The darkened observation room was a sterile environment, yet had a warm air to it. Like any room aboard the ship, it was neat, tidy, and appealing to the eye.
It was a keyhole-shaped room. The cylindrical shaped area's walls were entirely opaque, as was a circle embedded in the floor taking up a significant amount of it. The center was mostly filled with consoles and equipment, but there was plenty of standing room. Around the circle were chairs facing the blank walls, and even more consoles. Nothing was active. A ramp lead up and out of the room at the "bottom" of the keyhole.
The door at the top of the ramp hissed open. Light spilled into the darkened chamber for a brief instant, before the room's own illumination activated.
Two figures entered the room, walking toward the center, a man and a woman.
Both wore uniforms that were mostly dark, with the exception of the grey shoulders, worn with an open collar over a mock-turtleneck shirt. The man's mock-turtleneck was red, the woman's teal.
The light revealed the man's face; late 30s, with dark hair that had traces of silver in it. Along his collar were four gold pips. The woman was younger, and clearly not of the same species. Her skin was blue, she had white hair, and a pair of small antenna that twitched back and forth. Along her collar were two gold pips and one black pip.
Both wore the same insignia on the left breast of their outfits; a silver arrowhead-shaped pennant, with a gold vaguely-trapezoid-shaped outline behind it.
The woman held a flat electronic device in her left hand, and was rapidly switching through various menus.
They came to a halt in the center of the room. The man stood straight with hands clasped behind his back, looking down at the floor. The woman touched a control, and the opaque walls and floor shimmered. They became windows, allowing a view into the cargo bay below.
The bay was one of the smaller ones aboard the starship, and had been hastily remodeled to accommodate their new passengers.
There were several communal tables in the middle, and beds pushed up against one side of the hall. On the far side was another table where food could be served, and next to that was a beverage machine.
The chamber was currently occupied by roughly ten strange individuals of various shapes and sizes.
The man stepped around the observation room, looking at each of the people below. It was quite an eerie experience, he could watch them and they didn't even know he was there.
The individuals seemed to have divided themselves up, with one large central group, a duo, and several lone wolves. The large group numbered five who clustered around the beds and talked animatedly to each other. The duo sat as far away from the large group as possible, at a table they'd pushed up against the far wall. Of the two lone wolves, one was busying herself with the beverage machine, and the other was sat right next to the large group on one of the beds, looking for all the world like a pouty child.
Because she was. All of them were.
There were no obvious adults in the entire room. The oldest was eighteen, maybe twenty to mid twenties at the very best, and that was a generous estimate.
The man sighed, "Jesus, they're a bunch of kids..."
"The higher-ups are elsewhere, Captain Hayes," the woman said, "As you should know. they're all older."
"Yeah I know, I just...damn, I didn't expect this. they look so young..."
"Don't let that fool you, sir. Remember on Earth during the 20th and 21st centuries, they made killers out of children younger than this."
The captain shook his head, "I know, Lieutenant Commander. I know. We've got a dark history…"
He peered at the pouting girl, who occasionally glanced over at the main group, tried to add something, but then shrugged and went back to pouting. She was short, dark-haired, and wore long johns and a pair of boots that seemed out of place with the rest of the outfit. The heavy fur coat resting on her lap explained it. Even without the fur she still looked hot, but that didn't look like the only reason she was scowling.
By their estimates, she was nearly twelve. And according to intelligence, she commanded one of the largest empires on her world.
He was supposed to address them at some point. How would he do that?
"So these are the system administrators? the current ones?"
"Yes sir, at least as many as we could track down. We're still missing a few, and some we're not even sure if they are administrators. We found many of them with their controllers, but not all. Even worse, some were with their controllers, but had no access to them."
Hayes nodded, and continued studying their guests.
The girl by the beverages was one of the strangest. She definitely wasn't quite human, but she probably had mostly human ancestry. She wore a dark pair of heavy overalls, over which she'd put on a white chestplate that looked like salvaged armor. Her boots and gloves looked like she'd pulled them off an old spacesuit. On her head were a pair of goggles, currently lowered over her eyes to study what looked like a turkey sandwich. She was probably the oldest, one of those people who looked like she could have been anywhere between twenty and twenty-five.
The most unusual aspect about her was her pale pink hair, the length of which could have rivaled Rapunzel. Not only was it long, it was prehensile. It was being used to form a seat for the girl, and a pair of strands held her up in the air.
"She's not dangerous, is she?" Hayes asked, nodding at her, his eyes traveling the length of her hair.
"Not in the way you'd imagine, sir. She's attempted to take security's weapons, and tamper with control panels, but it appears to be out of curiosity instead of attempting to escape. We've had to deactivate all electronic systems inside because of her. That's why they're not using the replicators. Even a food synthesizer was too advanced. They're still trying to figure out what she did to the cards..."
"I was wondering about that."
The lieutenant commander shook her head, "The others are a security issue for sure, though. To make matters worse, two factions obviously seem to have an issue with each other."
She walked over in the direction of the pair among the tables. "These two are by far the most physically dangerous, in possession of natural weapons."
The two below them wore the same uniforms, a dark red outfit with little insignia beyond from small badges over the left breast.
Hayes frowned at the symbol.
