At first glance, the old ruins that Milari spoke of look almost identical to the facility on Jupiter. At least, once they'd activated the Jupiter facility's electricity. The walls are the same, nearly flawless plastic and brightly white. Tori felt this way on Jupiter as well, but she has to note just how eerie the place is. So empty, and sterile.

They've yet to run into any security, no robots or booby traps; this only serves to put the group even further on edge. According to Milari, there's no way that the old ones don't know they're here.

Even so, the group advances as quietly as possible, relying entirely on hand gestures to communicate. Minhyuk takes the lead, and those behind him keep their eyes peeled to their surroundings. The technopath is too absorbed in the map on his omni-display, too busy navigating to truly pay attention to his surroundings. Through several door he leads them, down a hallway so large and grandiose that Tori is not the only one wondering about the people who must have inhabited these walls.

It is before a door that stands out above the rest that Minhyuk finally stops, and gestures for the group to huddle around him. The other doors have all been the same shade of white as the walls, with little aside from a slit in the wall's surface to indicate that there is even a door at all. But this one has a giant, glowing glyph on the front of it, in a curious shade of optic powder blue.

"Behind this door there is a horde of enemies, " Minhyuk speaks quietly, the others have to lean in and strain to hear him. "And the energy readings are off the chart. This is the room we're looking for."

"I wonder, " Changkyun whispers, "was there a glyph like this on the door back on Jupiter? It might be impossible to know now, since the power was off when we approached the door, but if there was then it stands to reason that future facilities might be easier to navigate."

"He's right, " Jooheon murmurs. "This is something worth noting."

Behind them, Tori backs up ever so slightly and indicates with her hand that the others should scoot to the sides. She fiddles with her visor for a second, and then looks about in order to find the proper angle. Then, she presses a tiny holographic button on her omni-cuff and whispers "take a picture."

The visor complies.

It lights up for a brief moment, and with a flash, it snaps a photo of the door. The surprised faces of her crew-mates and guide also show up in the photo. Despite everything that's going on, Tori can't help but smile a little.

"For future reference, " she explains, voice little more than a whisper.

Milari's crystalline fingers tremble a bit as she fingers the door's surface gingerly; a gesture that- to Minhyuk's excitement- displays emotion. More than ever he wants to pick her mind, find out what makes her so special. If he can figure out what makes her tick... Although, that excitement dies as she turns around. Upon her cheeks are glowing, actual tears. Minhyuk feels a little like an insensitive ass, perhaps for the first time in a long time.

He reaches out and cups her shoulder with a firm hand.

"Are you okay?" He asks quietly.

"I'm fine, " she sniffs, "just give me a moment."

Minhyuk nods, and the rest of the group follows silent suit.

Milari wipes at her cheeks furiously. She promised herself that she wouldn't cry, no matter how sad it is. Unlike so many of her kind, she doesn't blindly hate the old ones. In her synthetic heart, what Milari wishes for more than anything else, is peace. She longs for the old ones and her people to reunite, even though she knows it will likely never happen. The war between her people, and the old ones, is one that has been active and heated from the moment her kind awakened. Even during their escape from this place, her kind had needed to fight for their lives. And now, she's here to kill them.

Though she might disagree with the Elder's decision, she is helpless but to do as she was told.

"I have a request, " Milari speaks solemnly, fingers still splayed against the door.

"What is it?" Minhyuk questions.

"In exchange for getting you out of here safely, I want to go with you. When you leave this planet, I mean."

Her voice trembles a bit as she speaks, after all, none of her kind has ever left. For ages, they've remained shut off from everything but this war. She's tired of it, soul-weary and ready to give up on her own people. It really is sad, she thinks. And the tears fall once more.

Jooheon and Changkyun exchange hesitant glances.

"To be honest, " Changkyun begins, "we can't-"

"Done, " Minhyun interrupts.

Changkyun scowls and pulls Minhyuk to the side.

"What are you doing? That decision is one that only Shownu, as the captain, can make." He argues. "I don't want to say no either, but what will you do if Shownu says no?"

"And what makes you think Shownu will say no?" Minhyuk retorts defensively. "After all, he took Tori aboard did he not?"

"Yes, but Tori is useful, " Changkyun persists. "We know nothing about Milari. And I can't read her mind either. How can we guarantee that it's even safe to bring her aboard?"

"I'll vouch for her, " Tori steps into the conversation, much to Changkyun's chagrin. "It doesn't seem right to turn her down after everything she's doing for us. Besides, I'd be willing to bet she'll end up being way more useful than I am."

