Some Notes: My update schedule might become even more sporadic than it is already as I'm trying to work full time and do more school. I plan to continue updating though!

Appreciating the reviewers: Thanks for reviewing! I always make sure to read your reviews, and I appreciate it whenever someone takes time out of their day to write one.

The Daring Rescue Attempt

The Invaders probably weren't used to this kind of resistance... or having all of their ship's security not functioning at all.

Bann also seemed to know where all of the hidden pathways were, so they didn't come across too many Invaders, and those who tried to stop them ended up getting knocked out pretty quick.

It was kind of disturbing how well Bann was able to fight them. It was almost like he knew how they were going to react... like he could be an Invader himself...

"Alright... now turn the corner and enter the first door on the left," Bann instructed as he turned around to face the opposite way. He squared his shoulders and his antennae flicked forward.

Someone was coming.

"But I can't get through the doors without you..." Laes reminded him. He glanced down the hall before returning his attention to the Irken. "Besides... even if there's just one guard you know I won't be able to do anything except get immediately killed or captured..."

He had no misconceptions at all about how useless he was in any kind of fighting scenario.

Bann breathed a sigh.

"I was just in their system Laes. The doors are all open. I jammed them. All you need to do is free the Tallest and he'll take care of the rest." His antennae fell back. "Now go."

Laes decided to run a bit since he wasn't sure if Bann would be able to hold off whoever was following them. He rounded the corner and hurried through the first door on the left.

It was another lab, and it was filled with unconscious Irkens.

He gaped at all of the Irkens being held inside containment chambers and all of those attached to the walls. There were hundreds of them at least... maybe even more than that.

Where was the Tallest?

His heart was pounding as he slowly crept between the rows of Irkens. He didn't want to look at them... they were probably all of the reprogrammed ones...

He should probably look...

Slowly he turned his gaze to an Irken hanging from a few thick cables nearby. These cables were coming from the wall.

He took a small step closer and touched the Irken's gloved hand.

There was no reaction... they were probably in some kind of shut-down state...

"Tallest!?" he called in a panicked hushed whisper.

He turned away from the lifeless Irken hanging from the wall and started running.

"Tallest?"

There were so many soldiers. There were even a few civilians... or were they invaders?

He hurried past row after row.

Then he finally saw Irk's leader.

As Laes moved closer, he could see the Tallest's PAK wasn't attached. Irk's leader was also being suspended much higher up than most of the other Irkens.

How was he supposed to get up there...? And where was the Tallest's PAK?

Laes wasn't sure how he was supposed to "free the Tallest" like Bann asked.

Hopefully his brain would be able to come up with an idea soon.

He cupped his hands and called up to Irk's leader.

"Tallest!"

He wasn't expecting a response since it looked like all the Irkens were in some kind of hibernation mode or something, so he was very surprised when the Tallest's eyes blinked open.

"What do you want?" the Tallest questioned, frowning. He sounded annoyed.

"I uh... want to help you...?" Laes offered.

"Why?" the Tallest squinted an eye at him. "I started operation Impending doom 2. I had your people killed and enslaved," His eyes narrowed, and his antennae flattened. "What will you get by helping me exactly?"

"Death probably...?" Laes responded.

"Oh... well, then you're stupid."

Laes scowled up at him. "Hey, you're the one hanging from a wall. Not me."

Oh wow... why did he say that?

The Tallest wasn't someone he should be bantering with even if Irk's leader was currently immobile.

Irk's leader lifted his head a little, and his antennae flicked forward.

"I can't really argue with you about that."

Ok... maybe being captured would make the Tallest a little more cooperative maybe, hopefully.

"So um... where's your PAK?" Laes decided to awkwardly change the subject.

The Tallest shrugged the best he could. "I dunno."

"How can you not know?" An Irken's life was in their PAK... it was pretty much their brain. "It's kind of important."

"I'm kidding," the Tallest nodded towards a thick blue force field. It wasn't a very large field, and it was square-shaped. Not that it mattered... but it was in the shape of a square for some reason.

"They put it in there."

Laes frowned, suddenly curious about how the Tallest was currently able to function without his PAK. None of the other Irkens seemed to have their PAKs removed.

"How are you still conscious?" he had to ask, even if the Tallest didn't know the answer.

"Probably because of their crazy technology. I think they might have uploaded my PAK into whatever network they're hoping to use to reprogram it... and these wires..." he glanced over his shoulder at the wires sticking out of the holes in his back. "They must be attached to whatever device is doing that."

"But none of the other Irkens have their PAKs removed..." Laes had already noted.

"Apparently I'm more dangerous," he smirked. "I wonder where they got that idea from."

"When you stabbed Sevai probably?"

The Tallest scoffed. "I barely even stabbed him."

"You still stabbed him."

"Barely."

Laes sighed and rubbed his temples.

Arguing wasn't getting them anywhere... they were just wasting time.

"You wouldn't happen to know how to get into their force field, would you?"