Aside from that, and the fact that both were humanoid, the two were very dissimilar. One was larger and bulkier than the other-in fact she was larger than most of the rest of the children. She had a humanoid face, torso and legs, but her lower arms were the pincers of a scorpion, and a tail with a stinger twitched behind her every once in a while. Most of her torso was armor-plated like the carapace of scorpion.
Her face was almost entirely human, she even had a head of white hair. She was quite intimidating but for her expression. She had quite a warm face, just looking at her made the officer want to smile. She had taken a tray out from the food table and a mountain of just about everything on the menu was there. She seemed happy as could be.
Hayes had no idea what species she was. If he had to hazard a guess, he'd say she or her family were likely either hybrids, or were genetically modified, with a base humanoid structure. Her ears, nose and brow ridge certainly spoke towards homo sapiens, as well as her ability to make complex sounds.
Her companion was small and lean. She wore no shoes, a full body outfit with no sleeves, and a red headband over her face that kept her hair back. She was like a cat. She had a mane like a lion, claws extended from her feet and hands, fangs were concealed behind her scowling face, and she had a pair of mismatched eyes, one blue, and one yellow.
She was either a Kzin or a Caitian. The captain assumed the latter, either that or she had been subject to genetic modification as well. She had the prominent nose and flat brow ridge of a human being, although her ears and teeth were feline.
The girl looked only about sixteen or eighteen, and like she could melt a phaser with the power of her sour expression.
Hayes furrowed his brow, and glanced at the lieutenant commander, "Am I seeing things, or does it look like they've kept the uniform after all these years? Are they officers?"
"It is unclear if the uniforms are related, but they are certainly officers."
He looked back, and saw the Caitian's eyes were glancing about the room. Her friend was speaking through a mouthful of food.
Hayes knew it was rude, but… "Can we hear what they're saying?"
"Do you want the room audio, or just those two?"
"Those two, lieutenant commander."
The officer selected an option on her PADD, and a moment later, the larger girl's voice bubbly voice filtered into the observation room. It was initially in a foreign tongue, but the lieutenant commander quickly modified settings and it shifted into something they could understand.
"...captive, they sure know how to treat prisoners!" the larger girl spoke mid sentence, "I don't even know what half this stuff is!"
The Caitian's claws dug into the table. She furrowed her brow, and started searching the ceiling.
"They even have fish…" The large girl said enticingly to her friend, "At least I think it's a fish. Maybe it's some kind of sea mammal?"
The Caitian did not pay attention, she cocked her head, her ears twitching as she moved them about.
"What's she doing?" The captain asked.
"Ah, I forgot to mention. I think…"
The cat-like being slowly tilted her head upward, looking straight at the observation bay.
Right at Captain Hayes.
The tiniest smirk appeared on her face.
"The windows are working properly, right?"
"Yes sir. I forgot to mention. Caitians can hear certain things other beings can't, especially on a starship."
"I know that! But not normally to this level!"
"She seems to have had some intense training in her life, but I'm also guessing she's unique. She is among these ranks for a reason."
The captain shivered a little, "I can see why."
The lieutenant commander looked down at her computer. "We haven't had the chance to examine any of them beyond external scanning, but if she isn't Caitian, there's always the possibility she's been modified-maybe she has enhanced hearing."
Hayes nodded absently, and stepped off into the direction of the other group.
The leadership role clearly went to the two girls the others were all looking at.
One was fairly tall, especially compared to her peers. She was well-built, with dark blonde hair tied back in a ponytail. To the captain's confusion, she wore a uniform with similar patterns to the first group, but minus the insignia. She had on boots, long utility pants, and a red vest over a white turtleneck.
Her friend dressed a bit oddly, but really most of them did.
The second possible-leader was short and a little pudgy, as if she hadn't shed all of her baby fat yet. Suppressing a wince, the captain was struck again with just how young these people were. The shorter girl had pink and violet hair that shimmered where the light hit it, like an insect carapace. She wore a purple leotard, with boots, fingerless gloves, and a cape that looked like folded dragonfly wings.
The pair were speaking to the others animatedly, but quietly, occasionally glancing over at the duo on the other side of the room.
The lieutenant commander touched a control, and the blonde girl's voice erupted from the speakers, "...don't need their help!"
"But Adora," said one of the others, a boy with short hair and a midriff-baring shirt. The captain had to question the practicality of that choice. "we don't have any weapons! Thanks to Entrapta, we don't even have any sharp silverware! We can't even sharpen the spoons, it's some weird soft material. I can work wonders, but it's hard to stop lasers with non-carbonated water!"
"Wait, so they forgot Starfleet, Eternia, the Federation, yet they kept soda?" Hayes muttered.
"Carbonation doesn't require that much technology, sir," said the lieutenant commander, "even so, they are full of anachronisms. That's typically what happens on Leibowitz-type planets."
The tall girl replied, "We've got bare hands, and there's seven of us - five if we don't count Entrapta or Frosta. We've been in worse spots!"
The others looked at her with bemused expressions.
"I mean...not this specific scenario, but.."
"I don't think it matters who's on who's side," the boy said, "These guys aren't anyone's friends. We could team up until we escape, then go our separate ways."
"We can't trust them! They're Horde soldiers!" the violet-haired girl spoke up. "The minute we get free, or even find a way to defend ourselves, they'll turn on us!" she punched a fist into the palm of her hand for emphasis. One of the other girls, tall, with pale blonde hair and a pink dress, flinched.