"Tori..." Changkyun murmurs. "Please don't sell yourself short like that."

Tori blushes nervously and tries to hide her face.

Even so, she doesn't back down. Instead she persistently insists, "I really don't think Shownu will turn her down. No matter how you look at it, she's an asset. If she can be counted as an ally I'm sure that it will benefit us. Besides..." Tori glances empathetically in Milari's direction. She knows that look. Tori is more than certain she'd had the very same look in her eyes when she and Changkyun had met. "Look at her. You once extended a hand to me, and now I want to extend my hand to her. Can I not do that?"

Changkyun sighs, and rubs the bridge of his nose with tired fingers. She's not wrong, he thinks. The parallel between the two of them is uncannily similar. Those eyes. Yes. She'd had the very same kind of sadness there, and the telepath can't help but relent.

"Alright," he concedes.

With a smile and a quick, excited nod, Tori returns to the door. The group crowds around her and a sense of determination begins to swell within her breast. She fiddles, for a moment, with her omni-cuff's display.

"Minhyuk, " she addresses the technopath with a calm and calculating demeanor, "do you think a distraction might be possible?"

Minhyuk looks thoughtful for a moment, and then rummages through his pockets. Half a minute later, he pulls out a cluster of tiny, round, bead-like objects. They are smooth and made of shiny, chrome-like material.

"I think these will do the trick, " he boasts, "especially if Jooheon can give me a hand."

"Hell yeah I can, " Jooheon grins. "Making a scene is my specialty!"

"If I might ask, " Changkyun speaks up, "what should I do? I assume that Tori will pick them off since the Jooheon is playing the bait. Also, what about our... guest?"

"I will aid in creating a distraction."

The crystalline woman delivers that statement with such confidence, such surety, that no one bothers to question her choice.

"As for you, " Minhyuk tells the telepath, "you should stay near Tori, keep an eye on her back."

Changkyun grunts, an affirmative kind of sound that causes Tori to smile just a little. He doesn't say anything, though Jooheon can see the borderline panic in Changkyun's posture. The telepathy feels as though his breath has been stolen away; it hitches in his throat uncomfortably. Tori looks determined, however, so he pushes aside his fears.

◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈

"I still haven't been able to get a hold of the exploration team, " Kihyun's voice carries loudly throughout the CNC.

Shownu, Wonho, and Hyungwon have gathered around the CNC's table; the holo display shining bright. Kihyun's image flickers before them, static clinging to the edges of his incorporeal form.

"Come and get Wonho, " Shownu commands, face grim.

They really should have counted on the fact that there would be interference, just like last time. Shownu curses vehemently in his mother tongue, the words causing Wonho to wince. Honestly, the only other person he knows who can curse like that is Jooheon.

"When you return to the planet, the two of you will find and rescue the exploration group."

"Will you not be joining us?" Kihyun's voice carries the same static as his form as he speaks.

"No, " Shownu reveals. "I need to stay behind to pilot the ship. If we need to make a quick getaway, I need to already be behind the wheel."

Though a layer of uncertainty crosses Kihyun's face, he simply nods.

"Very well, " he accepts, "I will depart immediately."

The holo-display goes dark.

◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈

When the door slides open, all hell breaks loose. Minhyuk doesn't give the robots within the room the chance to react; immediately upon entering the room he tosses the beads and watches with a satisfactory grin as they do exactly what he built them to. Each one spins and smokes; they spread out within the room. And when they stop moving, they each release an arc of electricity. Though it does not seem to be enough to stop the robots that it passes through, it definitely seems to aggravate them. They shake about in a disjointed kind of way, if only for a moment.

But that moment is all they need.

The group files into the room, and takes refuge behind a set of pillars located conveniently close to the entrance. Behind one pillar, Minhyuk and Milari hide. Behind the next rests Changkyun and Tori. Jooheon finds himself all alone in his hiding spot; the third pillar.

The robots don't seem to have realized that there are intruders. Tori isn't sure whether it's because they are still distracted by Minhyuk's gadgets, or if it's because of the electricity they've been struck with. Either way, it makes little difference. Like this, her job is easy.

With a tap of her fingers, Tori sets her visor. With it, she can see the robots, even through the pillar and the smoke blocking her view. There are at least three standing near the entrance, and two more at the far end of the room next to something that looks an awful lot like an interface console. All total, that makes five within the room.

Somehow, this seems far too easy.

