Author's Notes: So a random wall pipe started leaking very rapidly in my place causing a bunch of damage and what not, and I've been dealing with that whole mess, but it's the long weekend so I tried editing and here's the result of that.

Still Breathing

It was early on the second day when a Voot Cruiser was spotted in the sky. The Irken ship landed where the docking bay once was, so whoever was driving it was probably familiar with the prison's layout.

Lard Nar dropped what he was doing to see if the driver might be Laes.

Darden followed him, likely thinking the same thing.

They stopped in front of the vessel just as the space shield lifted up.

"Hi there," the driver was an Irken who was a little taller than Lard Nar.

His mouth was covered by red fabric from his uniform. The red clothing was divided by a silver belt.

Judging by his outfit, this Irken was a navigator or a pilot.

Darden moved quickly to snag the Irken by his neckband. He held the technician up to his face and glared into the smaller Irken's ruby red eyes.

"Tell us what the Armada is doing," Darden demanded.

The smaller Irken grasped Darden's hand and grimaced. "Yes well... I just came to deliver... um... a Vortian here..." he gestured towards the voot. "He's uh, pretty hurt so..."

Darden dropped him, and he landed hard on the broken floor.

"Oof."

Lard Nar was already inside the Voot Cruiser.

His heart sank when he saw Laes lying behind the two chairs, connected to devices that had been brought along. The other Vortian was breathing hard, and his eyes were closed tight like he was in pain.

"Laes...?" Lard Nar tried, reaching out to touch his shoulder. "Laes?"

"Shlit..." Darden swore when he looked over Lard Nar's shoulder and saw Laes unconscious and seemingly badly injured.

His attention returned to the pilot who was just picking himself off the ground. He strode over to the smaller Irken and snagged him by the arm, hoisting the pilot back into the air.

"What the helk happened to him!?" Darden demanded angrily.

"He umm..." the pilot managed an uneasy smile. "It seems he upset the Tallest, so he was impaled. I uh don't have all of the information, but I was told his spine was severed so uh... he has some technology embedded there so he can walk... just in case metal detectors... you know."

Darden shook the small Irken before flinging him back onto the floor. "You're very annoying... get out of my sight," he muttered.

Laes' eyes fluttered open and Lard Nar quickly clasped his hand. "Laes... you're here, you're on Vort, you're going to be ok..."

With a small whimper, Laes squeezed his eyes shut. He was being covered up to his neck by a white sheet, but there was a tube in his throat and he was hooked up to a breathing machine.

"There's drugs in the storage compartment," the smaller Irken dressed in pilot's garb spoke as he scrambled back to his feet. "He hasn't been able to really move or speak yet, but I was assured he'll likely get better. Probably. Maybe."

"If you don't shut your mouth I swear to the Control Brains..." Darden grumbled under his breath, squeezing his hands into fists.

"Woe, hey, I'm just the messenger here," the other Irken insisted, raising his hands in self-defense. "I'm not the one who maimed your friend."

"Are you going back to the Massive?" Darden asked, disregarding the Irken's statement. "If you are, I'd suggest you do so before you gain the Vortians' attention."

"Go back? I dunno," the Irken responded. He shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. "My Tallest wasn't very clear about that part. He pretty much said take this guy and go, so here I am."

He pulled his communicator out of his PAK. "I guess I should call and get more instructions." He turned away from Darden. "Excuse me for a moment."

Darden approached the Irken and then grabbed the communicator out of his hands. The former soldier tore it off of its metal appendage, threw it on the ground, and crushed it under his boot.

Then he snagged the smaller Irken by his neckband and pulled him close to his face.

"You will be following my instructions from now on. Is that understood?"

"Normally I would since you're taller and everything, but you're also a banished disgrace, so I don't have to listen to anything you say."

The smaller Irken pinched a nerve in Darden's hand, forcing the former soldier to drop him. Then he dusted off his red uniform and readjusted his neckband.

"I don't mean any offence. It's just a fact."

"Darden, can you help me move him?" Lard Nar asked.

The former soldier didn't respond as he joined the Vortian at Laes' bedside. Laes was lying on a small make-shift cot. It looked as though it was made out of metal, but when Darden tried lifting it he discovered it was rather light. He could lift it without any assistance.