"I can't speak for everyone, but wouldn't we do the same thing?" the boy asked.
"Of course not, Bow," the tall girl said, "but...It may not be they won't trust us, they may not trust me."
"Hrm." Hayes said, "So that's why she wears their uniform."
"Affirmative, sir," the lieutenant commander said, "According to intel, she was an officer in the Horde military before she defected to this...Rebellion."
The children had gone silent after the tall girl had spoken.
The shorter girl in purple had a hand on her chin, "Hm...well, we need other options anyway, just in case." She didn't seem too torn up about the plan not working.
"Has anyone got any power left?" she asked, "Anything at all?"
"Not since you last asked." the girl in pink replied, wringing her hands, "Where on earth could we be where I can't reach any plants, any soil?" she tugged at her hair fitfully. "There's no flowers anywhere!"
"I can move a few glasses of water, or whatever," the fifth individual in the group spoke up, "But that's about it." As she spoke, the girl tossed her head of blue hair, and tugged at her collar. She wore a sort of wetsuit, minus sleeves and adorned with gold embroidery. "Don't these people have any plumbing or something?" she muttered, "Seriously, even in the Fright Zone I could pick up some stuff."
"The translator's working properly, right?" Hayes asked with a snort, "Was that seriously the name?"
"Nazi Germany wore skulls on their uniforms, sir. Not everyone knows they're working for the bad guys."
"Point taken."
"And I'm just me without my sword," the tall girl said.
The short girl looked at her hand, that glittered briefly as she turned it over. "I can still teleport, but I can't go further than this room for some reason. It's not like when I lost my powers, or when I'm out of juice, there's no pain or anything, I just...can't."
For emphasis, she snapped her fingers, and disappeared with a shimmer. She appeared near the table of food, then disappeared again. She was back where she started.
"A biological transporter does seem useful," Hayes said, entirely nonplussed by the girl's abilities, "But you get a host of other problems. What if they get sick or injured? And heck, you simply can't match the precision of a computer without a neural implant. You might end up telefragged."
"She's one of only a handful that can still do that, sir," said the lieutenant commander, "Perhaps that's what happened to the rest of the test subjects."
Hayes grimaced, "I've ordered deep scans for unusual biological anomalies on, and inside the planet's surface. Starfleet Intelligence isn't being very forthcoming with any data on this part of the project, as usual. It'll be awhile before we can find everything."
He sighed, "well, guess we had better address them before they try to escape again. How're those guards doing?"
"Recovering. One's got a concussion, the other a broken wrist. Those 'kids' are pretty tough."
They started walking toward the door, deactivating the windows and polarizing them again.
"...Either that or Starfleet needs to hurry those Hazard Team regulations along, or just accept Marines aboard again." Hayes grumbled, not blaming his security guards for their lack of training.
"Sorry, sir, but you know how it's been. Starfleet has never forgiven them for The Expanse."
"I swear, your ancestors hijack one ship and suddenly your whole service is untrustworthy…that wasn't even us, that was the MACOs!"
"You're not the only one with that sort of issue, sir."
The door hissed open, and Hayes looked at her, "Why, Lieutenant Commander Reed, whoever could you mean?"
"With all due respect, sir, I sincerely hope your wit doesn't get us killed by a bunch of high schoolers."
They proceeded to the nearest turbolift and moved one level down. A security team was arranged near the large cargo bay door. A significant amount of cargo still remained in the corridor, awaiting transfer to other areas.
Three guards were playing fizbin on a few crates, a fourth was reading a PADD, and two more were standing near the door, their phaser rifles hanging on slings by their sides.
The guards all stood to attention, with the exception of those watching the door.
Hayes straightened his uniform, and tugged at his collar, "Reed...are you sure there's no one else who can do this?"
Lieutenant Commander Paraas Zh'Reed looked at him with surprise, "Sir? Surely it can't be any worse than the Jem'Hadar!"
"Even the Jem'Hadar were adults. The major faction leaders are adults. Shouldn't we probably requisition a counselor of some kind or something for this? God, I bet Picard doesn't have to deal with this kind of problem."
"Sir, these people are considered adults in their culture. They probably won't accept anyone else but an officer." Reed pointed out.
"Think they would accept me being sick?"
"Captain…"
Hayes grinned, somewhat gritted, "alright, alright…"
At his nod, one security officer hit the keypad, and opened the large blast door. As the hatch opened, the guards fell into a ready position, and watched the people inside.
The kids had started scrambling around the moment the compartment opened. They had arranged themselves standing in cover. Not quite behind it, but not out of it either. They clearly had military training, and had recognized any attack on their part would be dangerous.
They seemed confused by the crew's appearance, but that didn't seem to change anything in their behavior.
Two guards stepped inside, before allowing the skipper and the lieutenant commander inside. The other three guards remained outside, and shut the door.
Hayes took a breath, and stepped forward. Just ahead enough to set him apart from the others, but far back enough to get into cover quickly. He'd been thinking about what he should tell them, but still didn't quite know what to say.
The tall blonde girl stepped forward as well, making a similar pattern of movement.
She sized him up, the well-fed, well-dressed man in front of her. She was relatively nourished, but there were definitely nutritional differences.
He was old enough to be her father. Why was she in this role? She should have been in school, not facing down Starfleet officers.
