smiled at him.
"Um..yeah...My name is Radu..I'm an Andromedan.." He started to try to meld with the wall.
Rosie came up and cheerfully smiled at Freya. "My name is Rosie. That is Bova over there yawning, those two adults over there would be Miss Davenport and Commander Goddard, you know Suzee and Harlan...Welcome to our ship!"
Freya shifted her new clothes around and played with the flaps and the zipper. She was wearing another red T-shirt under her new flight suit. She looked up and saw Harlan come in. "Hello..."
Harlan smiled. She went back to playing with her zipper. She looked up at him again. "What's on yer brain then."
"Oh uh..I wanted to congratulate you on some fine work."
She raised an inquisitive eyebrow at him. "Eh?"
"No one's ever made Goddard and Davenport get a migraine at the same time just by talking to one person."
Suzee walked in and she looked at Harlan with Freya. She narrowed her eyes in suspicion. Harlan didn't see her. Freya sensed Suzee and smiled. She turned and looked over to Suzee. "Hello! Why did you look at Harlan like that? Did he say something wrong to you?"
Suzee jumped and promptly had a horrifying realization. "Uh.. heh.. I was just uh... walking to the um... Next uh... jump tube?" It isn't just Radu that she can read! Gah! If she can read me, then she can read everyone else!, Suzee thought.
Harlan seemed amused at Suzee blushing the way she was. She's cute when she's embarrassed, he thought. "What's cute?", came an innocent voice behind him.
Harlan blushed even deeper than Suzee and Suzee smirked at his plight. "Wha?"
"You said that she was cute when she was embarra.." She never finished her sentence. Harlan had a hand on her mouth faster than even Suzee could comprehend.
"Heh heh... Uh...." He got close to her ear and muttered through clenched teeth, "Are you reading my mind?" She nodded and smiled underneath his hand. Harlan let her go and stepped backwards. "She can read my thoughts.. uh oh."
Suzee looked at him and started giggling. Harlan smiled nervously and ran away from the room they were in. Suzee rounded on Freya. "You never told us that you are telepathic!"
"I didn't? Oops!"
Suzee smacked her forehead and looked around. She focused her attention on Freya. "I am telepathic as well. I suggest that you do what I do and keep a shield up."
"Why? You all don't have anything to hide do you?" She was starting to sound suspiciously devious now. Suzee didn't like this at all. She was starting to wonder if Freya was much smarter than she looked.
"They're all used to privacy. They are not telepathic and they are NOT used to other people being in their brains."
"Why not?"
Suzee now felt like hitting her head on a bulkhead. She was beginning to drive her crazy! She closed her eyes and started to breathe slowly.
Freya smirked slightly. Then, she suddenly felt something outside. "Oh shit....", she said slowly.
Suzee's eyes snapped open and she stared at Freya. "Freya... what's wro.."
There was a sudden explosion and the Christa shuddered from the impact. Suzee was almost thrown across the room, but was surprised by Freya when she grabbed her arm and held her to her spot. "You alright?" Freya looked concerned now. Her blue eyes looked angry.
"Y-yeah.. I'm fine... What was that!" Freya had let go of Suzee's arm and Suzee looked around. She took out her compupad and linked with the engine room computers. "Oh no... I need to get down to the engine room!"
Suzee exited the room and ran to the nearest jump tube. Freya walked out of the room and looked around. She put her hand behind her head at the nape of her neck and tapped something. Her eyes went red and she looked around at the hallway. She saw minute fissures forming in the bulkheads. "Damn.."
She clicked the same button and her eyes went blue again. She looked around again and ran for the nearest jumptube. She set her destination and went in.
"Screen! Lets see what the hell is attacking us!" The screen came down and the image of a very sharp and angular ship appeared. "Damn, it's one of those ships that was attacking Freya's ship!"
"Harlan! The hull has taken a very weird hit! I don't get it!" Radu looked at the engineering readouts.
"That's because you're not accustomed to their weaponry!", came an eerily cheerful voice from the door. Freya entered and smiled. "Hiya peoples!"
"That's what attacked you, right?" Harlan was looking nervously at the ship.
"Yeppers!" Freya nudged Radu from the engineering console and started adjusting the crystals. She put her hand on the nape of her neck again and ducked underneath the console. She plugged a wire to the receiver on her neck and stood back up. "Ready... Suzee? How is the weather down there!"
Suzee's startled voice came from some weird intercom. "Wha? Huh? Is that you Freya? How are you talking to me!"
"Don't worry about that now... just tell us how much is damaged down there!" Harlan was starting to get the gist of what was going on.
