Chapter 4: Pursuits of mayhem

Authors note: Well guys, here is Chapter 4! This chapter will be building up to the events in the next chapter which will finally be a turning point in this story. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it! I even tried to include some Reuben and Gantu humour in it. Something which I personally loved about the show and films.

The command centre was HUGE. One of the largest commanding centres Gantu had ever been in. It even rivalled the size of the Galactic Federation's control centre. That was how large it was. There had to be at least a hundred different workers operating their own individual small monitor screens in this facility. All of which were male Shaeleks sat in their uniforms, complete with headsets and communication microphones attached to their mouths, via their tusks. Gantu followed the Commander as he walked around the premises and down a flight of stairs before approaching the front of the base of communications where 4 main operators were stationed; away from the other workers. In front of them was a huge monitor screen fitted down into smaller sections. Several were showing live news broadcasts from various Shaelekean stations while others were from the live feeds they were receiving from their own cameras around the planet. The middle screen was currently showing the pursuit in progress which the Commander was now aware of. Gantu and Reuben watched as 3 police Officers, all in riot gear, were on a hot pursuit against several criminals who were blasting their dangerous weapons at the Officers behind them. They were running down a very large corridor in an all-white building. The criminals, all male Shaeleks, were trying, and failing, to get the armed Officers off their tail.

"Commander!" All four of the operators stood to attention simultaneously as he approached them. The Commander didn't respond to their honouring greeting, instead he ushered them to sit down and return to their duties.

"What's happening Lieutenant?" He questioned one of them, his tone deep and on-edge.

"Zettar's arrest did not go according to plan," the selected Lieutenant responded, turning back at the screen "turns out the criminals were not dealing in drugs at all, but illegal and deadly weapons. Practically identical to the ones they confiscated last week. The Chief ordered them to come quietly but they opened fire and injured two Officers before they ran off."

"Where is their current location?" The Commander stood firm as one of the operators looked at his monitor and typed a few things onto his screen.

"The weapons manufacturing plant, east of the city Dildurin," the operator answered looking away from his screen again.

Gantu felt rather useless as he watched all of these workers do their jobs. He was the Captain of the Intergalactic police force, therefore he was irrelevant for helping out the police force for his own or any other planet, since they all worked differently to his own force. In any case, Gantu could not just stand there without offering some sort of assistance to the Commander.

"Commander Turak," he cleared his throat as he adjusted one of his black wrist guards "is there anything I can do?"

"Sorry Captain," Turak responded shaking his head. Gantu knew he'd get this response. "But your expertise is useless in this situation. What we need is contact with Chief Zettar." He then turned to his operators again "is the Chief on the other line?"

Two of the operators checked their monitors before turning back to their Commander. "Yes sir."

"Put the Chief through."

The operators did as instructed and the video footage on the monitor was shoved to a corner of the screen, in favour of an audio frequency display. The whole room erupted with a cracking static sound, just like what had happened a while back in the Commander's Office. All of the operators turned to the monitor and watched as the frequency reading on screen jumped up and down erratically. The call was now being made. Commander Turak picked up a nearby microphone and pressed the button down as hard as he could with his large grey finger.

"Chief Zettar, are you receiving me? Over."

The footage on the screen showed the three Officers now cornered off by the criminals they were pursuing. Neither of them moving an inch now; just hiding behind some debris in order to have some cover whilst both the criminals and the Officers in pursuit opened fire on one another. It was now obvious to Gantu, who stood, arms crossed, watching the whole dilemma before him, that Chief Zettar was in fact one of the Officer's ducking for cover and blasting their weapon whenever they got the chance. But sadly, he couldn't tell which one since all three Officers were dressed in riot gear. Meaning their entire bodies, from head to toe, were covered in black thick plasma proof armour and an advanced head guard, which shielded their faces from view as well as from the plasma blasts. The video footage was also not very detailed since the static interference was not only affecting the audio but also the video feed. The figures could be made out, but the footage was like seeing an old Earth movie on a low quality video tape.

A cracking sound on the other line suddenly came through and a very static and distorted voice responded to the Commander after moments of nothing but normal interference. "This is Chief Zettar. I'm receiving you Commander. Over."

The voice was too distorted for words. Gantu could barely make it out the interference was that bad. One moment the pitch was high, the next it was low. How in the Creblock system did these guys cope with this? You had to concentrate hard on the words in order to make them out. Perhaps it was a temporary technical glitch that was being sorted by some technicians as they spoke. Gantu had certainly hoped so. The static noise was bugging him. A LOT.

"Chief, what's going on over there?" The Commander continued to speak through the speakers. On the screen above, one of the Officers had a near escape from a plasma blast which had caught the edge of the wall they were taking shelter behind.