Her face was filled with determination and defiance. She looked into his eyes without fear.
"I am Adora, wielder of the sword of Princess She-ra. I am part of the Princess Alliance of the Rebellion against the Horde. Who are you? Why are you keeping us here?" She spoke firmly. There was not a tremor in her voice.
Hayes suppressed a sigh, "I am Captain Archer Hayes, commander of the Federation Starship Belleau Wood. I represent Starfleet, the exploratory and defense service of the United Federation of Planets, an interstellar alliance devoted to peace, mutual cooperation, and friendship. I realize that statement might seem ironic at the moment, but believe me, keeping you here is in your best interest."
"How?" the girl, or Adora, asked, "seems to me like we're in a gilded cage."
"Did he say 'starship'?" Hayes heard the girl in the dress whisper to the one in the wet suit.
The other girl pursed her lips and shrugged. "I dunno," she folded her arms and glared at the captain.
"Where are we?" The short pudgy girl asked, moving to stand beside Adora, "I'm Princess Glimmer of Bright Moon. Could you please answer our questions? Who are you, really? What's this Federation? What's a starship? Why have you kidnapped us?!"
Hayes looked up at the lights, "Oh boy…"
"Sir...?" Lieutenant Commander Reed asked, stepping forward, but Hayes waved her off.
"Just give me a second, lieutenant commander…"
He looked back to see the two girls staring at the lieutenant commander in shock. They backed away slowly, as Reed looked back in confusion. The others further back dug in deeper into cover.
"Is something the matter?" She asked, finally.
The girls looked at each other, then back, "you speak our language?" Glimmer asked.
"I speak several languages. However, I do not speak yours. I am currently using this," she gestured to her combadge, "what's called a 'universal translator', to communicate with you."
"Lieutenant commander…" Hayes muttered nervously.
"Captain, at this point, what have we got to lose?"
"What exactly are you?" Glimmer asked, "I've never seen something...someone like you before."
"I am an Andorian. "
The guards suddenly moved their aim as another individual approached. The girl, or woman, with the prehensile hair was approaching. She walked right up to the captain, peering intently at his uniform.
She reached out and poked his chest.
The guards stepped forward, but Hayes held out a hand, "Hold…"
"Some sort of non-organic fabrics...interesting! And fully intact, too! I haven't seen a whole uniform made out of this stuff! It feels so weird...there's no manufacturing marks, it's not woven!"
She moved her eyes down to the combadge, looking like a Ferengi seeing a free sample table. Without hesitation she pulled at the device tugging on the captain's uniform.
"Microfilaments, actual, real gold, and...and...I don't even know what else is in this!" she beamed, then a look of excitement crossed her face and looked up at Hayes, still holding onto his badge. "Do you have prosthetics? Things to-to help people who need help with their bodies?"
Hayes carefully took hold of his combadge in one hand, and the girl's hand in the other, "Excuse me, I'd be happy to explain it if you ask first next time."
She blinked at him, and released the badge, looking downcast.
"And we do have medical technology to help people with disabilities," Hayes explained. One of the gold shirts was getting antsy, but Hayes glanced at him and shook his head.
"You do?" the young woman looked delighted. "Oh, excellent! Can I see any of it?"
"Ah-maybe later," Hayes said. "Are you hurt? We can help if-"
She shook her head. "Oh, no, it's not for me. It's for my lab partner!"
The Caitian groaned and rubbed her hand over her face. Hayes glanced at her, then looked back to the pink-haired girl. "Your...lab partner?"
She nodded. "He's not here, but if we went and got him and then we could look at your technology…"
"I'm...sure we could arrange it," Hayes said. No doubt this planet was woefully behind in terms of medical technology. He could easily picture all kinds of ailments her 'lab partner' might be suffering from.
"Entrapta…" Adora said, rubbing her forehead. "We'll-we'll talk about it later, okay?"
Okay," Entrapta sighed, then quickly stepped away from Adora, making her wince, "Well, I guess we can't really do anything since he's not here…"
Hayes shook his head, "Okay! Now…" He took a deep breath, "There's no getting around it. We have taken you into custody for your own protection. You are currently aboard my ship, the USS Belleau Wood, currently orbiting your planet. You are in space above your planet. Do you understand what that means?"
Adora tore her gaze off Entrapta back toward the captain. Her eyes widened slightly.
Glimmer shook her head, "That's impossible. That's kid's stuff!"
"Hey…!" the boy with odd fashion sense said half-heartedly.
"Okay, it's fiction, then! Whatever! There is no way we can really be in space!"
"What about what Sh...you-know-who said?" Bow asked.
"You mean listen to what the enemy has to say?" Glimmer growled.
Adora was silent, looking down at the floor. "'Explorers'…'from beyond the stars'…"
Hayes put a hand to his face, Damned Leibowitz-types… Some days he wished for his compression rifle and battle armor back. At least it wouldn't be him making the decisions. Give him Orions over this.
He looked back at the kids, who were now arguing amongst themselves. If this was how they handled the idea of space travel, how would they handle their true ancestry? How would they handle...everything?
The tall girl, Adora, wasn't participating in the argument. She was looking at Reed again, then to the captain. She glanced at the guards, then down at the ground again. She seemed to be muttering to herself.
Behind the boy and Glimmer, the others were just confused.
The large scorpion girl and...wait a minute, where-?
