Disclaimer: I don't own aliens, but that's only because my lawyer is incompetent.
Chapter 9
The Escape
"What do we do, sir?" the senior officer asked. The alien now had its tail spike against its hostage's throat and was glancing around nervously.
"Set your weapons to stun," Esiki said calmly not taking his eyes off the skitir. All of the amphibians reached for a dial on the side of their weapons and turned it down. This seemed to upset the skitir, which only got more nervous.
Esiki frowned. He had never seen a skitir scared. Not unless it was around his cyborg. Still not taking his eyes off the alien, he said calmly to the officer. "I'm going try talking to get its attention. You shoot it and stun it while its head is turned."
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(Finally!) Snarl said as she saw the cave tunnel opening. She bound forward and charged out into a canyon. A light rain trickled down and hit her from the gray sky. Sonar emerged from the cave and looked up the canyon wall.
(So, now-,) Snarl stopped as something lying a short distance from them caught her eye. (Looks like a praetorian.)
Sonar followed her line of sight as he asked. (Mechanical or natural?)
(Natural,) Snarl growled and started toward the fallen creature. Sonar darted past her, more concerned about the praetorian then she was. Frankly, the only praetorian she liked was Xena.
Sonar knelt and looked at the praetorian's wounds. (It's Xena!) he shouted back at her.
(What?) Snarl exclaimed and charged to the alien's side. Looking down, she saw three wounds burnt into her chitin. She recognized the wounds as shots from the cyborg. (I'm going to rip that thing apart! Is she still alive?)
(Yeah, I'll be all right,) Both of them jumped back as Xena shakily rolled onto her stomach. (Takes more then a little tumble off a canyon wall to kill me.) She slowly pushed herself to her feet.
Snarl was practically dancing joy. (You didn't happen to see that cyborg thing?) she said suddenly serious.
(Yes, it's what made me throw myself off that cliff,) she replied looking up the canyon.
(Well, did you see it take Scar?) Sonar asked.
(I think so,) she replied. (I was fading in and out between conscious and unconscious, I saw it go back that way along the canyon with him.) She gestured with her tail in the direction the canyon led.
(C'mon, let's go,) Snarl said urgently and took off along the canyon. She stopped and glanced back at them. (You well enough to follow, Xena?)
The praetorian nodded her head and stumbled after the drone. Sonar glanced worriedly at her for a moment and then bounded alongside her.
Should I tell them what I know about the cyborg? Xena asked herself. She shook her head and decided not to, not yet.
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Scar had been frantically looking for some way to escape. There was a ventilation system running along the hall.
The frogman that seemed to be their leader was trying to negotiate with him, but it wasn't working very well as neither of them spoke the same language and Scar couldn't understand the alien's hand gestures. Eventually, he had given up on communicating and was trying to come up with an alternate plan.
Unfortunately, he had only one plan and it was risky. He removed his tail from his hostage's throat and pushed him toward the crowd of frogmen with their guns aimed at him. Next, his tail rammed itself tip first into the cyborg's stomach. He knew it wouldn't cause the cyborg any real damage, but he was hoping it would stun it long enough for him to escape.
However, his tail didn't connect. The cyborg dropped him and its gun turned and fired on the frogmen. Scar stood still in confusion for a moment before taking off down the hall. He rushed past the negotiator and then hopped onto the ceiling and tore his way into the air vent.
Esiki angrily glanced back at the cyborg. It had stopped attacking the soldiers and was standing still, but its gun was aimed at him.