"They've opened fire on us sir," the voice could hardly be made out "their weapons are far more advanced and lethal than ours. One blast to the chest and we're done for!"

"I want you to get out of there Zettar! Two of your men are down, we do not need any more casualties."

"Negative sir," the voice responded as a brave Officer stepped out from behind the wall and began opening fire on the stalling criminals who were busy re-loading their weapons. One began firing laser beams at the Officer who dodged them gracefully by doing a front body roll before getting on one knee to get a good shot. After doing this, the Officer proceeded to shoot that fugitive down with their stunning plasma blaster. Gantu was impressed with this Officer's skill and ability. It took balls to get out from behind a cover to open fire in order to take down the bad guys. Gantu had done it many times in the past; he knew the risks. He had almost had some close calls himself. That particular Officer intrigued him. That tactical manoeuvre was something which took years to master. No mere Rookie could do that and have the composure afterward to shoot straight. Was this Officer in fact the Chief who he was about to work with? He hoped so. He could do with someone like that in his force. Gantu's admiration was cut to a brief halt as the voice continued to crack through the speaker, "There is no escape from this part of the building without going through the targets first," the voice continued. "Besides, we've almost done taking them down. Only three remain standing."

The Commander watched the screen closely as yet another criminal was shot down by the brave Officer. The other two Officers now joined in and opened fire on the two remaining criminals. The remaining two criminals exchanged panicky glances before they began to flee and ditched their weapons after they ran out of ammo. The police Officers soon followed and pursued them, the camera following close behind. The Commander finally spoke again. This time, his voice sounding more confident.

"Alright Chief, take them down. But extreme force is not authorized. I don't want any more casualties."

"Yes sir, Chief Zettar signing off." the voice replied before the static got so bad that the operators decided to turn it off.

"Technical difficulties huh?" Reuben muttered, clenching his ears tightly together with his paws "get a technician to fix it already!"

The entire room watched in silence as the pursuit was underway. The occasional sounds of beeping or the faint mutterings of the news reports could be heard in the background, but no one paid that any attention. Everyone was in anticipation as they watched the criminals somehow gain access to their ship and end up blasting off from the weapons facility as soon as possible. They were very desperate to get away. Of course the remaining police Officers were soon able to catch up with them. They were highly trained to do so. Each of the Officers boarded the blue and purple police cruiser as they blasted off into the planet's atmosphere in an attempt to catch the criminals smaller cruiser. Soon a big air pursuit was now underway. The criminals inside the ship, once realizing how close they were to arrest, resulted in pure last minute desperation as they had engaged their ship's weapon systems and locked their target onto the police cruiser, which was now very close behind. Gantu's breath seized every now and then as he watched the police ship dodge every cannon blast which was headed their way. The criminals were using all that they could in their weapons systems to try and shoot down their pursuers. But unfortunately for them, they were not counting on the skills of the Chief of security and the other Officers in the ship. Suddenly the police cruiser did a counter strike against the fugitives cruiser by shooting a single cannon plasma blast right at its right wing. It certainly did not miss. The ship began to go down at a rapid pace. And the police cruiser began to lower its altitude in order to keep up with the disabled space ship.

"They've got 'em," one of the operators rejoiced quietly.

"I wouldn't rejoice yet Lieutenant," the Commander reminded him as he crossed his arms and continued to look at the monitor with rather drawn eyes. "It's not over yet."

When the ship finally crashed, there was surprisingly little movement from within the wreckage of the crash site. The criminals small red and white, obviously stolen, cruiser was now reduced to being a piece of compacted scrap metal. Well, at least the crash site specialists would have some fun, if anyone else didn't. The camera following the pursuit suddenly came to a halt and focussed closely on the crash site, keeping particularly focussed on the exit of the ship which had somehow remained intact after the crash. The police cruiser was soon able to land nearby the disabled and useless ship and the Officers were (barely) made out on the monitor to be exiting their ship to survey the damage. One of the Officers stormed up to the ship, weapon in hand, and climbed the wrecked wing in order to get towards the door which provided as the only entrance/exit of the ship. With a swift ninja kick; well that was how Reuben would have described it, the door flew open and literally swung off its already broken hinges. The Officer entered hostilely as the other two waited below with their weapons drawn. For several moments, everyone in the control room were left to wonder what had happened to all of the criminals inside the wrecked vessel. Were they dead? Unconscious? Had they already found an escape route? But fortunately, they were not left to ponder on this too long. After about a minute of entering, the Officer exited the ship with a squirming and bound prisoner close at hand. The Officer, after making their way off of the wing of the wreckage, made hand gestures with their free hand to the other two Officers to retrieve the others inside. Suddenly the control centre were in uproar with applause and cheering. Gantu and Reuben looked at each other in relief. This mission was a success. Now they could meet their successful partner and not have to worry about any similar failures to their own.