"Hey, you! Bowman!" A husky female voice called out. The Caitian was a few meters away, standing there leaning on one leg with her arms crossed, just beside the group close to him.
Hayes nearly jumped; he hadn't even heard her approach!
Her multi-colored eyes peered into him, with a light he'd not seen in a teenager's eyes since the Cardassian Wars.
"It's Captain Bowman, right?" she asked.
"Archer is my first name. I'm Captain Hayes."
She nodded, "So, you're a captain. In who's navy?"
"Starfleet. We're the Federation's deep space exploratory and defense service. I believe I said this."
"Sure, sure," the caitian said, nodding, "we haven't been properly introduced. I'm Force Captain Catra, back there behind me is Force Captain Scorpia," the large scorpion girl waved cheerfully behind her, "and this is Traitor, her friend the sparkly Princess, and..." She peered at the boy, "I don't even remember him."
"Catra…" Adora hissed, and the caitian smirked at her.
"Is there something you want, Force Captain?" Hayes asked, "I was trying to answer everyone's questions."
"Sure you were. But I don't think they asked the right questions. Why did you attack us?"
The others focused their attention on Hayes.
He set his jaw, "Casualties have been kept to an absolute minimum. We have done our very best to limit the damage done to your infrastructure and facilities."
"So you didn't kill us. That didn't answer the question, bowman. I didn't ask how, I asked why. Who's side are you on?"
Hayes grimaced, "This is all very difficult to explain..."
She looked around, her eyebrows raised, "Eh, I'm not doing anything, apparently. It's just your time we're burning. So, you gonna explain, or…?"
The security guards behind Hayes stepped up yet again, but he held out a hand.
Catra waved her hand, "I'm sure there's been some sort of misunderstanding to make you come blasting in like you did. And shoot all of us. How do those things work, anyway? That didn't feel anything like-"
"...That time you electrocuted me?! Twice?!" Adora snapped.
"It was a reflex!" the caitian barked back, "And it's not like you were any better!"
"I'm not the one who flings people off of cliffs, and throws herself off them more often than not!" the other girl was in Catra's face now.
"And how many of those times were your fault?!" the caitian shoved her face back.
On reflex, without even thinking, Hayes stepped forward to try and separate them. Reed and the guards called out, and Hayes realized his mistake.
In a flash the caitian had turned toward him, and lunged.
Hayes stepped to the side as age old instincts kicked in, parrying her lunge to one side. He noted in the back of his mind that the attack, as well as his response, both felt familiar.
Her plan failed, Catra was going to try again.
XXXXX
Catra charged, only to bounce off the air. A shimmer ran through the air for an instant, in an arc shape.
She reached out again and touched whatever it was. It was a force field, with a slight stinging charge to it. Angrily, she tried to back up, only to be hit with another charge. She whirled about in surprise, then went to either side, finding even more field. A perfect cylinder.
She roared, a strange look on her face as she hammered at the barrier. She clawed and pounded desperately. She soon got an idea. She crouched and jumped up against the wall, then launched herself to the opposite side, trying to climb up the tube.
Once she lost momentum, Catra started shimmying up it like a mountain climber, her back against one side with her feet against the other side.
A shimmer went above her, and a barrier appeared just above her. She figured it out after bonking her head.
"We're making sure you don't hurt yourself-" the captain called out, but Catra had lost her grip on the wall and fallen down to the bottom of the cylinder.
She fell hard, but was up again in an instant, cursing loudly.
Adora looked on in horror, her eyes as wide as dinner plates, "Oh no…!"
"Let me outta here!" Catra shrieked, "Let me outta here before I-"
She swore again, putting her back and feet against the sides again and pushing with all her might. A painful cracking sound came from her back, and she roared again. She straightened up, wincing painfully, and scrabbled at the force field.
"Let me out!" she demanded, kicking the wall, and wincing, "Let me out!"
Catra kicked it again, repeating her demand over and over, punctuating each one with a painful kick and holding whatever she'd hurt in her back.
Scorpia was already headed toward the cylinder, but Adora had passed her rapidly. She was there, against the force field, pounding on the other side.
"Let her out, damn you!" she roared, fury coursing through her veins and making her visibly vibrate. She wanted her sword, She-ra could cut through this force field with no problem. "Let her out!"
Catra kept pounding on her side, screaming with fury and pain. Her voice cracked, and a choked sob escaped in between angry yells.
Scorpia made it to the field, "We're here, Catra!" she touched one of her claws to the shield, biting her lip. In her experience, you couldn't break a force field with your hands (or claws) alone, but just being on the other side helped. "We'll get you out!"
"C'mon, c'mon…!" Adora muttered, cursing and feeling around for a hole, a gap, anything.
The strange captain stared at the scene, then glanced back at the blue officer, wondering what was going on, "Well?! Let her out!"
The officer blinked, then hurriedly pressed a few controls.
The field dispersed, and Catra stumbled forward, losing her balance. She fell onto Adora, who caught her and pulled her close. Catra's angry roars now interspersed with controlled sobs. She snarled and hissed as tears spilled out of her eyes, and she clung to Adora like a liferaft.
"Hey, hey, c'mere'," Scorpia gently touched Catra's shoulder, and Catra let go of Adora, taking a deep breath.
Adora took a step back, putting up her hands, as if shocked at making physical contact.
