Time Warriors Chapter 18

All good designers always make sure that any office they build, any home they construct or any craft they manufacture has more than one entrance – in fact, multiple entrances and exits are a safety requirement. Who knows when an emergency will render an entrance/exit completely unusable?

Lurching through the myriad hallways and corridors of their spacecraft, Allyssa was thanking every god and Kami she could remember that Theo's TARDIS had such a back door in it, and that Theo remembered where it was. In the maze of corridors, hallways and rooms that was Theo's TARDIS, that effort, all by itself, was no mean feat.

"Thank Kami we made it here, Theo – I thought we were lost for sure. I didn't remember going through the greenhouse to get here …"

"That's why we put it over here," Theo mumbled as she staggered into the room, her hair straggling around her face. "So that we wouldn't forget it. Aunt Stranna always said that you needed something to jog your memory about aux control, and putting it next to the greenhouse reminded me of Silent Running … which is what I figured I'd end up doing if I ever needed to use it … and look at that, I was right …"

Theo and Allyssa stumbled into the auxiliary control room of Theo's TARDIS, a room that was an exact duplicate of the main control room, down to the smallest detail – except that instead of white, the predominant color was a mixture of smoky mauve and a subtle blue. All the same equipment was there, though – the octagonal control console that surrounded the central column was configured exactly the same, as was the translucent central column, the heart of the TARDIS' engine.

Allyssa closed the door behind her, carefully noting its location in the wall; once the door was sealed, it blended into the decor perfectly.

"Theo … Theo," she said, gently shaking the smaller woman, "are you all right?"

Swallowing, Theo nodded deliberately at her friend and moved over to the control console. Her eyes were wide and dark, with an inward-turned gaze that made her appear as if she wasn't paying attention to her surroundings at all. The psychic trailed her fingers across the control board, feeling her way across to the navigator's position, the long sleeves of her dirty blue workshirt trailing behind her wrist.

"Theo - is it any better?" Allyssa demanded.

Theo nodded absently, still dragging her fingers across the console. "It's been getting better and better the farther away from him we moved," she replied. Her face still had a sickly white pallor, but was nowhere near as wan as she had been in the main control room. Theo shuddered and sighed deeply, closed her eyes and rolled her head from shoulder to shoulder. "It's … ah, it's much more comfortable here," she breathed in relief. "The shielding is much better here than in the rest of the ship – there's an incredible difference." Theo knit her brow, thinking. "I remember that we put different shielding in the walls, but I don't remember why …"

"Well, fine – that's good," Allyssa said brusquely, moving toward Theo at the control panel, gesturing to the instrumentation. "Now what?"

"Oh. Well," she started, "this is where I can contact Aunt Stranna and operate the ship – but I need to reroute the power from the main bridge to the auxiliary bridge – ah, that's here."

"I got that part," Allyssa said dryly.

"Hmm …" Theo murmured, turning around and staring at the walls of the room meditatively. "Now … where did I put that thing … it should be right back here … ah HA!" Triumphantly, Theo grinned and pointed at the base of the wall, cackling, "I'm so smart, sometimes I amaze myself."

Allyssa rolled her eyes and muttered, "Would you please just get on with whatever it is you have to do?"

Theo knelt on the floor by one of the mauve circular panels on the wall, and struck the top of the panel with the heel of her hand. The panel bowed outward slightly, allowing her to scrabble her fingers behind the cover and pull. The screen popped off in her hand, exposing a storage space littered with tools and whatnot.

"My working tools," she explained as she plunged her arm into the artificial crevasse up to her shoulder. "It's where I keep everything I use to repair whatever's in the room. Every working room should have one of these … at least I think I put one in each room …"

"Wonderful, wonderful," Allyssa muttered, staring, leaning down toward her and tapping her foot impatiently. "Can you hurry this up a bit? I don't think we have much time."