"It turned off and on a little while ago..." The Tallest offered, and he pulled against the cuffs on his wrists that were attached to the wall. "You probably know more about their technology than I do."

"They haven't really let me touch anything..." Laes admitted.

"You're a Vortian. Shouldn't you just be able to look at it and figure it out?"

Just look at it and figure it out... the machine producing the force field was inside the force field... so the Invaders had their own way in and out... but the space was kind of small, so there probably wasn't a trap door or anything which meant that one of the pieces of technology the Invaders had might work to control it... that or a specific program inside the ship could disarm it... maybe?

That would explain why it turned off earlier...

Bann probably did something inside the ship's system that caused the momentary power failure, but since it hadn't been fully disabled that could mean it was connected to not just one system or power source, but multiple ones. Or the program was able to correct its self...?

There were too many variables, and he probably didn't have time to try every single one of them... quick... think... what would be the most likely one?

Invaders were paranoid... having a controller on their person might be seen as too risky... they can communicate to each other... the controls weren't in this room... maybe they were in the control room or another lab...

Bann could find out for sure.

He needed Bann to access their network again. That would be the easiest way.

The Tallest let out a long and likely annoyed sigh.

"I'm trying to think about this..." Laes told him before he could start complaining. "Just um... try to be patient..."

"You're not the one hanging from a wall," the Tallest remarked in an exasperated tone.

"If you have any ideas... please share?"

"I have one actually," the Tallest's attention switched to something on one of the tables nearby. "Do you see that mechanical saw looking thing over there?"

"Umm..."

Laes looked up at him and tried to follow where the Tallest was looking.

Then he spotted the small jagged device sitting on top of a table near a few dismembered PAKs.

"Yes.."

"Use it to cut me down."

"No!" Laes insisted, shaking his head.

First of all he'd have to climb with something large sharp and mechanical in his hand... and he would have to go very high up... and what if he fell or ended up cutting off a finger or something? There were no policies or safety protocols here. He wouldn't get any pay if he lost a limb!

Not that he was getting paid right now... but he just got his hand back a little while ago and the thought of doing something that could maybe make him lose it again really wasn't sitting well... like he was going to get sick probably...

Besides all of the ways he could potentially maim himself, the Tallest needed to be attached to those cables, otherwise he'd die. How would removing him from those be helpful?

"You'll die."

He decided to go with that excuse since it was the one the Tallest would actually care about.

Red squinted an eye at him again. "Are you that bad with a saw?"

"No... yes... probably..." Laes answered, frowning a little. "But if you get disconnected from those cables, you'll die right?"

"Not right away."

"But if we can't get to your PAK in time... you'll die?"

"Yes, but I'll die if I stay hanging here anyway, so I don't really care."

Laes chewed his bottom lip as he looked from the Tallest to the saw.

"What if I cut off one of your limbs or something?"

"It'll take about the same amount of time for me to bleed to death as it would for me to die without my PAK, so could you stop worrying about it and just cut me down already?" The Tallest's antennae lowered, and he frowned. "Or did you just come in here to annoy me?"

"No... that's... that's unintentional..."

"Aren't you an engineer or something?" the Tallest sounded very skeptical. "Shouldn't you be able to operate a basic mechanical saw?"

The Tallest was right! He was only thinking about the worst case scenarios right now because he was nervous and his hands sometimes got shaky when he was nervous... they were shaking right now actually.

Still, he was an engineer! He'd used all sorts of tools in the past, and not all of them were safe.

Surely he could do something as simple as cut down the Tallest... it was only one step. It's not like he needed to follow a series of steps or a list of complicated instructions.

He turned towards the tables.

There were a lot of partial PAKs lying on them, and more pieces littered the floor.

He swallowed the lump forming in his throat as he picked his way through the mess.

The PAKs were gutted... there was a heavy weight in his chest.

Bann would end up the same way if they didn't get out of here.

He reached for the saw. Ouch. Why was he grabbing it by the pointy end...?

He grabbed the handle this time and looked it over.

There was no switch or button or anything... how was he supposed to turn it on?

"Um... problem..." he began as he turned away from the disturbing tables.

He hurried back over to the wall the Tallest and many other Irkens were hanging from while continuing to search for a hidden button or something on the saw.

The Tallest let out a longer sigh. "What is it now?"

"It doesn't look like I can turn it on..."

"What?"

"It uh... doesn't have a way to turn on... at least I'm not seeing any..." he held it up for the Tallest to see. "Can you see anything?"

There was a loud crash.

Laes flinched before quickly spinning around.

Loud scraping noises and the sound of metal striking metal quickly followed.

Bann dove inside the room, and the door disappeared behind him.

"What's taking you so long Laes?" he asked, breathing heavily as he picked himself off the floor.

He was covered in bruises, and one of his antennae was bent in an awkward angle. He grabbed it and pulled it back into place.

"Nothing is working the way it should," Laes remarked, feeling both concern and relief that Bann was here.