Scorpia took that as leave to scoop Catra up in her claws. "If you wanted a hug, you didn't need to go hugging a princess!" she teased, but her voice trembled just the slightest bit.
Catra hissed at her. "Scorpia, let go!" she snapped and scrambled out of Scorpia's arms. She glared at Adora and scrubbed her cheeks.
Catra was still shivering. "Get outta here," she snarled, her tail whisking back and forth and eyes darting from side to side. She clung to Scorpia's arm.
Adora glared at the captain, "Is this what you wanted?! Huh?! What's wrong with you people?! How could you do this to someone?!"
"Yeah, force fields are no fair," Scorpia said, putting her claw on Catra's shoulder. Catra continued to glare, but didn't shrug Scorpia off.
Hayes reached out a hand slightly, then dropped it. "I apologize, I had no idea she would react that way. Do we need a medic? Is she hurt?"
"Stay away from her and she'll be fine!" Adora barked.
"Captain, we may want to postpone this…" the blue officer murmured, "At least for a little while..."
"Ah... alright. Um...if any of you people need assistance, just knock on the door. We'll hear."
"Just leave us alone!" Catra shrieked.
The Starfleet personnel retreated rapidly, the door sighing shut behind them. Catra retreated to one of the beds, cradling her bruised hands. Her feet were tough enough to withstand the damage she'd done by kicking the forcefield, but her hands were more sensitive. Scorpia and Adora followed her.
"Hey, no worries," Scorpia assured her. "Force fields are a nightmare. I mean, man, they're useful, but ugh," she gave an exaggerated shudder.
"Are you...okay?" Adora asked, stopping a few feet away.
Catra glared up at Adora.
Glimmer watched Adora trail after the Horde captains, a frown between her brows. Being stuck here with the Horde soldiers made everything weird. They'd been glad to see that Entrapta was still okay (well, for her), and Entrapta had been happy to see them in her own weird way, but being trapped in a room with Princess Scorpia and Catra was just...freaky.
Glimmer and Bow knew about Catra and Adora growing up together, and Catra's weird obsession with Adora. They didn't like to spread it around, though, and Adora didn't like to talk about the other parts of growing up under the Horde.
Adora hunched her shoulders. "Force fields-they're just-" she closed her eyes and she sighed.
"Did that happen to her growing up?" Bow asked, glancing over at Scorpia and Catra, "Did you grow up with Scorpia too?"
"You could say that..." Adora said. "As for Scorpia? I saw her around a few times. She's...well, she's nice, I guess. For a Horde soldier."
Glimmer glared. "She doesn't seem very nice whenever she attacks me. It's almost like she's specifically after me," she said, folding her arms.
"Well, you know. Horde soldiers."
"Wait, you grew up with Catra?" Perfuma asked.
Adora looked down at her hands, folded in her lap. "Like I said. We've known each other since we were kids."
"She danced with her at the Princess Ball," Mermista drawled.
"I danced with a bunch of people at the Ball," Adora snapped.
Mermista shrugged and played with her hair. "Yeah, but then you guys had a fistfight in the middle of the dance. Then the place blew up, so, like, whatever."
"Catra's really fun!" Entrapta said, sidling up to them, "She and Hordak like doing experiments!" Entrapta tapped her chin with one finger. "Mostly if they involve weapons. Or portals. But Catra brings snacks, too, so that's good." her head hung down a little. "Catra doesn't talk to me much anymore, though…" she glanced at Catra, looking hurt. Catra didn't look back at her.
"Entrapta, why did you join them? I mean...even with all the stuff they have, can't you see what they're doing?" Glimmer asked, horrified.
Entrapta shrugged. She shrank back a bit, "Not really...no one tells me things."
"Entrapta!" Glimmer gritted her teeth. "You're supposed to be a princess! You should know! Why haven't you figured it out?"
Entrapta looked at the ground, looking abashed for the first time. She scuffed a foot back and forth, "I thought you guys abandoned me."
She gave a sidelong glance at Adora, with an expression that made Adora's heart break and turn away.
"I-well, Catra said I could do my experiments, and then they brought all my stuff, and then Hordak was my lab partner, so…"
"Your lab partner?" Bow squeaked.
Adora sighed.
"And she said you ran off and left her before," Entrapta looked at Adora again. "So I figured it was something you did all the time anyway."
"It wasn't like that!" Adora exclaimed.
Over on the other side of the room, Catra let out a growl, her ears twitching.
"What exactly were you trying to do, Catra?" Scorpia asked innocently.
Catra rubbed her hands together, "He was important enough to have guards. I figured a claw at his throat might be good enough to make him release us."
"I haven't seen anyone outside our guys move like that…" Scorpia muttered, scratching her head and looking at the door, "Who are these guys?"
Adora sat down on one of the beds, thinking "Hayes' " words over. Starships, explorers from beyond the stars…
Stars.
She looked around at the room, built out of smooth shiny materials easy on the eyes. In the Fright Zone, it was all cold steel, built for function and not much else. It had been home, but in a rough way, like how a foxhole was your foxhole no matter how bad. This place was...warm. It was welcoming.
Putting a hand on the bed, she noted how squishy it was, how comfortable. It was built like the bunks back home- back in the Fright Zone, but it was different. It had no springs, no straw, not cotton...it was something else. The blankets were the same as the uniforms, not woven or made with mill looms. It was a bunk like any other, but it was better than the beds in Bright Moon. She wasn't constantly falling into it, and the blankets were even better than the sheep's wool.