"Eh … right," Theo said, nervously looking toward the door, chewing on her lower lip. Suddenly her face lit up with discovery. "Ah, great, here they are!" she exclaimed, pleased, pulling her arm out of the wall, "my sonic screwdriver and laser lance!" She smiled happily up at Allyssa's incredulous face. "Do you know, I've had these things since I was—"

"Theo!" Allyssa exclaimed in exasperation. "I don't care HOW long you've had that stuff – just use it to fix what we need to so we can get OUT of here!"

"Oh … right. Sorry," Theo said, abashed, as she quickly took the instruments and other sundry equipment and slid over to the bottom of the control panel. She examined the central column that split through the control panel and pursed her lips. Without another word, she dove under the console, curled one hand into a fist and carefully banged on the side of the column in three separate places. Allyssa bent down and saw another panel pop open, exposing a glare of lights and circuitry.

Theo grinned. "Okay, Allyssa," she said, her voice taking on a more authoratative tone as she swept a pair of goggles over her eyes, "you stand by that door. If you hear anything – and I mean ANYthing coming that way – bang on the top of the panel and run, don't walk, over to THAT door." She gestured at the opposite side of the room with her laser lance. "That's the outside door, and I'm unlocking it now." Theo flicked her wrist several times, waving the lance across several different boards, and an audible *click* sounded from the side of the ship.

"So … we run outside, and then …?" Allyssa asked, leaving her question hanging in the air.

Theo lay on her side, positioned herself in front of the open panel. "You're the tactician – you tell me if this sounds good. Here's what I thought – before we run out, we grab Elyse," she said, probing carefully into the panel and glancing sidelong at her friend, "because the only way they're going to find us is to use her."

Allyssa nodded, her face twisted into a wry grimace. "Very true. Otherwise, they'd get lost. Of course, there's no saying that they won't get lost with Elyse leading the way, but their odds are better that they'd find us."

Theo gave her a flat look through the goggles before continuing. "Anyway – I'm sure they're going to use her, and they'll push her through the door first, and – oh, damn this thing –" Theo grit her teeth and pushed forward, causing a cascade of sparks to shoot out of the panel at her. Muttering under her breath, she braced herself with her legs and pushed her upper body closer to the panel, the top of her head now completely encased in the column. Her muffled voice floated into the control room: "…we should bolt out the other door, slam and lock it, and leave them in here. By the time we get outside, my mother and Aunt Stranna should be here; they'll pick us up, and we can come back here later – in a few centuries – and reclaim this one. That should be long enough to insure they're all dead."

Allyssa looked at Theo's legs in their dirty pants, braced against the floor. "Well, that's all fine and good," she said loudly, hoping her voice would carry to Theo inside the column, "but you're assuming that we're going to have power here before they get here, which may not be the case. And even if that's true -" and she shook her head at her own idiocy, thinking I'm really much too soft for this kind of work anymore, " - I'm not leaving that other guy, Dron, or whatever his name is, to die with the rest of them. He's the one that found you with those Cronch in the first place, and I think he deserves a chance to live."

I'm not too crazy about leaving those other people to die, either she thought privately. They seemed decent enough, if a bit dense.

"Fine, fine, bring him along if you have to," Theo said crossly, scowling at the electronics in front of her. "I don't care. You can bring the whole damn family along with you, I don't really care. As long as he is left behind." She rolled from her side to her back, arching her neck to get a better look at the upper part of the panel, and firecely started poking inside the compartment again with her laser lance, her expression grim.

Allyssa leaned comfortably against the doorjamb, folded her arms and looked at Theo, noticing the perspiration that abruptly beaded her forehead again. She sighed – she didn't need to guess at its cause; she knew. "You really weren't kidding when you were describing him before, were you?" Allyssa said as she watched Theo work. "He's acting like he owns you."