"Quiet!" The Commander bellowed suddenly in order to hush the applauding crowd of operating staff. Gradually, the applause and cheers died away and the room was silent enough for the Commander to turn on the static microphone again in order to contact his Chief of security once more. "Chief Zettar? Come in, Chief Zettar?"

The Officer who had entered and exited the ship the first time raised their gloved hand up at the camera as a voice broke through the interfering static again. "All criminals captured and taken down Commander." The voice explained, still not losing the harsh gritty sound which was making both Gantu's and Reuben's ears hurt.

"How many dead?" The Commander asked.

"None sir," the voice broke through once again, this time another voice in the background could be heard. Though the words could not be made out since the audio quality was dreadful. It just sounded like a slight mumble with a static and whiney gritty sound to it. It reminded Gantu of some of the music referred to as 'dubstep' the Humans listened to back when he spent his time on Earth. "We have one conscious and the others are all unconscious. I have ordered a team to pick up the ones at the weapons plant and I will have a medic check this guy over to see if he is fit for interrogation. We will handle the stolen contraband and bring it back to the specialists for them to analyse."

"Good work Zettar." The Commander grinned as the Officer stuck the finger which resembled a Shaelekean thumb at the camera once again "you and your crew have worked hard today. Report to me as soon as you get back to base."

"Yes sir," the Chief said "over and out."

The static line went dead once again, much to the relief of everyone with decent hearing in the room. The Commander was now leaning over the desk of one of the operating staff with a sense of relief and respite about him. He remained in this state for several moments before standing upright in order to give the awkward operator, who had been pushed aside, his desk back. He placed the microphone down on the desk before his hands clasped together and he turned back to the Captain, who had remained silent the entire time with his arms crossed in some sort of tension.

"Well Captain," he smiled, placing his hand on his shoulder "your partner is safe for your charge. This was Zettar's last mission today. And providing the medical examiner says the conscious prisoner is well enough for interrogation, you may have a chance to witness that."

Gantu was intrigued. He had never witnessed an interrogation during his brief time with the Shaelekean police force years ago. Sure, he had watched hundreds of them whilst working for the Galactic Alliance. They were pretty much the same. Questions, denial, hugging, crying, oh and on the rare occasions, throwing chairs. Kind of like the Earth talk shows he found his time to watch while living there. But he knew he'd be in for a show watching an interrogation here. The way this police force dealt with their captured convicts was less than to be desired. He still remembered witnessing an Officer of higher rank break a prisoner's shoulder after they tried to escape upon returning to the police station. And this was years ago. According to the Grand Councilwoman, the Shaelek police force now had even tougher rules in place on the handling of their convicted criminals. Of course the Galactic Council tried their best to intervene, but they had their own force in place. They could not order about single planets just because they had different rules to their own separate force.

"And then will we finally get to meet this Chief?" Reuben questioned rather impatiently. Gantu could tell he was getting bored. He was also probably cranky. He hadn't eaten a single sandwich since their arrival.

"Yes, Galley Officer Reuben," the Commander spoke, surprising the little experiment by addressing him by his name and title. "The Chief will be aware of your arrival as soon as their craft returns to the space port. I'm thinking that the interrogation won't start straight away, so you two may have to wait a couple of hours before you can see it."

"A couple of hours?!" Reuben moaned in protest as he pointed down to his stomach, "my stomach can't take it anymore! I've been deprived of my sandwiches for hours now!"

The Commander simply nodded and smiled as his eyes adjusted from the tiny Galley Officer, to the Captain. He reached inside his jacket and pulled out some yellow pieces of paper before proceeding to give them to the confused Gantu. "Here," the Commander placed them in his hand "you and your crew all must be tired and hungry upon your arrival here. While we get things sorted here, you and your crew go and treat yourselves to the food in our canteen. These tokens will get you each a meal and a drink."

Reuben rudely snatched the tokens from Gantu's hand, faster than his cousin had snatched an experiment pod from him years before. Gantu grumbled as he and the Commander looked in surprise at the smaller specimen as he read the tokens with an eager interest. He looked up to the Commander with an unsure and sceptical gaze.

"Hey," Reuben began, his tone evidently sceptical "what's the cache here?"

"No cache, I assure you sir!" The Commander commented. "We give those tokens to visitors who are staying as our guests. And since you and your crew will not be leaving for a while yet, we are giving them to you so you can get yourselves something to eat and drink."