Quickly dismissing the thought, Tori steels herself for the task at hand. One, two, and then three of the robots drop, sizzling with electricity as they short circuit. By the time she sets her sight on the fourth, the remaining two robots are finally in motion.

Tori ducks back behind the pillar, eyes wide.

"I think they've finally noticed us, " she tells Changkyun.

Anxiety begins to churn in earnest within the telepath's gut as the smoke begins to clear.

◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈

"There's still no word from the exploration team," Kihyun frets.

Beside him, Wonho grimaces. The entire flight back Kihyun has been attempting to raise a communication link between themselves and the exploration team; all to no avail. Whatever it is that is jamming their signals is effective, to say the least.

"It's too soon to worry just yet," Wonho says, but his face betrays him.

Clearly, he is every bit as worried as Kihyun.

By the time the two arrive planetside, Kihyun has worked himself into a nearly genuine panic. It's tricky, it turns out, trying to find the missing team. There are no traces to be found, and communications continue to fail. But, after a deep breath, Kihyun regains at least a semblance of calm and resolves to begin again, this time starting with the spot he'd last seen them.

"You have to fly a little slower, " Wonho speaks, "I can't scan the ground effectively if you fly so fast."

"I'm barely accelerating," Kihyun retorts, "if we go any slower we might make ourselves a target."

He quickly eyes the monitor before him, checking his speed nonetheless.

"You think there are life forms on this planet?"

"I think it's not a coincidence that the team has vanished," Kihyun replies. "After all, weren't there robots on Jupiter?"

Wonho pales at the implications of Kihyun's statement, and nods.

◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈

"We must shut the facility down!" Milari cries. "Elsewise, the old ones will never stop!"

She hadn't known it beforehand, or she certainly would have warned the fleshy female against firing. Apparently, her people are not the only ones to have evolved. No matter how many the group takes down, more simply pop out of the walls. Seemingly, the old ones have figured out how to manufacture the robot soldiers left behind by the creator race. This does not bode well.

It's an utter disaster; all around lay metallic corpses, and though the group has thus far kept the death-dealing robots at bay, a couple of their own are injured as well. Minhyuk is sporting a rather pronounced limp; he'd taken a shot to the left leg, and this is how they'd discovered that some of the robots were equipped with ranged weapons rather than blades. Jooheon is struggling against fatigue; he has been pushing past his own limits in regard to his gift, though the flames don't seem to affect the robots in any real manner. The gash on his forehead-a result of being slashed at before Tori could put the old one down with a well-placed shot- is bleeding profusely.

Minhyuk assures Milari that the pyrokinetic's wound looks worse than it really is. Head wounds, he tells her, bleed easily but are rarely as lethal as they look. The synthetic in her thinks that such a flaw in design is strange, but she trusts the words of the fleshy man huddled beside her.

"If we turn off the power, we won't be able to get what we came here for!" Changkyun shouts.

Every now and then, the telepath peeks around the pillar that he and Tori have chosen to take cover behind, and fires a telekinetic blast that does little more than push the old ones and their bladed arms just out of the way.

"Whatever happened to the plan?" Changkyun shouts into Jooheon's direction. "Wasn't there supposed to be a distraction?"

"To be fair," Jooheon shouts back, "We did try!"

"Forget it!" Minhyuk yells, "Just keep them busy! I really need to get to the console! If turning off the power is the only way to stop more of these things from spawning, I have to get the data first!"

Wordlessly, Jooheon nods.

He hadn't been lying; creating a scene and grabbing attention really is a specialty of his. Milari too, seems to have a sudden surge of determination as she remembers her earlier declaration.

"How long do you need?" She asks the technopath.

"Thirty minutes, tops!" He replies with a devilish grin.

"Then thirty minutes is what you will get," Milari grimly states.

With a mighty cry, Milari leaps out from behind the column she's been sharing with Minhyuk, electricity arcing from her fingers as she rushes the death-dealing robots. The technopath cries out in alarm as several sets of bladed arms slash at her, only to watch in disbelief as they glance right off of her crystalline body. Clearly, these robots are programmed only, incapable of higher thought, as they continue to slash away, completely ignorant of the lack of damage that they are doing. Again and again, they strike, all to no effect.

"Go!" Milari cries. "Get to the console!"

With an alarmed curse in his mother tongue, Minhyuk too dashes out from behind the pillar. A couple of the old ones notice him and Jooheon, who is watching from behind his own pillar, notices the shift in their stance. They intend to go after the technopath.

"I don't think so!" The pyrokinetic shouts.