Theo slid out from under the panel on her back, pushed her goggles up on her forehead and stared at Allyssa. "Why? Did you think I was exaggerating? Making it all up?" she asked bleakly. "Oh, gods, Ally, no. Not at all. I might as well have "Property of Vejiita Ouji" tattooed right here -" and she motioned to her head, " - for everyone to see. He never gives up. In fact – "

Without warning, her eyes started to move and swirl, dark colors whirling in their depths, and she started to breathe a little faster. Her right hand unconsciously clutched at the hollow of her throat as she continued, her voice husky and raw, speaking to Allyssa and herself, "in fact – I have to be – really careful now. Focus on fixing the machine. Working. I – I must stop talking." She dove back under the console, her voice floating out to Allyssa again. "One last thing. When I tell you to, push that amber button on the edge of the board. That starts the power transfer. If that doesn't happen, we won't be able to leave or contact – anyone."

"Fine. Just let me know when," Allyssa said, marking the button's location.

"Oh, you'll know. I'll just scream, 'push it now!' from under here," Theo's disembodied voice chuckled from under the panel, the strain evident in her tone.

Elyse stumbled a bit as she led the way through the door and into the rest of the TARDIS. She had only gone several meters in when Vejiita snapped, "Stop!"

They were standing in the main corridor of the TARDIS. It was one long, wide hallway, lined with doors of all shapes and sizes on either side, and lit by discreet glowlamps invisibly fastened to the walls. The walls seemed to be carved from living oak. Their texture was smooth, and the whorls and patterns of its grain played down the corridor, the slightly darker color of the patterns blending with the rich honey color of the wood itself. Pieces of artwork were displayed in several large clusters, giving the hallway the appearance of being a very long corridor in someone's ancestral home.

Obediently, Elyse stopped and looked behind her. The prince was directly in back of her, closely followed by his son and the other four men. They all had the same odd unrecognizable expression on their face – even Vejiita Ouji, she mused – what does it mean?

"What – is – this – place?" the prince asked, biting the words off as though they burned his tongue.

"Well – uh – what do you mean?" Elyse asked, genuinely confused. "It's – it's our TARDIS, that's what it is." She spun around, peering down the hallway – is there a fire down there or something? she wondered. Why are they acting so weird?

"Wow!" Gokuu said, his jaw dropping in astonishment. "Look – at – that!"

"I see it, but .. I don't believe it," Piccolo murmured, a part of his stoic control dropped for a moment.

"What? What?" Elyse gasped, frantic, turning in place. "Is there a fire? Do you smell smoke? Where is it? What's wrong? Tell me, tell me – I can't see anything!"

Trunks pushed his way past his father and stood next to Elyse, a comforting presence next to her. "No, no, don't worry, everything's all right," he said soothingly, giving her a reassuring smile. "I think what they mean to say is that they've never seen a vessel this … eh … complicated … before. Isn't that right, Gokuu?" he asked, raising his voice to be heard over the general hubbub.

"Where does it stop?" Gokuu said in awe, gawking at the length and enormity of the hallway. Gohan and Dron simply stood next to Gokuu and stared, slack-jawed.

"Uh … well …," Elyse started, frowning at the troop of Earth senshi as though they had temporarily lost their minds, "I thought you understood. This is a TARDIS – a "Time and Relative Dimensions in Space" machine. We … ah … exist in many different dimensions at the same time." Elyse smiled timidly at Trunks and gestured with her hand. "We have a lot of room here."

Trunks nodded emphatically, craning his neck to look around. "Oh, yes, I can see that. All those doors must lead somewhere. And this ..?" he asked, gesturing to the artwork on the walls.

"Oh … well, that's just stuff we've picked up on our travels," Elyse replied, happy to be chatting with the other teen as she started walking down the corridor again. "We go all over, you know. Every civilization is different – we're not allowed to interfere, mind you, but we can buy their—"

"Enough!" barked Vejiita. Elyse started badly, gasping, and whirled to stare at the prince, not understanding his anger.

"We don't care where you found this tasteless rubbish," he snarled, appearing to loom over her in the half light of the corridor. "Stop wasting our time, and take us to that other control room now."