Then there was what she'd seen before waking up here.
Ever since she could remember, there had been stars. A star here or there. They had always seemed to be present, little dots in the sky that were always reassuring. One or two at a time, for the entire world. She had never found it strange...at least, not until a few months ago.
Ever since she'd first touched the sword of She-ra, and encountered Madame Razz, there had been a niggling doubt in the back of her mind, that something was wrong. On top of the multitude of other problems.
In her dreams, she kept seeing wondrous sights, of a sky full of stars, a vast beautiful array. Across the horizon, a shape like spilled milk across the sky.
One morning she'd woken up with the word "constellations" on her lips. No one told her what it meant, but it hadn't been quite a focus.
Then...meeting Bow's parents, she'd learned constellations meant stars. Thousands of stars, uncountable, far and distant. Beautiful and foreboding at the same time.
Her first sight of them had filled a void in her heart she hadn't known existed.
They'd been in the middle of their expedition to the Crimson Wastes, trying to reach the strange signal in the center of it. They'd picked up a friend along the way, Huntara, who was leading them to the signal.
One night, a strange feeling had gone over the four.
Bow called it "deja vu", before something even stranger happened.
Something appeared in both Glimmer and Adora's vision. Bow and Huntara couldn't see it, but it was right in front of their faces. As if it were on their very pupils.
Glimmer couldn't read it, as she'd shouted in between screams of panic, but Adora could. While also freaking out.
"SYSTEM ALERT: EMERGENCY SHUTDOWN OF ETERNIA PROCEDURES. ALL PERSONNEL SEEK SHELTER IMMEDIATELY."
Chaos ensued.
The ground shook, like the worst earthquake they'd ever experienced. The clouds in the sky thickened, and far, far in the distance, just over the horizon, a beam of light shot into the sky, a wavering stream of energy that glowed with ribbons of every color of the rainbow. In the opposite direction, even further away, another beam activated. Another to the south, and there may have been another to the north, but there were mountains in the way.
The beams cut holes through the clouds for several seconds, then abruptly cut off.
The ground heaved its worst one final time, then began to settle. The quakes were still very intense, but slowly calmed.
Within hours, the clouds had cleared.
And constellations filled the sky.
As brilliant as they were, and as much relief as she felt, Adora was nervous.
No matter what appeared in the sky though, they felt it couldn't change things yet. The only way they knew additional Horde troops could appear was through a portal, and that was their priority.
They decided their best chance was to continue on and try to find the source of the signal.
The last thing Adora remembered was making camp under the stars, the novelty still not wearing off. She'd wondered what exactly was up there.
After that, everything was blank.
Except a dream. A dream that became a nightmare. Anxiety, fear, anger, strange glowing figures…
Catra for some reason. She must've followed them.
Then sudden pain, numbness, and she couldn't wake up.
All she recalled from the dream was one word.
"Peregrine".
When she woke up, they were in this chamber, with the others; Mermista, Perfuma, Frosta, Catra, Scorpia, and Entrapta.
Their jailors appeared when she and Catra saw each other. They rushed in to separate them.
She had no idea who broke the one woman's wrist, and who gave the man a concussion. She had no doubt Catra couldn't remember either.
She had no clue what happened to Huntara, at least at first. According to the other princesses, it had been days since they'd disappeared. The ex-bandit/ex-Horde soldier had stumbled into Bright Moon ranting about "soldiers in gold".
The rest of the princess alliance said they'd ventured into the desert on a rescue mission, then woke up in the chamber, the same as the rest.
Entrapta had reported that Catra and Scorpia had gone missing under similar circumstances, and she'd followed along with a Horde escort, before she blacked out herself.
And they'd all woken up at the same time, despite those time differences. What was going on?
Upon hearing the word "starship", Adora's thoughts snapped back to the present. "What?"
"He said starship, didn't he?" Glimmer asked, "That explains everything! We must be on some kind of airship! Starship must be some fancy name!"
"Yeah, but where'd they get the hydrogen? There must be tons of it!" Bow said.
"It's probably First Ones tech," Adora said, "these people must've found an old ship and fixed it up."
She decided not to comment on if she thought it was an airship or a spaceship.
"Yeah, but where's the plumbing?" Mermista asked, "No matter where I go, I can always access at least the plumbing…"
"Whoever they are, and wherever we are, we're getting out of here." Glimmer said, "anyone got any ideas?"
"Have you tried the hatch?" Entrapta asked, eating a sandwich cut into small parts and pointing at a trapezoid-shaped hatch in the corner of the room.
"The locked one you mean?" Frosta asked, finally joining the group.
"I can open it. But I'll need some time to figure out how, and I'm betting we don't want them seeing us do it?"
"If we wait until lights out though - if they have it - how will we see anything?" Perfuma asked.
Bow thought for a moment, "Adora, what's Catra's night vision like?"
Glimmer shook her head, "Oh no! We're not doing that!"
"Glimmer…"
"No, Bow! If we get their help, they'll probably lock us in here when they get out! They're all a bunch of backstabbing-"
Her gaze fell on Adora, "Um…"
"No offense taken," Adora sighed, resting her head on her hand, "I know what you're saying."
"It's our best shot!" Bow said loudly.