Gantu's eyes widened. Oh Blitznak! He had forgotten about his crew. He had ordered them to stay on the BRB 11,000 while he sorted things out with the Commander. He wasn't originally planning to stay this long at the Shaelek police force headquarters. But since that intention was now out of the window, he would now go and tell his crew that they were off duty until further notice.

"We thank you for these tokens sir," Gantu snatched the tokens back off of his little sandwich obsessed companion while exchanging a slight scowl battle with him. He then gazed back up at the Commander with a calm and grateful approach and shook his hand once again "our crew will be eager to have a bit of a break after our long journey."

"Go to the canteen and grab some lunch. Please stay in there until further notice. I will then send for an Officer to come and get you so you can finally meet your new partner and watch the interrogation." The Commander told him. Gantu stood to attention and nodded in response. "I take my leave of you Captain, for the present."

"Thank you sir," Gantu watched as he strode away proudly. He and Reuben were left alone once more. Reuben gazed up at Gantu with a smug grin. He was obviously proud of trying to embarrass Gantu in front of Commander Turak. Gantu snarled in response and picked him up with a hand before poking him in the stomach with another.

"Will you stop trying to make me look bad?" Gantu asked in annoyance. "I'm trying to make a good impression, and you just blow it!"

"Sorry G, I couldn't resist," Reuben smirked, his arms and shoulders shrugging causally "I like to see you put in awkward situations."

"I hate you sometimes," Gantu shook his head and dropped Reuben on the floor before proceeding to walk away. Reuben, like he usually did, regained his posture from being dropped at such a height before he proceeded to chase after his best friend. He did deserve that, he couldn't deny it. But it was worth it seeing Gantu wound up like this. It was different this time, he was merely teasing him. This was the way the two had stuck together for so long. Reuben got on Gantu's case, he ignored him for a while and then things went back to normal. It was an endless cycle. Proven to show anyone that their friendship was the real deal.

The canteen was packed. Obviously it was the wrong time to be eating lunch in there since pretty much all of the force were on some sort of lunch break. Gantu had struggled to get a seat. He had managed to squeeze his way through the queue and order what he wanted before finding an appropriate seat to sit in. Gantu was luckily one of the first in the queue, so he was able to order what he wanted. He hadn't eaten Shaelekean food in years. But he still remembered what he liked and disliked. His Orlakian fillet and Xus crispy fries looked very appealing from the way they were placed on his plate. He wasn't sure if the chef was actually taking care of how it was displayed in order to make it appealing, or, if he was just too hungry to notice the difference between a dollop of food or a nicely prepared meal. Gantu's chosen seat was nearby the window, overlooking the shuttle port. He watched the Officer's on duty signal ships in and out of the bay from behind the glass. Reuben was in the queue still. He had gone back twice for seconds and thirds. He was a greedy little thing. It was lucky that the Commander had given Gantu a lot of those food tokens, or else the poor genetic experiment would have suffered terribly.

Gantu sat in an awkward silence as he ate his food quietly. Nearby, other Officers were talking about their loved ones who they had left behind on Shaelekar. Some were talking about wedding plans while others were talking about their due babies. It made Gantu feel rather low, he kept being reminded of the life he could have had if he had not let his pride and career get in the way of his personal feelings. But hey, his career had meant everything to him. After a low point in his life, his luck had turned around, and for the past 5 years it had been successful, unlike some other poor workers. But when it came to discussions about family, he was rather left out, since his only family was really a tiny and greedy yellow genetic experiment who was the only one willing to stick by him. Don't get him wrong, Gantu pretty much loved Reuben like he was a family member. But deep inside he wanted more. If only he still had living relatives.

When Reuben finally returned back to the table for the third time in a row, he hobbled over, his stack of food pretty much towering over him. "Hey Gantu, give me a boost will ya?" He called from the floor. Gantu, who was staring off into space with a depressed and longing gaze, hardly heard the little experiment call his name. He just sighed and placed his elbow on the table and placed his chin on his hand. Reuben rolled his eyes and cleared his throat noisily. Still no response. "HEY TROUT FACE, I'M TALKING TO YOU!" Reuben bellowed rather too loudly. Gantu wasn't the only one who's attention was caught. Almost half of the Shaelekean Officers turned around and fixed their wide eyes on the small yellow alien. Reuben turned his head from side to side awkwardly as the room went very silent. Many insulted and menacing scowls headed his way. He knew he had stepped his foot in it now. "Um, I meant Gantu," he spoke, pointing up at his friend awkwardly. Gantu slapped his face on his hand and tried to avoid the stares of the other Officers. What had he told him about embarrassing him? He was really taking the piss now!