"But … but ouji-sama, you told me to—"

Vejiita glared at her. "Don't make me repeat myself, girl. And don't think you can take us just anywhere on this ship." I'm right here and I'm watching you, he added silently, his tone calm and threatening.

Elyse's face turned a shade paler. "Hai, ouji-sama. This way, please." She turned and walked briskly down the corridor, hardly looking to the left or the right, her expression set. A quick glance to her right, though, found Trunks walking just as briskly next to her; when he saw her careful glance, he gave her a slow wink and grinned in reply.

A hard, cold knot that had tightened in her stomach eased just a bit. Maybe things weren't going to be so bad after all.

Argus VI was a desert planet. True enough, it had many different spots that were tropical in nature, but the bulk of the planet was dry and dusty.

Theo was standing outside in the shadow of the TARDIS, feeling the heat that radiated from the rocks and scree around them. Allyssa was standing in the doorway, squinting into the sun.

"What's the usual temperature this time of year?" Allyssa murmured, closing her eyes as she allowed the sun's rays to soak into her skin.

"I dunno," Theo replied as she dropped to the ground. Leaning her back against the rock wall, she tilted her head sideways, closed her eyes and permitted her shoulders to slump in relaxation against the TARDIS. "But this feels wonderful. It's going to get hotter, though, as the day goes on."

Glancing sideways at Theo, the Gant could see that the other woman was plainly exhausted; her eyes appeared bruised and her cheekbones looked overly prominent, while her face was dirty and tear streaked. And it's no wonder she's worn out, she thought wryly. It was just last night that we stopped to drink and play in that bar … it seems like a million years ago …

"Theo," she said quietly. "I'll stand watch here until the power transfer's complete. You just rest for a few minutes."

"Okay," Theo sleepily replied. "I don't think I could move anyway."

"Captain." His first mate sounded odd, as if unwilling to believe what she saw. "Captain, you must look at these readings."

Their shuttle had just left the Alerian Sink loaded with supplies, and was flying toward their mother ship using a standard trajectory and passcodes supplied by the human Lieutenant Grant.

"What is it?" the commander frowned, the plates of his granite head and neck sliding together as he turned to look at his subordinate.

She stared at him, the lights on her helmet blinking in an increasingly intricate pattern, clearly showing her agitation. "I'm sorry, sir, but you must see this energy reading for yourself … and quickly, too, before we leave this sector …"

Sighing, the commander pushed himself out of his chair and leaned across to peer down at the navigator's post. "I see nothing amiss, Sh'mg," he rumbled, tracing the readout with one large digit. "Just—"

He suddenly stopped speaking, and instead stared at the instrumentation as if it had burst into flame in front of him. Sh'mg was staring at it with intense fascination as well.

The first cleared her throat. "Sir? Sir? I'm not mistaken, am I?"

"No – no, you're not mistaken in the least, Sh'mg," he rasped, not taking his gaze from the console. "Plot a course to those coordinates. Estimated time to arrival?"

The first checked the topographical grid. "Approximately seven minutes, sir."

Without raising his voice, the captain ordered, "Everyone secure for planetfall again. We have an unscheduled stop to retrieve some additional cargo. That stop will occur in exactly seven minutes."

Against the background of murmured acknowledgments of the captain's order, a deadly smile gleamed in the first's flinty eyes as she turned and banked the shuttle on its new course.

"All right, girl – how much longer? My patience is wearing thin …"

You have no patience, she thought, flicking a rapid look back at the scowling Saiyan. "It's just a bit more, ouji-sama," she said aloud, gesturing in front of her. "Past the observation lounge and on the other side of the greenhouse."

"Greenhouse? You have a greenhouse in here, too?" Gohan burst out, incredulous. "I – I can't believe this – it's amazing!"

He had followed Elyse and everyone else through the twists and turns of this vessel – her TARDIS – and could hardly credit what his eyes told him. They had trotted through a fully stocked medical lab, a sick bay, two galleys, what appeared to be a research lab, someone's messy bedroom ("my mother's," Elyse had sniffed), and now they were passing through an observation lounge with a window to the outside.