Lard Nar tried to carry the machine Laes was connected to, but it was too heavy.

"Guess I'll lend a hand since I'm not doing anything else right now," the navigator offered, and he extended his PAK legs and used two of them to carefully lift the device.

The Irken glanced around.

"Wow, this place has sure fallen apart. I guess that's why the Empire is abandoning it."

"Who are you...?" Lard Nar asked the talkative Irken.

"I'm Filik; a navigator from the Massive."

"Doesn't the Massive need its navigators...?" Lard Nar questioned him.

"Oh no. There's a lot of us, don't worry," Filik responded with a smile. "I bet I've already been replaced by one or two others by now. Being on standby is pretty boring, but I guess it's useful when stuff like this happens. Not that it happens often."

"Why did this happen...? What did the Tallest want...?"

One of the Irken's antennae flicked back then forward again.

"I was navigating the whole time, and I was told to fly here before any of the gossip could make it to the control room, so your guess is as good as mine." The navigator frowned. "The Tallest told me he hurt the Vortian himself though..."

His expression quickly lifted and he shrugged.

"I guess the Vortian said something rude and got stabbed for it. I'm surprised he wasn't torn in half to be honest. Have you seen the size of the Tallest's PAK appendages? I wouldn't want to be stabbed by one of those, no sir."

Darden placed Laes down in the hallway where a group of Vortians were sleeping. A lot of those who were awake saw Laes being brought in and had stopped working to see what was going on. Veena pushed through the crowd in order to join Lard Nar.

One of her hands covered her mouth as she stared silently at Laes who was struggling to breath. She glanced at Lard Nar who lowered his gaze to the floor. "How did this happen?" she asked.

The Irken navigator lowered the machine beside Laes' cot and his antennae perked up. His pak legs retreated back into his PAK, and he turned to regard the female Vortian.

"Yes, well, I'll only say it one more time ok? My Tallest stabbed him, almost in half, and now he's recovering. So yeah. Try not to move him too much or get him to talk or anything because it will really hurt."

"We need to tell his parents," Veena decided, as she dropped her arms to her sides and squared her shoulders. "I think I saw them with the team fixing one of the power generators." She started walking through the cafeteria towards a different crumbling hallway, shoving her way pat the curious Vortian bystanders.

Darden spun around to face the curious crowd with his hands clenched into fists. "Why are you all standing there? Do you want to get eaten?" he asked.

His shoulders were trembling and he ground his teeth.

All but two Vortians returned to their tasks. Both of them past by Darden and one of them placed a reassuring hand on Lard Nar's shoulder. "We know about medicine. We'll keep an eye on him."

Lard Nar slowly nodded his head, and he wrapped his arms around himself , staring down at the ground. He chewed his lower lip as he slowly moved away from Laes. He couldn't think properly... all of his thoughts were clouded and every time he tried to focus on one he couldn't.

After a little while he heard running, and he looked up to see Laes' father and who he assumed was Laes' mother hurrying to their son's bedside. They were holding hands, and while they seemed concerned, neither of them looked panicked.

Darden was standing close-by, keeping an eye on Laes from a distance. The Irken had been ordered to protect Laes... but the Tallest had nearly killed him. Did that mean Darden no longer had to follow his leader's original orders?

At least Laes' parents were still alive.

Lard Nar clasped his chest. It felt heavy... but then his whole family was gone... his father and older brother were killed while defending their planet... his mother had died in Irken custody.

His uncle had also been a planetary defender who died when the Irkens attacked, and his uncle's wife who'd been openly supportive of him and a former defender herself had been killed shortly after his death. Even his cousin who'd just started at the training academy was dead. They hadn't killed him right away... or so he heard. His cousin died while they were "interrogating" him.

He was the only one left... somehow despite his family's heavy involvement in Vort's military, he managed to slip under their radar.

His father had taught him how to operate a Vortian battle ship when he was younger. He knew how they worked and this was how he'd been able to teach the Resisty to drive it and access and use its weapons.

Despite his family's long history of involvement with the planetary defence team, he decided to become an engineer since there were very few openings in the military after Tallest Miyuki extended her protection over Vort. Most of the defenders' work shifted to local disputes... otherwise they were involved in inter-planet relations and making sure the transactions taking place between Vort and other planets were calm and civil affairs.