And then he too joins the fray.

From his fingertips spews a stream of flames, and there is a maniacal grin upon his face as he sets himself directly within the old ones' path. He stands between them, and Minhyuk. Together with Milari, he manages to hold their attention. All while Tori fires upon them from behind.

Occasionally, one of them strays, irritated by Tori's bullets. Changkyun, however, in a sudden surge of determination, throws them back one by one with his telekinisis.

◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈

Minhyuk remains cool and levelheaded. To the console he gives all his attention; there is none to spare for anything else. It is this single-minded determination that will allow him to attend to the matter at hand. He knows this. Years of experience have taught him this much.

The letters that file across the monitor are every bit as alien as the lettering upon the map; much the same as the results from the facility on Jupiter. There is a small seed of tentative hope within Minhyuk's chest; this is good. Very good. The probability of there being something worthwhile within this data is very promising indeed.

His companions, too, seem to be holding their own. Though surrounded and thoroughly exhausted, no one has fallen as of yet. In fact, as far as Minhyik's quick scan of the room can tell, there has yet to even be any grievous injuries. The technopath tries to ignore the lurching uneasiness currently building in his gut; will they really be so lucky as to walk away from this without a scratch?

The answer to his pondering, delivered in the form of a sickening and audible crunch, is a resounding no. Minhyuk peels his eyes from the monitor just in time to witness Milari being smashed to the floor as if were little more than an ant by a robot so monstrously huge that Minhyuk's first instinct is to flee. Forgotten is that tiny sliver of hope, and for a moment, Minhyuk is certain that he is staring death in the face.

It's like nothing he has ever seen before.

Large and imposing, this particular robot seems fundamentally different from the others. It isn't shaped like a man, or like any animal Minhyuk has ever seen. Rather, it's ambiguous shape is all harsh lines and haphazard symmetry. The bulk of it leans close to the floor; no matter how ferociously Jooheon strikes at the beast, it's balance never wavers in the slightest. Changkyun's telekinetics don't seem to faze the beast either; most likely this is due to the sheer weight of the thing.

Minhyuk watches helplessly as Milari fails about, sparking and leaking a rather mysterious and eerily glowing substance all over the bright white floor. He is torn between rushing to help his companions and finishing the task given him. The task that only he can do. Beneath his breath, he utters a nasty sounding expletive. Why is it taking so much longer to extract the information from this console? At only ninety-percent, the data transfer doesn't seem to be moving at anything higher than a snail's pace. And this is despite the rapidly shifting numbers displayed upon the screen.

Minhyuk's gaze shifts from Milari, to the console, and then back to Milari again. To his astonishment, she is actually getting up! It seems to take the synthetic woman quite some effort to scrape herself together and peel herself from the floor. Bits and pieces of her body fall to the ground as she moves, but still, Milari persists. Ignoring the fact that she is still seeping liquid upon both herself and the floor, Milari throws herself at the creature with a battered cry of frustration.

This particular robot, however, seems to be much more intelligent than the previous ones. It easily side-steps her frantic attempt to rush it, even while also dodging Jooheon's volatile flames. Apparently, despite the thing's size and shape, it is surprisingly-and disturbingly- nimble. It continues to evade any attacks made at it; unfortunately, neither Jooheon nor Milari are so lucky.

Changkyun screams as the beast spins, slashing at Jooheon with wickedly sharp blades. It is a direct hit, and Jooheon's blood splatters to the ground in a half-ring about the robot as it continues to spin. The telepath can tell that his pyrokinetic friend is dazed by the look upon his face, and the way that he stumbles backward; if something isn't done soon, Changkyun is convinced that they will all die.

His gaze falters as he spots movement from the corners of his eyes; Tori, it seems, is unwilling to sit and watch her crew-mates be obliterated. Changkyun's breath locks in his throat and his stomach churns so viciously that he has to push against the urge to vomit as he grasps her wrist tightly.

"Don't do it," he pleads breathlessly.

Tori only smiles, then pulls his fingers to her mouth in order to place upon them a chaste kiss. Honestly, she has no intention of dying. But she also can't sit here and watch Jooheon die either, and it's clear that he no longer has the situation in hand.

Changkyun's fingers fall away; there is a look of determination upon her face. He won't stop her, no matter what he says.

"When I grab its attention, I need you to pull Jooheon and Milari out." Tori urges him calmly. "Don't worry about me, okay? I won't let it hit me. It won't even see me, I promise."