A window.

Dron and Piccolo had not uttered a word since they started their trek through the ship. Gokuu happily followed Elyse, Trunks and Piccolo through the vessel, calling out comments every now and then and remarking on the cleanliness and the smells of certain areas, completely oblivious to the physical incongruity of what he was seeing. He had wanted to stop in one of the galleys for a snack and had to forcibly be hauled away by Vejiita.

"Aw, but Vejiita, we haven't eaten in an awfully long time!" he whined as the smaller Saiyan dragged him away by his arm.

"And we WON'T be eating for a much LONGER time to come if you DON'T start moving with us!" the prince snapped back, fixing him with an unblinking stare.

Gokuu had subsided then, and meekly followed his prince. But everything just smelled so good there …

Now, however, they were in a part of the ship where Gokuu was quiet, and Gohan could not contain himself any longer. The palpable impossiblity of everything else they had seen paled in comparison to what was now in front of his eyes. "Where – how – I don't understand. Aren't we completely inside your ship?" Gohan sputtered as they trotted through the lounge.

"Sure," Elyse replied, turning her head. "Why?"

"Well – isn't that – a – a window? How'd a window to the outside get stuck in the middle of your spaceship?"

Elyse shrugged and said, "Well, it's really not as weird as it seems. If you just consider that—" when all of a sudden her eyes grew wide as saucers and whirled with color.

"Oh!" she gasped, "I nearly forgot! Follow me, everyone!" Elyse leaped and disappeared out the only other door in the room, causing everyone else to hustle behind her. She didn't wait for them on the other side, either – she sped down the hallway, calling, "We really must hurry – this way, this way!"

Trunks caught up to her quickly and jogged next to her, his sword jostling in its scabbard on his back. Gohan followed behind and caught the end of their conversation.

"Hey, what's the rush?" Trunks asked as he tried to keep pace.

Elyse was gliding quickly across the floor, nearing running, her hair pushed back behind her ears and bouncing on the back of her neck. Her eyes sought his, innocent blue and green whorls around elongated pupils. "Oh, well – I just remembered that we have to go through a couple more long hallways, and thought that —"

"Her idiot mother was sitting outside the window, baka," Vejiita broke in, his voice silky and smooth, "and she didn't want me to notice her. Isn't that right, girl?"

Trunks turned to look at his father in surprise, then turned to Elyse. "Really? You saw your mother outside the ship?"

The young redhead clenched her teeth at his implied insult. I'm nobody's girl, you rotten – "Yes, that's right, ouji-sama," she agreed, narrowing her eyes and refusing to look at the Saiyan prince behind her. "My mother was outside. You're much too smart for me."

"See that you don't forget that – girl," he retorted, his tone mocking. "And hurry it up. She looked like she was sleeping."

Elyse's hands balled into impotent fists as she trotted in front of the Saiyan prince.

Ah, it's time, Allyssa thought, staring at the machinery through the door. "Theo – Theo, get up," she called, pulling her head out of the TARDIS and leaning toward the resting woman. "Theo, we have full power now. The aux control center is now the main control center. It's time for you to get up and do something."

Theo's eyes snapped open and looked uncomprehendingly in front of her. "Where – where am I?" she muttered, her glance skittering over the landscape.

"On Argus VI. With me. And we're in trouble," Allyssa said, looking at her friend. "Big surprise."

Theo shifted her gaze to the Gant. A large, rueful grin split her face as she shook the last remnents of sleep from her mind. "Oh, NOW I remember," she grinned, pushing herself up from the sand and brushing stray bits off the knees and sides of her dusty pants. "So – we have full power?"

"Uh huh," the warrior woman nodded, frowning as she looked into the sky. "According to the machine in there. But – I just felt something. There's something that's not right here. It feels – corrupt. Evil. Something that goes against nature …"

Theo looked into the sky as well and shuddered. "You're right – there's something around here that isn't right at all – it's not meant to be here," she agreed. "But I can only do one thing at a time – so let's fix the TARDIS so that we can use it, and then we'll see what's going on out here."