"We've got a couple of damaged crystals. Cat and I are trying to figure how much power we've got."
"Harlan! They're coming around again!" Radu was looking at his readouts.
"We're doomed!", Bova put it.
"They're hailing us!"
Suddenly, a gaunt man with grayish skin and spines were coming out of his forehead and into his black hair. "Surrender yor vessel...", he said silkily, "...or you will be destroyed...."
The Christa finally stopped and the crew yet again breathed a collective sigh of relief. Elmira sat in the girls' bunkroom in a meditative state. She saw the entire ordeal. She was now seeing something else entirely. She watched as the girl named Freya fought against an unknown adversary. She watched as the entire crew of the Christa fought with her. Then, she saw something she had never thought possible. Water splashing. As if a mighty sea washed the galaxy clean. She couldn't figure it out. It was as if someone were trying to keep her from "seeing" anything. She opened her eyes and saw that everything was the way it should be now. She sighed and got of her bed.
Radu leaned his head against the wall of the airlock. He still had the girl in his arms, to be exact, she was on his lap, out cold. Harlan had the strange cat like creature on his head. It purred softly. Radu looked down upon the girl's face. She looked slightly different from what he had seen in his head. She looked younger and thinner. He looked at her ears. They had the small points on the tips, like an elf. He moved the high collar of her flight suit a little bit away from her neck and saw gill slits like on Suzee. Even her hair was longer and she didn't have the strange marks on her body. He looked up at Harlan and saw that annoying grin that he always got when he thought of something to pick at Radu with. "What Harlan..."
The smile got bigger. "Why nothing, Radu..."
Radu knew better. Harlan kept grinning at him. "Radu.... You like her don'tcha.."
Radu raised an eyebrow at him with a very stunned look on his face. "N-No...I don't l-like her.." Radu was getting angry at Harlan's stupid grin.
Commander Goddard grinned at the two boys and looked over at Suzee. She rolled her eyes and sighed. "Boys, boys... Why don't we just get out of the airlock before we accidentally space ourselves..." Commander Goddard said trying not to laugh.
Harlan got to his feet and the cat creature jumped down to his shoulders. Radu picked up the girl and stood. Harlan still had that same grin spread across his face. Suzee glared at them both and glared at the girl. She remembered that they did almost the same thing when she came aboard.
They got to the sick bay and Radu set the girl down on the examination table. THELMA walked in and smiled blankly at the dusty crew assembled. Bova, Rosie and Miss Davenport walked in afterward. She then looked down at Freya. "Who is this?"
Everyone looked at eachother questioningly. "We don't know." Commander Goddard shrugged.
"H-her name is Freya."
Everyone looked around and then turned to Radu who was in a corner by himself like he normally did. "What?", asked Miss Davenport.
Radu now felt like jumping out an airlock. It would be a more pleasant feeling that what everyone was making feel like. He felt more like a bit of bacteria in a petri dish being examined. "I-I said her name is Freya.."
Harlan was grinning at him again. He was his friend, but Radu knew that he enjoyed watching him quiver like a bug sometimes. Suzee hit him in the ribs with her compupad. Goddard walked over to Radu looking stunned. "Do you know this girl?"
Radu started to remember what the girl looked like in his vision. How his hand went through hers like a hand through a pool of water. "N-not really.. she was in m-my mind when I lost consciousness....I-I think she's...."
"Hmm.... Very interesting.... She's very much a water based lifeform..." THELMA continued to study Freya.
Goddard walked over to THELMA and let his mouth drop open again. He closed it and started to remember what he was going to say. "A...A what?"
THELMA opened Freya's flight suit and pulled the top part down to her waist. She was not wearing a white tank top like in the vision. She was wearing a very soaked, very red, short sleeved T-shirt. THELMA moved the girl's head from side to side as she inspected the gills on her neck. THELMA looked as if she were just cleaning a bulkhead, which was the basic blank expression she generally wore. "She can apparently breath under water...." She was indicating the gills.
Suzee walked over toward the body and got a closer look at Freya's gills. "Well.. she deffinitly isn't from Yensid..."
Suddenly, Freya's eyes opened with a spark and she grabbed Suzee by the neck. She had amazing strength and got up with just as much spark while still holding Suzee captive. "Who are you..." Her voice was harsh and low. She stared angrily at everyone assembled.
Radu came out from his corner and got closer towards the front. Freya let go of Suzee and threw her towards Harlan. She wasn't snarling anymore. She looked around at everyone and then spotted Radu. "I knew it....", she muttered.