Gantu lifted Reuben up with his hand and placed him and his selection of food on the counter. He turned around and faced the window, still feeling many eyes drawn upon on him. Reuben shook his head and turned away from them distastefully as he took his hat off and placed it on the side of the table; preparing to eat his selected food. "Sheesh, tough crowd," he remarked watching as the Officers slowly went back to their own business, some muttering rather nasty things about the genetic experiment who had just insulted them unintentionally.

"YOU!" Gantu poked him in the stomach very angrily "You had better not try anything on when we meet Chief Zettar! I don't want you embarrassing me in front of him too!"

"Hey, hey," Reuben stepped back his paws raising up in defence, "take it easy there tubby. I'll keep my mouth shut for your new pal and sidekick, don't you worry. I just hope he isn't as much of a bum as you."

Gantu's hand clenched into a fist and he held it closely to his tiny companion "you'd better think yourself grateful that you're in a public place and that I cannot pummel you without losing my professional credibility. Don't think I wouldn't hesitate to blast you with a plasma ball if we were on our ship."

"Correction buddy," he swatted away his fist casually as he sat down on the table. He had been through this routine all too often to take his friend seriously anymore. He could always push his buttons like this and get away with it. "You wouldn't even waste your blaster on me."

"You wanna bet?" Gantu snarled, obviously up for a challenge.

"Uhhhhhh, yeah!" Reuben smirked "a ham sub sandwich with extra lettuce, if you don't mind."

Gantu shook his head and continued eating. He wasn't willing to bet shooting Reuben over a sandwich. He had made similar bets in the past and usually lost. He didn't need to owe him yet another sandwich. Reuben placed his food before him and examined it carefully. "Well, since the cook told me that they ran out of sandwiches, I had to make do with the next best thing. A wrap with some sort of yellow and green meat inside." He took a bite out of it. Gantu ignored him up until the point he had heard gagging. He looked down to see Reuben hurl up the food he had just consumed in some sort of disgust and horror. Gantu rolled his eyes and pushed his own food away. He certainly wasn't hungry now. "HOLY BLITZAK!" Reuben shouted through his gagging "WHAT THE HECK IS THAT STUFF?!"

Gantu picked up the un-eaten/hacked up piece of the wrap and examined it closely. He placed it towards his nose and took a sniff before he placed it back down on the table. "Urgul." He said simply.

"Urgul?!" Reuben coughed, picking out pieces inside his mouth "are ya sure it isn't meat from a toxic waste dump or something? I mean, what on Polluxar is it?"

Gantu smirked and patted Reuben's tiny shoulder with the tip of his bulky finger in order to get him to come closer to his face. Gantu then quietly told him what it was. And Reuben's face shrivelled up so much, he almost looked like he'd aged about 100 years. "It's meat from the anus of a Horuil fly. They're very large creatures who eat everything through their rear ends. It's an acquired taste. I personally have never tried the stuff. Don't plan on it either."

Reuben literally picked it up and threw it off of the counter like a naughty child. He had certainly lost his appetite now. Gantu's head followed the food which was now splattered all over the floor. "You'd better clean that up!" He told him like a scolding parent. Reuben shook his head in response.

"No way!" Reuben argued "you Shaeleks eat nasty stuff! They can keep it!"

Gantu would have called him a little trog and started yet another argument with the pesky experiment. That was if both of their attentions weren't turned to some nearby Officers who were talking rather loudly as they bustled past.

"Ooh, they sell Urgul here? I need to get some of that delicious stuff," one of them grinned as he looked at his friend's plate which had the exact same food Reuben had just coughed up. Only in better condition than compared to Reuben's food. Gantu wasn't prepared for what was about to happen next. Nor was he too thrilled, again, with the actions of his little Galley Officer.

"DON'T YOU GUYS KNOW ITS HORUIL FLY ANUS?!" Reuben bawled, both hands placed near his mouth to project his already loud voice further "YOU GUYS MAKE ME SICK!"

The three Officers, who had just obliviously walked past Gantu, now turned around with stunned expressions strapped onto their faces. They weren't staring at Reuben at all. In fact, their eyes were widely glued onto Gantu. He sat there awkwardly facing them as Reuben headed for cover behind his friend's large muscular body. Gantu was left to sit there rather dumbfounded as his friend used his body as a shield. He grinned very nervously and let out a apprehensive half chuckle, half groan as he lifted his hand up to wave at the three Officers. The three stood there rather aghast before turning their attentions to their food, then to each other, then finally back to Gantu.

"What a weird loser," one of them spoke, his face turning into a frown as he turned around and walked off, urging the other two to follow him "come on guys."