There is a question upon his lips; how does she intend to rush in and distract the beast without being seen? But Tori is already moving, and so his question dies before ever even rising past his tongue. He watches as his Da'vitan shuffles between the pillars near them, heart thudding within his chest each time she grows closer to the enemy. Jooheon is still alive, for now, and the enormous monstrosity still has not taken heed of Tori's movement at all.

The telepath nearly has a heart attack when one of the beast's swings topples the pillar that Tori had only just been behind. If she'd moved even a fraction of a second later, she would probably be dead. As it is, the pillar falls towards the middle of the room where Jooheon and the robot are still locked in battle. This works greatly to Tori's advantage. With more grace than she would ever have attributed to herself, Tori shifts closer to the fallen pillar. Jooheon is the first to notice her movement, aside from Changkyun, and there is a sudden look of determination that crosses over his features. He will not allow the beast the time to notice her, he resolves. So, although exhausted, he digs deep and begins to spray flames from his fingertips once more.

The metal beast doesn't even flinch, nor does it recoil away from the flames. It is as if they mean nothing to the creature, and as it swings one gigantic metal limb forward it becomes clear that to Jooheon that he is only needlessly tiring himself out.

The pyrokinetic manages to dodge, though the action breaks his concentration and causes the flames from his fingertips to run dry. His body aches; Jooheon can tell that he has slowed down immensely. Before too long, he won't be capable of dodging anymore. It is only a matter of time before one of the creature's attacks land, and when that happens, he is more than certain that he will die.

There have been so many times that he was sure death was staring him in the face. Jooheon has been through battlefield after battlefield, has always believed that one fight was honestly the same as any other. And just like every other time, Jooheon is filled with the fierce longing to live. He doesn't want to die. A ball of panic begins to rise from the depths of his stomach, rising until it meets the frantic beat of his heart in such a way that makes him feel as if he might actually vomit. Again and again, Jooheon lurches to his feet, only to find himself planted firmly upon the floor once more with every evasion.

He can't keep this up for much longer.

The next strike misses Jooheon's flesh by only a fraction. Cursing vehemently, the pyrokinetic's eyes grow large. The creature is gearing up for another strike, and this time, Jooheon won't be able to move out of the way. His feet refuse to move smoothly; Prime knows that he tries. But the creature is too fast and at the moment that Jooheon braces himself for impact, he is struck by a vision of past events that leave him chilled and utterly defeated.

Before his eyes, blood and carnage are everywhere. Corpses lay scattered about in quantity; there are more dead bodies than there are leaves on a tree. Not that any of the trees around this battle zone still have any of those. Horror erupts within as he sights a small child, a girl, with a bomb strapped to her quaking form. She looks utterly terrified; her cerulean eyes are wide, they plead silently for help.

But there is nothing that Jooheon can do. He flies into motion without thinking, rushing towards the girl with desperate determination. The look on her face when the bomb ticks down, and finally explodes, is one that will haunt Jooheon forever. And the scream that tears itself from his throat is choked out by the screams of the dying, and the cries of complete and utter resignation.

The look that crosses over Jooheon's face is one of acceptance. He's going to die. At this moment, he becomes hyper-aware; time seems to crawl rather than flowing at its normal rate. The pyrokinetic had always feared death; all he feels now is regret. Regret that he is dying before making amends with Changkyun, regret that he hadn't been able to save even one little girl, and regret that he is never to see Saia's beautiful face again. He wonders, suddenly; is she still mad at him?

This thought is his last; he accepts that. But then, out of nowhere, the metal beast spins about and halts. Disbelief pours into him; the robot appears to be scanning the immediate area. Jooheon watches, dumbfounded, as a shot ricochets off of the creature's metal body. The bullet, which seems to have come from behind the fallen pillar, zooms past his face and buries itself into the wall behind him.

Clearly, the beast is not as intelligent as it might seem. Nor does it seem to be capable of seeing through objects, otherwise, Jooheon is certain that his savior would already be dead. Even so, it is only a matter of time before the robot pieces together the location of his would-be rescuer; the thing has to be capable of determining the direction from which the bullet was shot. Trepidation fills his lungs as Jooheon spots Changkyun's worried face. The telepath peers around his pillar with clear unease; what, in the name of the Prime, does she think she is doing?

If anything happens to Tori, Changkyun will never forgive him.