"Better them than any other Horde members," Frosta pointed out, "They were at least agreeable before trying to blow up my palace during the dance. So long as we don't put too much trust in them we should be fine."
"Who's going to talk to them, then?" Glimmer demanded.
"I'll talk to them!" Bow replied, somewhat exasperated, "They don't like princesses, remember? They might hate me slightly less." he paused. "I mean...I think so."
He took a step, and Glimmer's hand shot out. "Bow, just...just be careful."
"I will. You're watching my back, right?"
She nodded, and with that, Bow started walking.
It was a short distance to the Horde officers, but it felt like a mile.
Catra turned to look at him, and scowled.
"What do you want, midriff?" she growled.
"I just want to talk."
"Well, sorry, you've gotta get thrown off the cliff before you get admitted to the ex-sidekick club."
"What?"
"Sorry, we can't talk to the enemy. Fraternization with the enemy is not allowed under ROE." Scorpia said. Her face was neutral, her normal positive if not smiling expression gone.
"Then why does she keep talking to Adora?!" Glimmer demanded from across the room.
"Glimmer, don't." Adora murmured.
Bow rubbed the bridge of his nose, then looked at the Horde officers, "Okay, these guys are obviously a much bigger threat than us. They have weapons that are better than even your people's. If we work together, we can all get out of here."
Entrapta approached, "I can open the hatch, I just need your eyes. I wish I could invent something that could allow anyone to see like that. I've always wanted to see beyond visible light…"
Bow smiled a little, "There, see? With your night vision and Entrapta's-"
Catra's hand drew into a fist, then pounded the table, "Absolutely not. Entrapta's with us, and I don't think eyeballs work if you pull them out of someone's skull. So we're holding all the power here. We don't need you."
The princesses watching turned away, or at least shifted their attention. Their plan seemed to have failed.
Bow opened his mouth to speak, but was still disappointed.
Before he could say anything, Catra glanced at the others, then beckoned him closer, "You, you're no prince or princess or whatever. How can you follow them? All they do is fight their little squabbles with each other. All they did was bicker! They lead through fear and oppression, do you have any kind of say in their decisions? Can you move up without being in a noble house? Even the powerless nobles rule you! The average person can't hope to match their power, so you can't even rebel! They're obsessed with maintaining their power, that's all that matters to them! Not water, not food, just holding onto their little domain!"
"I…"
Catra's eyes shifted, softening somewhat, "You don't get it. People in these situations never do. Can't you see you're just cannon fodder? Scorpia tossed you around like you were nothing because you had, what, a bow? Glimmer can teleport, Adora can tear apart tanks, and then there's you. They keep all the power to themselves. The Horde might do some bad things, but you can't beat guns, you can't beat science. Guns not your speed? You ever heard of a compound bow? You can get the power of a guy three times your size from one, and the bow is half the size of a longbow."
"Gotta admit, the way I hear it, before the Horde showed up, we didn't have showers, or electricity. Or hovercraft. Or nightlife…" Scorpia scratched her head.
Catra stood up, and smirked a little, "You're like us. Look, you, me, Scorpia, Entrapta, we're not like those freaks. We're normal. Or normal enough. We can get out of here without them! We've got all the power, just come with us, we'll leave them behind!"
Bow had heard this sort of thing before, and ignored most of it, but…
She was right. They did hold all the power. What was stopping them?
A paper plate hit the floor. Crumbs scattered across the floor.
All three looked at Entrapta, who stared wide-eyed at them, her hair slack.
"...You...you just want to leave them?" she whispered.
Catra blinked, then nodded, "Yeah, you got it, Entrapta. Just like they left you, right?"
Entrapta looked down, flipping her welding mask down.
She held up one of her recorders, and pressed the playback option. The recorder squeaked, then spouted a tinny rendition of her words, "Fright Zone log, hour 45. Is that right? I don't know, it was hard to tell in the walls. Hour 45, that's- That's too many hours. This angry feline person seems to be correct. They're not coming back for me."
Catra nodded, "Yes, Entrapta, just like that."
Entrapta flipped her mask back up, "But...but we can't do that. You said we were better than them, didn't you? Shouldn't we be better than them, and save them?"
"Entrapta-" Scorpia started, but Entrapta looked at her. Not a glare, but there was something in her eyes.
"They're nice! You're all nice, but so are they! I don't know if they meant to leave me!"
"Of course they-" Catra snarled.
"They said it was an accident, they explained what happened! Abandoning teammates aside, they're valuable! We can't hope to take on these people with what we have right now, we could use their abilities! We can't just leave them! It's wrong!"
Catra was utterly perplexed, then scowled, "They left you! They leave everyone behind! That's all they do! They use people then leave them!"
"You said we weren't like them!" Entrapta said, pointing with hair and arm, "So that means we don't leave anyone behind, unlike them, right?"
"But they're the enemy!" Scorpia protested.
"They're princesses!" Catra barked.
Entrapta's face drew into the closest it could to a scowl. She threw the remains of her sandwich on the floor, and crossed her arms, "I am not doing anything anyone wants unless we all go!"
"Entrapta-" Scorpia and Catra both said, but Entrapta stomped and glared.
"I said, we're not going anywhere. Either we go together, or none of us go."
"Entrapta-" Catra repeated.
Entrapta pulled her mask down again, then resumed her stance.