Gantu uncomfortably lowered his hand gently as his eyes looked from side to side to see both of the Shaeleks sat nearby shake their heads in disgust at him. He now stuck out like a sore thumb even more thanks to Reuben's antics. He seriously couldn't take him anywhere! He wondered if the little Earth girl had this much trouble with her experiment companion. But at least when Stitch cursed, he cursed in his native tongue which few, if any, could understand. Reuben however, could mouth off and everyone around would understand him. Gantu raised his hand up to the corner of his face and pretended he wasn't there. This was not happening. The little trog was just an illusion. He was not embarrassing him in front of his own species like this.

"Phew, that was close," Reuben wiped his forehead before placing his hat back on his head. Just then, Gantu slammed his fist on the table with one hand and grabbed Reuben with the other.

"THAT'S IT TROG!" He swiftly stood, almost taking the table with him. "Let's go!"

Reuben surprisingly could not get out of his grip. That was odd for someone who was able to lift three thousand times his own weight. Heck, he could pick up Gantu with ease. He had done it so many times. But Gantu's grasp was so tight that Reuben could hardly breathe, meaning he did not have the strength to push him away. He had obviously been pushed way too far. Gantu stormed through the canteen with Reuben clenched tightly in his fist as he headed towards the exit. Sadly, Gantu was not able to make it to the exit. His way was blocked when an Officer stepped forward and stood before him expectantly.

"Captain Gantu?" He questioned to him.

"Oh, what now?!" Gantu fumed clenching his fist tighter, much to the dismay of the poor experiment who was gasping for air. The Officer's face suddenly looked rather alarmed as Gantu stood before him in a very livid manner.

"Sir, forgive me," he began clearing his throat. The Officer was slightly smaller than Gantu, around the same age too, and had next to no muscles on his arms. This made him feel rather weak and defenceless when he was confronting the angry Captain. "I am Officer Orlax." He explained "the Commander has sent me to take you to the interrogation room."

Gantu's grip on Reuben suddenly loosened and his temper began to seize. This was the Officer Commander Turak had told him about earlier. The one who he was going to send to pick him up when the interrogation was ready for action. It was slightly early for it. But Gantu was glad about that. He now had a proper reason for leaving the staff canteen.

"Proceed, Officer Orlax," Gantu instructed as the Officer gestured him to follow him out of the lunch room. Reuben was now roughly shoved onto Gantu's shoulder. Gantu poked him before he could regain his balance and spoke to him quietly but harshly "now, you had better keep your tiny clap-trap shut, or else you'll be finding yourself in a small compact shuttle heading towards the X-11 Black Hole!"

Reuben, for the first time, didn't say anything. He merely gulped and nodded rapidly in response to Gantu. He knew his joking and teasing was over. It would be no fun if he continued now.

The walk to the interrogation bay was a rather awkward one. Reuben could not say a word without having his head chewed off by Gantu, Gantu was still rather mad, and the Officer didn't have anything to say to either of them, since he didn't know them. In order to break the tension arising around them down the empty corridor, Gantu decided to speak. His tone more relaxed than compared to before.

"So," he began as he caught up alongside the Officer "are you the interrogator?"

The Officer turned his head in Gantu's direction and shook his head slowly before his head turned to watch where he was going. "Me? No sir, that is Chief Zettar's job. I am merely the medical Officer."

Reuben couldn't help himself. His face froze for a split second in confusion after the Officer explained his role in the interrogation crew. He grabbed onto Gantu's tusk and spoke out. And surprisingly, Gantu didn't flip at him.

"Medical Officer?" Reuben questioned "why the heck does the interrogation bay need a medical Officer of all people?"

"It's standard procedure," the Officer responded "every interrogation cannot take place unless a document or projection hologram is signed for a medical Officer to be present."

Reuben scratched his face, still in perplexity about the whole thing. He turned to Gantu and mouthed the words "do you know anything about this?" very quietly. Gantu merely shrugged in response. The pair were not accustomed to half of this stuff. Reuben had attended many interrogations along with his buddy Gantu while on Turo. He usually loved seeing the prisoners break down and confess to everything in front of their overpriced and overpaid representatives. But never before had he experienced a medical Officer being required at one. What in the Whirlpool Galaxy did they need one for? An interrogation usually involved a good and bad cop sitting down and asking questions. But then again, Reuben was on 'Fish-breath's' home world. Everything was different here, compared to what happened on Turo anyway.

Just as this conversation had finished, the Officer stopped walking and stood outside a black door with a golden frame around the outside of it. Gantu stood aside as the Officer tried to get to the device at the side of the door. Officer Orlax typed in the code on the large keys, with the alien symbols for numbers on each of them, and a beeping sound echoed three times through the corridor before the door automatically opened. The Officer gestured Gantu to entre first, and he did.