The Resisty was able to keep his mind preoccupied, and fighting for the freedom of enslaved planets gave him a purpose. He guessed in some way the rebels had become like his family to him... but then most of them had been killed too.

At least his two closest companions were still alive, but for how long? The worms were quickly filling up the galaxy and no one he'd left behind knew how to build a high-power energy barrier.

"Why are you crying?"

Darden's voice snapped him out of his spiralling thoughts.

He quickly wiped his tears away.

"It's nothing..." he murmured.

"I've been around non-Irkens long enough to know you're lying to me," Darden responded. He didn't sound angry, but there was a hint of something else in his voice... "I understand you not wanting to tell me as I most likely won't have the proper advice, but you could at least be honest with how you're feeling."

"Are you going to stop protecting Laes?" Lard Nar questioned, looking up at him.

The Irken frowned. "I can't do that."

"But your Tallest attacked him... your leaders almost killed him."

"Yes, but I was ordered to protect him, and my Tallest have not told me they've changed their minds."

Lard Nar gestured in Laes' direction. "Isn't it obvious they changed their minds?"

Darden's antennae flicked back. "If he was dead then I would say yes, but he's alive, so whether or not my Tallest meant to kill him is debatable."

"You know, I think my Tallest really did want to kill him, but then he changed his mind at the last second for whatever reason," Filik remarked without any sensitivity at all.

Lard Nar recoiled away when he realized the smaller Irken was standing so close. He hadn't heard the navigator approach, so he was surprised to see him standing there.

Filik shrugged. "Why else would my Tallest fix him after stabbing him right?"

"Are you able to tell us about the Armada's current status?" Darden asked the navigator. "Or are you hanging around just to be an annoyance?"

"Me?" Filik gestured at himself before pointing at Darden. "Tell you?" He shook his head and laughed. "Why would I tell you anything? You're not even a part of the Empire!"

"If you're going to be useless then I might as well kill you," Darden decided as he calmly deployed all four of his PAK's sharp metal appendages.

The Irken smirked up at the former soldier.

"Oh, do you really want to play that game?"

He held out his arm, revealing his self-destruct button.

"I have a whole bunch of loyalty to the Empire and absolutely zero loyalty to anyone here, so if you threaten my life I might just kill myself and everyone else in a fiery explosion of death." He placed a finger on the button. "What do you think? Should I do it?"

"I can easily contain the explosion within my force field," Darden stated, his eyes narrowing.

"Do you really think you can move fast enough to do that?"

Lard Nar noticed Darden glance at him before letting out a sigh and withdrawing his PAK legs.

"I... I'm going to get back to work..." Lard Nar decided. He walked in between both Irkens as he headed towards where a large number of Vortians who were designing blue prints.

"That sounds like a great idea!" Filik remarked, sounding almost a little too happy. "I'd help, but I really don't care whether any of you get eaten or not."

His head felt like it was stuffed with some kind of fluffy but painful material...

Laes managed to slowly open his eyes. The light wasn't harsh, but his eyes still stung a little.

Someone was holding his hand.

"Laes!" His father shouted much too loudly making his already pounding headache even worse.

"Not so loud dear," that was his mother's softer voice.

Both of them were ok? They were alive?

He struggled to sit up but he could hardly move and even the little bit of movement he managed to do hurt too much. He would have groaned if the tube wasn't in his throat. All he could do was whimper.

"The Irkens sure did a number on you son," his father commented. He looked like he was moving around a lot, pacing back and forth maybe. "Can you feel your legs? Try moving your legs."

Laes tried, but a flash of hot stinging pain made him stop pretty fast.

"Good job! You're doing it," his father encouraged him. "There's some movement, so you're not completely paralyzed. That's really good."

"You need to stop getting him to move Freedo," his mother spoke in a calm but firm voice. "He needs to rest."

"Y-yeah, you're right..." his father responded. There was a slight tremor in his voice. "I just wish there was something I could do for him."

"Take a few breaths," his mother said. She was the one holding his hand. She's been grasping it this whole time.

His father inhaled and slowly exhaled. He did this a few times.

"Ok... I think I'm calm enough to accept your life advice now love."