Just as he is about to curse, the monstrosity before him turns it's attention elsewhere. The clank that it makes as it moves is thunderous, and Jooheon struggles to hear anything that might explain just what is going on. It doesn't take long, however, as shortly soon after the robot turns, Milari is flung against the far wall with enough force to shatter what little there is left of her. Jooheon hasn't known the woman long enough to consider her an acquaintance even, and yet the horror that he feels is real. There's no way she survived that, robot or no. And it's such a horrific and gruesome death.

Time seems to have lost all meaning for Jooheon and the others; even Minhyuk, who types furiously away at the monitor before him, seems unable to register the passing of time. The pyrokinetic glances nervously in the technopath's direction; what is taking him so long? Has there been a complication? He said thirty minutes tops, but it feels as if Jooheon has been fighting for his life for eternity. The sound of another gunshot echoes throughout the room, but the beast before him pays the tiny bullet no mind this time around. Unable to pierce the thing's plating, the bullet is apparently not even annoying enough to be given notice.

"Minhyuk!" Jooheon shouts nervously. "Things are getting dicey over here!"

"I know!" The technopath growls in response. "There's a firewall; I just need a few minutes longer!"

But a few minutes seems to be far more time than Jooheon has.

The beast lurches for him, and knocks him to the ground with a profane amount of ease. Winded, exhausted, and far too battered to rise, Jooheon stares up at the monstrosity with a defiant glare. It is poised and ready to strike. The pyrokinetic clenches his teeth and prepares for the final blow.

Suddenly, there is a sound akin to that of a large explosion and a large chunk of metal and wall are sent flying by Jooheon's head. Dizzy, he struggles to sit up and ultimately fails. What comes to pass next, Jooheon could not know; he promptly passes out upon the floor.

From his vantage point yet near the door, Changkyun witnesses everything. Eyes wide, he stares as the hunk of wall that went flying past lifts itself into the air under Wonho's command and proceeds to squash the giant metal abomination as one would a bug. Belatedly, he realizes that Wonho must have ripped the chunk from the wall with his telekinesis alone. Never has he imagined that he would be as happy to see the muscle-bound mechanic as he is right now.

Barely a heartbeat passes before Changkyun is rushing to Jooheon's side. He can sense through their bond that Tori is alright, but his childhood friends looks to be anything but. He probes at the pyrokinetic's mind, looking for some sign that he is still a part of the world of the living, and is relieved to find his mind still thoroughly active. Strong and sure; his brainwaves do not indicate that he is at risk of dying. Changkyun motions to Kihyun, who is quick to stow his pistol away with a slightly annoyed huff. Honestly; what is the point of storming in, gun drawn, when your companion ends the fight before you can so much as fire a bullet? Nevertheless, never let it be said that Kihyun is not quick to adapt.

"He's going to be fine," Changkyun sighs, relieved. "He'll just likely need some rest is all."

"Got it!" Minhyuk shouts. "I got the data!"

With trembling fingers, he presses a few buttons on his omni-cuffs display. His legs are shaky, desperation having taken its toll upon his nerves. So it is that rather than rushing to his companions, he stumbles. And though he dearly does not wish to see it, he cannot seem to look away from Milari's decimated remains.

"I've disabled the security," he announces, voice as shaky as his wobbling legs. "We should be safe."

Too late. He was too late again.

"Then we should go," Kihyun murmurs. "The shuttle is nearby. Wonho, do you think you can manage Jooheon?"

Wonho gives the first mate a wolfish grin.

"You do know to whom you are speaking, yes?"

Kihyun shakes his head, then turns his attention to Minhyuk.

The technopath has descended to his knees beside a crystalline looking corpse smeared with fluorescent blue. His fingers unsteadily sift through the pile of parts, and he is mumbling in their native tongue. For a moment, he seems distraught. But then, his digits clasp around a small, triangular device and he smiles.

◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈

A|N: Sorry guys that it's taking me so long to write these chapters. This one's been half finished for months; my original story, a series that for now I am referring to as "The Dragon's Star" has been taking up a lot of my time. It's gonna be awesome. I've always wanted to write fantasy! Squee. It's set in a fantasy world with dragons and elves and magic.... ahh, I promise when I finally finish it you guys will be the first to know. As for the text dividers: some of you might notice that they are different. I used to use my phone primarily to write, but due to covid, my husband hasn't been able to work and I've been unable to find a job. As such, I had to sell my phone for friggin pennies just to buy toilet paper. No joke. Which means that all my fancy text dividers are gone. Sad panda. But, I figured the story was more important to you guys than the presentation, and this one was always one of my favorites to work on; this and Quietus. So... here we are! I hope that you enjoy!