Inside the room was a small narrow horizontal way, and at the front there was a table which stretched all of the way across. It had various stacks of paper and holograms scattered about it. All of which were documents which had either been filled out by the Chief or Commander, and also records on previous interrogations. Above this table was a very large window, and as Gantu looked in that general direction, he noticed there was someone sat down on a chair next to a desk on the other side of the glass. He was bound by his wrists and a sharp probe-like device was sticking out of his huge muscular neck. It was obvious this was the convict that was about to be interrogated by Gantu's new partner. The guy was a big buff Shaelek with gigantically unnatural muscles. They were almost twice the size of Gantu's. Yeah, they were that big. Gantu was always disgusted with aliens, in any species, who saw it necessary to take illegal steroids in order to gain oversized muscles. Gantu had worked years to get his up to their current standard, and yet jerks like this guy just took pills to get them? It made him sick. The Shaelek was oblivious to the entry of Gantu and the medical Officer. He was on the other side of the laser/bullet proof glass which was also sound and sight proof. At the end of the room there was another automatic door which led into the separate room where the criminal was being held.

Gantu then turned his attentions to the rest of the room he was currently standing in. There was no one else in here. Where was the Commander? And, more importantly, where was Chief Zettar? He was getting rather frustrated with this Chief. He had ventured all the way here from Turo just to meet this guy, and not once upon his arrival had he seen him, let alone spoke to him. He understood that being Chief of security of such a big police force was probably a huge responsibility, but he was starting to get impatient with the lack of attention he was being shown. After all, the Grand Councilwoman had made it his mission to pick up the Chief before proceeding to catch the bad guys. PLUS, he hadn't even been briefed about the whole affair involving this gang yet. The Commander owed him an explanation. A big one at that!

The medical Officer bustled into the room after Gantu and headed straight towards the desk. He proceeded to pick up a hologram which displayed various charts and readings as he accessed it. He then looked over to Gantu before he spoke "wait here please," he said, walking over towards the door which led into the separate room. This time he didn't have to press any key-codes into any devices. He just had to press a button for the door to automatically open on him. "I just have to do a physical and psychological reading on the convict before the Chief and Commander arrive. I won't be a moment."

Gantu nodded and crossed his arms glumly as he watched the Officer enter the other room with the restrained prisoner. He couldn't help feeling he was getting rather bored of this. Ever since his arrival he was going from pillar to post, being expected to wait, listen and watch. When was he going to get de-briefed and introduced to his new partner? On Turo this would have never happened. They didn't have the time to mess him around. The Grand Councilwoman would see Gantu, de-brief him and then wish him luck before he proceeded to make arrangements for his next launch. But, as he was being constantly reminded, he was not on Turo. He was on the third moon of his home planet. Things worked a lot differently here. He had grown too accustomed to the Galactic Alliance, so much so, that he had completely forgotten about the traits of his old home.

Gantu and Reuben were disrupted from their solemn silence when suddenly the door beeped three times, just as it had when they first entered. It was soon followed by the door opening again. Suddenly another figure burst into the room. 'At last!' Gantu thought to himself 'I can finally meet Chief Zettar!'

The figure who entered was not what Gantu had expected. It was a very young male Shaelek. Perhaps even a junior. He cautiously entered the room, carrying some paperwork of his own. He froze and stepped back in alarm when he first saw Gantu staring at him curiously. He certainly was jittery for an Officer in the police force. His arms shook violently, causing the paper to rattle about in his hands. His eyes were a surprising darkish blue and looked widened and alerted to everything around him. And his uniform looked slightly big on him. Was this really Chief Zettar? Was this shaky guy really Gantu's new partner?

"Oh, I am s-s-sorry for entering so abruptly sir," he stammered as he went to place the paper down on the desk. Gantu walked over to him and smiled softly.

"Not at all," Gantu placed out his hand and shook the shaky hand of the younger Shaelek "Chief Zettar, I presume?"

The younger Officer stepped back in alarm and his mouth and eyes widened in surprise. This certainly confused the already puzzled Captain of the Galactic Alliance. "S-sir, I am both honoured and privileged that you think I am the Chief. But I-I-I am j-just-"

"Corporal Verin I presume?" A voice interrupted. Gantu and the younger Shaelek both turned their heads to see Officer Orlax re-enter the room. The younger Officer nodded nervously and Gantu instantly let go of his hand, slightly regretting what had just happened.

"Y-y-yes sir!" The younger Shaelek stood to attention dramatically. Orlax merely brushed it off and spoke to him rather casually.

"Relax Corporal," he smiled, placing his hologram down on the table before grabbing his shoulder encouragingly. "You only have to stand to attention when the Commander and the Chief enter the room. I'm just another Officer, like you."