Laes could feel tears gathering in his eyes and blurring his vision.

He was on Vort. His parents were both alive. They were right here.

He'd never felt so relieved before. A weight had been lifted off his shoulders and even though there was a machine helping him breath right now he was pretty sure it had gotten a little easier.

He wished he had enough strength in his body to sit up and hug them both.

It was three days later before he was able to do that. He also didn't need the machine to help him breath anymore. With a bit of practice he might even be able to start walking again although Filik told him very plainly not to push himself too much unless he wanted to risk becoming paralyzed.

His parents stuck a pillow behind his back so he could sit up. He was having trouble keeping himself sitting on his own, though he suspected this was because the muscles and organs in his body weren't quite healed yet.

Sometimes he woke up screaming and clawing at his torso. The dreams of being impaled probably weren't going to go away anytime soon... but at least there were painkillers so he wasn't usually in constant pain.

His parents were always there to calm him down so it wasn't so bad.

"Hey you, are you almost ready to get out of bed and start helping us with the work?" Veena questioned. She'd spoken to him a few times since he first became conscious.

She had apologized too, but he wasn't sure why.

"You can't lay around forever."

"If you don't want him to lay around forever, then you have to let him heal properly now," Filik chimed in from where he was lying on the floor.

He was propping himself up with his elbows and resting his face on his hands as he read over a comic book he'd found somewhere... maybe in the section of the prison where personal items had been discarded?

"I uh... probably shouldn't push it... quite yet..." Laes responded before Veena could say something to the Irken. "But... in a couple days..." there wasn't enough air left in his lungs to finish his sentence.

"Well that device bolted into your spine is experimental," the navigator spoke, not bothering to look up as he flipped a page. "So I'd recommend being careful with it."

"Just how experimental is it?" Veena demanded.

The smaller Irken shrugged.

"Oh, I dunno. Like this is the first time we've ever bolted that device to anyone's spine kind of experimental," he answered. "The rumour is it's supposed to be an accelerated healing device. By sending a whole bunch of electrodes directly into the spine it should stimulate the central nervous system blah blah I tuned the rest of it out, but it should make healing faster and allow your friend to walk."

"Isn't that... kind of weird... for a pilot to know...?" Laes asked. It still hurt a little to breath, but nothing he was feeling right now was unbearable.

The Irken looked up from his magazine or whatever and frowned at him.

"I'm a navigator; a pilot is a whole other profession, and it's not that strange. The Tallest spend a lot of time in the control room you know, so I overhear all kinds of important things."

Filik smirked.

"But hey, you're not dead, so whatever experiment they're doing seems to be working for you. Congratulations."

He was an experiment...? Laes' eyes widened slightly, but he really should have known better. The Tallest wouldn't have let him go for no reason.

His mind was still about foggy about what happened. He remembered the horrible gut exploding pain. Then...

Hold on... Bann had been the Tallest... hadn't he?

What happened to him then?

He felt like he should remember.

Veena decided to leave just then. She probably had a lot of work to do, but she seemed to be worried about him sometimes, maybe. It was hard to tell.

Veena had a naturally strong and abrupt way of speaking, and she always wore a serious look on her figured she and Darden should get along well since they were pretty similar in some ways.

Once she was gone, he stared at Filik, wondering just who he was and why he was there. The Irken noticed and looked up from whatever he was reading.

"What is it?" the navigator asked. "Your father is sleeping down the hall and your mother is off somewhere getting food probably if that's what you're wondering."

"Are you Bann...?" Laes questioned him, though even as he spoke he wondered what he was thinking.

Filik wasn't acting like Bann at all... but then where did Bann go? The former guard couldn't still be inside the Tallest's PAK... could he?

"What?" the Irken's antennae flattened. "Bann? Me? No. Why would you think that?"

"Well... I mean..." Laes' eyes focused on his hand which was gripping the blanket.

"You're talking about the same Bann who's rumoured to have killed a bunch of soldiers right?" Filik questioned him with a scowl. "You need to have your eyes checked. Do I honestly look like a defective soldier to you?"

"No."

"Then why are you even asking me that? Wow."

"Sorry..."

The Irken's attention returned to whatever he was reading.

"Yeah well, just don't ask me anything ridiculous like that again and I might forget how dumb you are."