"Fine by me – the sooner we get inside, the better," Allyssa murmured, holding the door open for the Guardian. She took one last look around before she stepped into the TARDIS and closed the door.

"Theo – Theo, someone's coming!"

The Guardian's head snapped up from the control board as her fingers sped across the keys, punching in several complex codes. "Get outside, Ally," she ordered shortly, jerking her head toward the door, "and don't look back. I'll grab Elyse and shoot outside as fast as I can."

"No, Theo," Allyssa refused, positioning herself in front of the door, "you run outside and I'll get Elyse. You're the one he wants anyway – that means that you should be the first through the door. Get moving, now."

"Damn it, Ally, I can't!" Theo hissed, her hands moving like a blur over the controls, "I'm still setting some of these parameters – it's going to take me another few seconds, and we don't have that time! Would you please get your butt out the door and—"

"No! I'm not going without you, and that's final!" Allyssa snapped, tensing and glaring at Theo. "We go together, or we don't go at all!"

"Fine!" Theo yelled back, smacking the keyboard one last time as she glowered at her friend. "Then—"

A crunching sound came from the opposite side of the door.

Theo and Allyssa looked into each other's eyes for a moment.

"NOW!" they bellowed as one, bounding toward the door.

Allyssa reached the door first, and yanked it open. The person on the other side stumbled and fell through; they saw a flash of red hair and whirling eyes in the crush of people spilling through the door.

"Mama!" Elyse cried piteously. "Mama, wait-"

Both Theo and Allyssa screamed, "Get up! Get up and get moving, NOW!" They looked at the back of the TARDIS while grabbing whatever wrists and arms they could, and gave a mighty yank, pulling their quarry to the back of the control room. Allyssa dropped everything, gave a mighty leap forward and hit the closed door with her shoulder.

"Theo – Theo, what're you doing? Wait!" Gokuu cried.

The door flew open with a huge bang, and Allyssa charged through it, screaming, "Get out here, Theo, move, move, move!" Moments later Theo leaped through the opening, hauling a dark clad figure through the doorway of the TARDIS into bright sunlight.

"Theo, NO!" Allyssa screamed, "Wait!"

In one fluid movement Theo spun around, slamming her foot into the open TARDIS door and kicking the door shut with a bang. There, she thought, winded but satisfied, that bastard can just STAY there. Forever.

Panting, she turned around as she complained, "Gods, Elyse, what've you been eating, you're as heavy as a –"

– and stopped dead as she came face to face with a smirking Vejiita.

"Are we going somewhere?" he asked, his eyes glittering.

If the situation hadn't been so dire, Theo would have laughed. Instead, the only thing she could do was gape helplessly at him and think, what else could POSSIBLY go wrong…

Something smashed into her shoulder, hard, and drove her to the ground. As she pushed herself up, shaking the sand away from her face and hair and spitting it from between her teeth, a large foot found her shoulder again and shoved her out of the way, hard enough to roll her toward the TARDIS.

Whose doors were now open, she saw as she rolled – and there were lots of legs and feet pouring out of the door –

"Don't you blame her for anything, and don't think you're going to do the same thing to her you did before!" an angry Allyssa shouted. "It was all my idea to get her the hell away from you, you psychotic monster! Don't you DARE try to attack her again, or so help me, I'll kill you myself with my bare hands!"

"Mama! Mama, are you all right?" Strong young hands reached down to pull Theo to her feet, brushing the sand from her workshirt when she was upright, anxious blue green eyes searching her mother's face for any signs of bruising. "I was so worried about you …"

"Are you all right, Theo?" Gokuu appeared behind her, putting one large, comforting hand on her shoulder. Another young man was next to Elyse, anxiously watching her – a young man with blue eyes and lavendar hair –

Oh, right, Theo thought, mortified. I remember – he's the one I almost killed.