"I'm sorry... I didn't mean to do that.." She looked around at everyone and then started to giggle self-consciously. "Who'dda thought that I'd attack someone of the Christa crew...*giggle*!"
She looked down and saw that only thing keeping the pants portion of her flight suit on was her belt and blushed furiously. "OOPS! Um... D-does anyone have any clothes I can wear?"
Goddard puffed up his chest and walked towards Freya and glared at her menacingly. "How dare you attack one of my students and then ask where.."
Freya cut him off. "I was only askin, guy. I didn't mean to infringe upon yer sensibilities by asking if I could barrow something dry."
Radu and Harlan smirked and stifled their laughter. Goddard turned on them and glared them to a halt. He turned back to Freya who was playing with her wet green hair absent-mindedly. "*Achem!*"
She turned back to Goddard and smiled. "Is something wrong?"
"Yeah! I want to know why you attacked my crew and why you sent a message to Radu and ... ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME!"
Freya was looking around and then turned back to Goddard with a smile. "Did you know that yer wrinkles show when yer angry?"
Goddard smacked his forehead and stalked back to where he was before, rubbing his temples. Miss Davenport walked up and tried her best to look authoritative. "Um... p-please tell us w-why you wanted us to find you...."
"Why? Um... I guess you were the only ship in the area I could reach with my mind." She looked over at Radu and she sat down, her chin in her hands. She looked back at Miss Davenport. "NEXT QUESTION!"
Miss Davenport nearly jumped to the next deck when Freya shouted. "Um.... Why..why...uh..."
"Spit it out lady... I'm getting cold here."
Miss Davenport walked back to the crew and sat with Goddard rubbing HER temples as well. Harlan smirked and congratulated the girl silently. He stepped up and smiled his best smile. "Hi... My name is Harlan Band. I'm the captain of this vessel. I was wondering...."
"Yes?..." Freya smiled her best smile.
"Did you by any chance find out what Radu likes in his girlfriends when you were in his head? I'm sure Suzee, the one you basically gave new meaning to "strangle sensation", and his current girl, Elmira, would most like to see what their chances truly are." Radu blushed a deep shade of crimson.
Freya giggled. "No... I'm sorry... I can't answer that one.... All I did was tell him how to find me.... Or was that to just find my pod..arrgggh! I am so bad with my memory..." She held her hands on the sides of her head.
THELMA came in and walked up to Freya and smiled her blank smile. Freya raised an eyebrow. "Eh? What the hell are you."
"I am THELMA..It stands for.."
"Boredom if you ask her again.", drawled Bova.
Freya stood and looked THELMA over. "An android....how clever...Are you linked with this ship?"
"Yes I am..."
Suzee stepped forward and smiled. She still rubbed her throat, but it didn't hurt anymore. Freya looked at her hand at her throat and frowned. "I'm sorry... I didn't mean to hurt anyone..."
Suzee smiled even wider. She looked nervous. "OH! It's alright, really.. um... what species are you Freya?"
"Me? Oh... I'm from the planet Selar...It's...well.. a very long ways away from here..."
"Oh? They're a long way from their planets as well... I was just looking at the schematics of your ship that was blown to bits after we retrieved you.... It seems you use bio-technological ships?" Suzee was very nervous. Normally she wouldn't be, but after being manhandled by Freya, she was a little terrified of her strength.
"Yes, we use living ships so to speak.. The Shekra. Um.. they don't like us too much."
"I'll say.. you caused us more problems than we started out with when we last fought the Spung." Bova again felt the need to add his thoughts.
"The Spung...?"
"You don't know about the Spung?" Suzee said in a flat tone.
"Um... Could I get some dry clothes please?" She had ducked behind Suzee and pointed to her chest where now she was obviously cold.
Suzee blushed and grabbed a nearby blanket and handed it to her. "Here."
"Thanks." Freya wrapped the blanket around her and sat down.
Radu got closer and wrung his hands nervously. "I.. I think she ought to go get some clothes and let her eat something before we start questioning her again."
"Oh it's you! I was wondering when you were going to join the conversation." Freya smiled at him.
"Um..yeah...My name is Radu..I'm an Andromedan.." He started to try to meld with the wall.
Rosie came up and cheerfully smiled at Freya. "My name is Rosie. That is Bova over there yawning, those two adults over there would be Miss Davenport and Commander Goddard, you know Suzee and Harlan...Welcome to our ship!"
Freya shifted her new clothes around and played with the flaps and the zipper. She was wearing another red T-shirt under her new flight suit. She looked up and saw Harlan come in. "Hello..."