"Thank you sir," the Corporal relaxed, only a little "I'm just slightly nervous as all." Was this guy kidding? Slightly nervous? Gantu had seen headless Borjoones less petrified than him. And a Borjoone was a species often described as like a petrified chicken in a fox den.

"First interrogation, eh?" The slightly older Officer chuckled as the Rookie nodded. "Well good luck with this one," he turned to face the glass and gazed at the prisoner who was now resting casually against his seat. "He's gonna be a tough cookie to crack. Make sure your firm with him. His frame of mind is not as solid as most convicts."

The Corporal gulped and turned to face the glass. His nerves coming back on suddenly. Reuben nudged Gantu and shrugged his shoulders in a 'is he serious?' kind of way. Gantu returned his look and also shrugged his shoulder slightly. They weren't exactly sure what was going on here. Why was a mere Corporal in the room with them? Was he going to 'help' the Chief in getting this prisoner to confess? Well they'd need a guy a lot tougher than this one in order to get anything out of any criminal, let alone a guy twice his size is body and muscle mass. Gantu mentally face palmed himself. And to think he had mistaken this guy as the Chief of security? First off, he was way too young to rise through the ranks that quickly. That should have been a dead giveaway from the very start. And secondly, no Chief of security would be this nervous to do an interrogation. That was one of their major job roles. Arresting criminals, interrogating them and managing their capture and imprisonment was some of the the special tasks of the Chiefs of security on most planets. This even applied to the rules of the Galactic Alliance.

Suddenly another 3 beeps sounded off as yet another Officer entered through the door. 'At last!' Gantu thought. He was FINALLY going to meet his new partner.

"Commander!" Everyone but Gantu and Reuben stood to attention as none other but the older Commander himself entered the room. Gantu's face fell again. Where in the Creblock system was his new Chief of security? This was getting very irritating now.

"Hello Officer Orlax, Corporal Verin, Captain Gantu," the Commander then paused as he turned to Gantu and Reuben and pointed at Gantu's left shoulder with a 'I can't remember your name' look on his face. "And... Galley Officer Reuben! Of course." He then smiled up at Gantu and continued "I trust you had a nice lunch Captain?"

Gantu forced a fake smile as he gazed down, his eyes secretly glaring daggers, in the direction of Reuben. Gantu's eyes then shot back up to the unaware Commander and lied point blank to his face for the second time today. "Yes sir. It was very nice."

"Good, good," he beamed confidently, then turning swiftly to Orlax "thank you for bringing them here Officer Orlax. Captain Gantu is not aware of the layout of this facility. He's used to the police headquarters on Turo, which is a lot different than compared to here. I fear he would have gotten lost without you."

"It wasn't a problem sir," the Officer responded calmly "I was on my way down here myself to do my medical report on the convict before the Chief turned up."

"Speaking of whom," the Commander gazed about the room curiously "where is Zettar?"

"I don't know sir," the medical Officer said "But I am sure there is a valid reason for the Chief's lateness."

"I am sure there is," the Commander then turned to Gantu with a slight uneasy look about him "Chief Zettar is not usually late to interrogations, Captain Gantu. It's just, lately we've all been in uproar about this whole scandalous affair with these criminal gangs. But I'm sure the Grand Councilwoman has made you aware of that already."

"Yes sir," Gantu nodded "I do believe I-"

He was cut short by the Commander who continued to talk about their Chief with the highest of opinions. Gantu was getting pretty sick of hearing so much about this Chief of security without having the opportunity to meet him! He did have the right to. After all, he would be working with this Chief until all of these gangs were brought to justice. And that would take several months at the very least. "The Chief of security has had to work double time these past couple of weeks. We have been very lucky with Zettar's special police team. Without the information they were able to obtain from their captured and interrogated criminals, we would not be offering our help to you and the Grand Council of the Galactic Alliance."

"Yes, we have been deeply indebted to Chief Zettar's assistance." Officer Orlax joined in.

The Commander would have continued to boast about his Chief of security if it weren't for a certain beeping sound going off again. Gantu counted the three beeps like they were an often and occurring thing, since they were becoming all-too-familiar sounds to his ears. The automatic door opened once again and an unexpected figure entered the room, complete with documents being held in one hand and a cup of some sort, with a steamy liquid inside, in the other. Gantu and Reuben both felt their jaws drop as a really unexpected person made themselves known to them both. It was a female Shaelek. The first one they had seen all day. And when she entered the room, everyone, but Gantu and Reuben, smiled and stood to attention.

This couldn't be... could it?

Authors note: Dun, dun, DUN! It'll all be revealed in the next chapter folks! Again, if you have any questions about any references, please feel free to ask in a review or a private message. And as for chapter 5, I can promise you it will be rather... explosive. It will be a lot better than this one. Stay tuned and I will update soon. Thanks for reading!