"Eh … yes, I'm fine," Theo said, embarrassed at all the attention. "Where's Allyssa?"

"Oh. She's over there with that other little man, screaming at Vejiita." Gokuu nodded good-naturedly toward the desert, shrugging.

"What?" Theo gasped, alarmed. "She – she can't do that – he'll kill her!"

"Well, no, he won't," Gokuu said, looking down at the Guardian. "I won't let him hurt her – and he knows that. We're really sorry for what happened to you, too – we had no idea what was going on."

"And we still don't," Piccolo muttered darkly. "But we've been told how dangerous you are." Gohan was standing next to his mentor, watching Theo with an unreadable expression.

Theo turned to look at the tall green Namek and the Saiyan, a sudden stab of fear lancing through her. "Dangerous? I'm not dangerous - and there's certainly nothing going on —" she started defensively, then stopped in complete astonishment as her daughter shrieked, "What's that THING?"

Everyone turned to look at Elyse, then followed her gaze skyward. A large, battered shuttle hovered over them, engines thrumming with power. Geysers of steam fountained from relief valves positioned around the ship as it slowly make its way toward the ground, its spindly-looking landing gear supporting the weight of the ship as it descended.

Several long moments passed as the ship settled into the earth, pulverizing the vegetation and rocks that had the bad fortune to be underneath its clawed feet. A hissing, groaning sound announced the lowering of a large panel underneath the shuttle. Taut pneumatic guides helped to push the panel down to the ground; at that point, it became a long, shallow-sloped ramp that led directly to the bowels of the ship.

Allyssa had turned from shouting at Vejiita to confront this new threat. Something familiar and malevolent wafted from the spacecraft to her – a feeling so strong that she called, "Stay back, Theo – I have a bad feeling about this. Stay right where you are."

Vejiita shifted his gaze to the warrior woman, then back to the ship. "Are these your enemies?" he demanded. "Are they hers? Is that why they're here?"

Any answer to his questions was forestalled by the emergence of the shuttle's occupants. A collective gasp went around the senshi; Elyse and Theo were unceremoniously pushed to the back of the crowd, while the warriors faced the newcomers.

The two aliens that walked out of the ship were nothing like any aliens the Earth senshi had ever seen. They were bipedal and had a vaguely humanoid form, but the lead alien stood as tall as two regular men at his shoulder. His head was set on top of his body without the benefit of a neck; rocks and boulders created his torso, arms and legs; and green slime coated his joints. The other parts of his body were overlaid by an array of odd-looking equipment; his head, in particular, was covered by a large helmet covered with circuits and sensors. The second alien was a slightly smaller copy of the first, with different striations painted through the rock that appeared to be his body.

The giant strode forward and stopped several meters away from the senshi, appearing to examine them. The smaller alien stood half a meter behind the larger and made small, grinding sounds. The wind blew toward the warriors, carrying the sulfurous odors of the alien creatures to them.

Allyssa gagged but stayed where she was, slightly behind Vejiita and in front of everyone else. Vejiita looked across at her and frowned, then gave the aliens his complete attention.

"You are not natives of this planet," the giant finally rumbled, resonant tones coming from the equipment on his chest as he inclined his head toward the group.

"We are not," Vejiita agreed, stepping forward and folding his arms, a scowl driving his eyebrows together. "Nor are you."

"True – but it is no matter," the giant responded, lifting his head. He swiveled it deliberately from side to side, until it seemed he found what he was seeking. His head stopped moving and the display on the side of his helmet became fierce; intricate patterns raced across his sensors. "We have found what we need."

Theo's heart was beating a rapid tattoo in her chest as she clutched Elyse tightly in her arms.

"Mama … how could this be, how could this happen? Weren't they all – didn't you –"

Oh dear Kami, it can't be, it can't be …

He turned his massive head toward Vejiita. "We will take those females in the back of your group. And we will take their ship, wherever it is." The alien straightened to his full height and breadth, appearing to enlarge in front of their eyes. "You will move out of our way- now - or we will destroy you."