Harlan smiled. She went back to playing with her zipper. She looked up at him again. "What's on yer brain then."
"Oh uh..I wanted to congratulate you on some fine work."
She raised an inquisitive eyebrow at him. "Eh?"
"No one's ever made Goddard and Davenport get a migraine at the same time just by talking to one person."
Suzee walked in and she looked at Harlan with Freya. She narrowed her eyes in suspicion. Harlan didn't see her. Freya sensed Suzee and smiled. She turned and looked over to Suzee. "Hello! Why did you look at Harlan like that? Did he say something wrong to you?"
Suzee jumped and promptly had a horrifying realization. "Uh.. heh.. I was just uh... walking to the um... Next uh... jump tube?" It isn't just Radu that she can read! Gah! If she can read me, then she can read everyone else!, Suzee thought.
Harlan seemed amused at Suzee blushing the way she was. She's cute when she's embarrassed, he thought. "What's cute?", came an innocent voice behind him.
Harlan blushed even deeper than Suzee and Suzee smirked at his plight. "Wha?"
"You said that she was cute when she was embarra.." She never finished her sentence. Harlan had a hand on her mouth faster than even Suzee could comprehend.
"Heh heh... Uh...." He got close to her ear and muttered through clenched teeth, "Are you reading my mind?" She nodded and smiled underneath his hand. Harlan let her go and stepped backwards. "She can read my thoughts.. uh oh."
Suzee looked at him and started giggling. Harlan smiled nervously and ran away from the room they were in. Suzee rounded on Freya. "You never told us that you are telepathic!"
"I didn't? Oops!"
Suzee smacked her forehead and looked around. She focused her attention on Freya. "I am telepathic as well. I suggest that you do what I do and keep a shield up."
"Why? You all don't have anything to hide do you?" She was starting to sound suspiciously devious now. Suzee didn't like this at all. She was starting to wonder if Freya was much smarter than she looked.
"They're all used to privacy. They are not telepathic and they are NOT used to other people being in their brains."
"Why not?"
Suzee now felt like hitting her head on a bulkhead. She was beginning to drive her crazy! She closed her eyes and started to breathe slowly.
Freya smirked slightly. Then, she suddenly felt something outside. "Oh shit....", she said slowly.
Suzee's eyes snapped open and she stared at Freya. "Freya... what's wro.."
There was a sudden explosion and the Christa shuddered from the impact. Suzee was almost thrown across the room, but was surprised by Freya when she grabbed her arm and held her to her spot. "You alright?" Freya looked concerned now. Her blue eyes looked angry.
"Y-yeah.. I'm fine... What was that!" Freya had let go of Suzee's arm and Suzee looked around. She took out her compupad and linked with the engine room computers. "Oh no... I need to get down to the engine room!"
Suzee exited the room and ran to the nearest jump tube. Freya walked out of the room and looked around. She put her hand behind her head at the nape of her neck and tapped something. Her eyes went red and she looked around at the hallway. She saw minute fissures forming in the bulkheads. "Damn.."
She clicked the same button and her eyes went blue again. She looked around again and ran for the nearest jumptube. She set her destination and went in.
"Screen! Lets see what the hell is attacking us!" The screen came down and the image of a very sharp and angular ship appeared. "Damn, it's one of those ships that was attacking Freya's ship!"
"Harlan! The hull has taken a very weird hit! I don't get it!" Radu looked at the engineering readouts.
"That's because you're not accustomed to their weaponry!", came an eerily cheerful voice from the door. Freya entered and smiled. "Hiya peoples!"
"That's what attacked you, right?" Harlan was looking nervously at the ship.
"Yeppers!" Freya nudged Radu from the engineering console and started adjusting the crystals. She put her hand on the nape of her neck again and ducked underneath the console. She plugged a wire to the receiver on her neck and stood back up. "Ready... Suzee? How is the weather down there!"
Suzee's startled voice came from some weird intercom. "Wha? Huh? Is that you Freya? How are you talking to me!"
"Don't worry about that now... just tell us how much is damaged down there!" Harlan was starting to get the gist of what was going on.
"We've got a couple of damaged crystals. Cat and I are trying to figure how much power we've got."
"Harlan! They're coming around again!" Radu was looking at his readouts.
"We're doomed!", Bova put it.
"They're hailing us!"
Suddenly, a gaunt man with grayish skin and spines were coming out of his forehead and into his black hair. "Surrender yor vessel...", he said silkily, "...or you will be destroyed...."