He was concerned because that meant the Irken soldier could no longer hold off the Invaders, but he was relieved because Bann could stop the force field.

"Of course it isn't... this isn't Irken or Vortian technology," Bann said as he strode across the room.

He seemed completely unfazed by all of the unconscious Irkens and the dismantled PAKs lying around.

Laes watched in stunned silence as Bann ripped out a cable from one of the Irkens attached to the wall below the Tallest. He attached it to his PAK, and his eyes started glowing.

The force field quickly fizzled out.

"Go on," Bann encouraged.

Laes gave a quick nod and dropped the saw device before hurrying to take the Tallest's PAK. It was the only PAK inside the force field... the Invaders really were much more concerned about the Tallest than any other Irken...

As soon as he detached it from the cables, its metal legs sprung out and it latched onto him, knocking him to the ground.

"Cripes!" Laes exclaimed in surprise, and he was sure he could hear the Tallest laughing over the more mechanical and threatening sounds of the PAK.

Now Bann was laughing at him too. Great...

"Climb up here and it'll detach on its own," the Tallest told him while also trying to suppress his laughter.

Laes wasn't sure if he could move with the heavy metal device clinging to him, never mind climbing a wall.

One of the PAK's cables was snaking around his middle.

Oh no... was it looking for a port...?

Hopefully it wouldn't make one... if it connected itself to his spine he'd likely become paralyzed again.

Why did Irkens think this kind of thing was funny? One of these metal limbs had impaled him not long ago... the memory of that was still very raw.

He could hardly breathe, and he could feel his heart pounding hard in his chest.

"I think the joke was a bit too much," Bann admitted, chuckling as he reached to pry off the PAK.

Laes sat up and wrapped his arms around himself then scooted backwards a bit.

While Bann climbed up the wall to give the Tallest his PAK, Laes focused on slowing his panicked breathing.

He was fine. The Tallest's PAK didn't impale him at all... he needed to calm down.

Clang! One of the metal cuffs landed on the floor, and Laes glanced up to see what the two Irkens were doing.

Irk's leader was using his PAK's metal limbs to tear off the next cuff while Bann was standing on the heads of two unconscious Irkens hanging on the wall.

That was kind of rude wasn't it...? Even if they were dead or reprogrammed they were still Irkens...

The Tallest landed on his feet and rubbed his wrists.

"That was the most annoying thing to happen to me since Zim..." he muttered mostly to himself.

Bann jumped down and landed beside Irk's leader.

"We need to hurry... we've lost too much time." He walked over to Laes who was still sitting on the floor and offered him his hand. "Come on."

"Where are we going?" Laes asked.

They couldn't just leave the ship and hope to hide on Vort... it just wouldn't work...

"We're teleporting to their other ship," Bann explained as he snagged Laes by the wrist and pulled him to his feet. "The Invaders have already forced me out of their network, and I'm sure they've put up enough safeguards now that it will take a very long time for me to infiltrate it again."

"That means the ship's security is functioning..." Laes realized.

He pulled away from Bann and held his trembling hands close to his body.

"How are we supposed to teleport if their system won't recognize you anymore?" And with everything trying to kill them he almost added, but he didn't.

"We'll have to forcefully reprogram their teleporter, obviously," the Tallest concluded as all four of his PAK-legs emerged. "I'll cut down whatever tries to stop us."

"No... no if we do that, the Invaders will send more ships from their home planet here..." Laes insisted, standing up straighter and squaring his shoulders while also not making eye-contact with either of the Irkens.

He'd probably be more convincing if he could make himself stop shivering for a few moments.

"We need to cause as little damage and death as possible so they think they have everything under control... their technology is so good they could probably instantly faze several ships here within seconds so... we need to be careful."

Both of the Irkens stared at him wordlessly for a moment.

Then Bann smiled and nodded in agreement.

"You're right. I've gotten a good look at their technology, and they would be able to have an entire AI army transported to this location in less that a minute, so we should take that into consideration."

"Fine..." the Tallest agreed, crossing his arms over his chest as he withdrew his metal appendages. "But this is going to make busting out of here a lot harder. You realize that right?"

It was then Laes noticed that there was a small circular force field around them.

"Uh..." He pointed up at the curved dome of it. "This... it's one of yours?"

"The Invaders have mind reading devices everywhere in this ship," Bann reminded him. "If you leave it, try not to think of anything important ok?"

"Yeah... sure..." Laes agreed.

How was he going to stop himself from thinking...?

Even Sevai said he thought too much about everything.

He was also starting to worry about why the Invaders hadn't tried to stop them yet... there hadn't been any activity coming from where the door used to be... the Invaders probably thought they'd successfully trapped them inside this room... maybe that was it.

Random info: Sevai explained a while ago that to use the hologram machine correctly, Laes needed to use his will. A lot of their machines are like that including the mechanical saw.

Since Laes had no "will-power" to use the mechanical saw, it wouldn't work for him.

Now that random fact is out there for everyone to read instead of just being stuck in my brain. :)