Chapter 225: What She Was Capable Of
Knowing that there could be Istar queens in the same room as of without our knowledge made our snack break really awkward. Midnight made sure that I ate while Da’kea and Au’dtair stood guard around the table, but there was a tense silence all around.
I had finally found a good part to the lights not working; I had no idea what I was eating. It stayed down, but it was definitely not the most pleasant-tasting thing that I had ever eaten. I was pretty sure that if I had actually seen what was on my plate, I would not have been able to stomach it.
Small blessings, I guess.
After I had eaten, the guys insisting that they didn’t need anything, we all made our way to the command bridge. There was no safe place on this ship, as far as any of us were concerned, but I figured that once we got closer to the sun, this place would be the brightest room on the ship.
I wondered what Ye’tab and Tha’juen were up to now. Hopefully, Ye’tab would be able to find the replacement bulb or whatever it was that he was looking for and get back here quickly.
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Tha’juen smiled as he sliced yet another bunny’s head off. The bright splash of red blood glowed brightly against the dark wall of the Saalistaja ship. The acid smoked and burned, a hole forming under each and every drop of blood.
He flicked his wrist to remove the blood on his wrist blades and glanced down at Pumpkin, who was looking up at him, glaring. "Be faster," grunted Tha’juen. The bunny stuck his tongue out at the male and hopped away, looking for their next target.
So far, the alien and bunny were neck and neck with the number of kills, but the bunny wanted to get just one more.
"How are you doing?" asked Tha’juen, looking at where Ye’tab was neck deep into the console in front of them.
"It’s acid," grunted Ye’tab, standing up straight before reaching for another tool. "It looks like the Istar purposefully destroyed the electrical and environmental components of this console. Luckily, there is a backup on the command bridge because there is nothing I can do here."
"Do you mean that the Istar are intelligent enough to know how and which systems to destroy in order to maintain the perfect environment for themselves?" asked Tha’juen, completely stunned by the idea that something that couldn’t form words or sentences would be that intelligent.
"Yes," grunted Ye’tab, pulling out the crystal components that they would need for the bridge. He placed them into a bag before tying the bag to his waist.
"Let me guess, you are going to add that to your notes?" joked Tha’juen as Ye’tab joined him at the hatch. They were still on the bottom level of the ship, the same level and room that the queen had declared as her own.
"I am," admitted Ye’tab with a shrug. He would not apologize for the fact that he much preferred information and facts over dealing with others. Well, Mei Xing was the exception to the rule... and he was learning to put up with the others.
"I find it... unusual... how little information we have on the Istar creatures, seeing as they were our major prey for so long," continued Ye’tab as he impaled a smaller bunny on his wrist blades. Retracting the blades, they let the body drop to the ground.
"It is even more unusual that Mei Xing’s species has so much more information on them than we do," grunted Tha’juen as he caught a bunny that had launched itself at him, its teeth chomping on nothing but air. Snapping its neck, he tossed it over his shoulder.
"I thought we got all the eggs. Where did these ones come from?" asked Ye’tab as Princess jumped out of the shadows and pounced onto yet another bunny. "Oh no!" yelled Ye’tab, pulling the bunny out of her mouth and breaking its neck. "There is absolutely no food after midnight."
Princess glared at him but hopped back into the shadows, pouting because her prey was taken away. He looked back at the numerous dead bunnies on the ground behind the two Saalistaja males but turned up her nose at them. She would not sink down to eating something that was already dead.
No. She prefers her food still living.
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The hatch to the command bridge slid open, and I turned around, trying to see who or what had entered the bridge.
"We found out that it is the Istar who destroyed the systems with acid," grunted Ye’tab. I watched as a dark, blurry shape strolled from the hatch entrance to one of the consoles and sat down. I would be so happy when the lights came back on, and I no longer had to strain my eyes.
Being the only one in the room without perfect night vision was more than a little annoying.
In fact, it sucked.
"Are you saying that the creature knew exactly what to destroy to ensure her perfect environment?" asked GA, and I could hear the surprise in his voice.
"That is exactly what I am telling you," replied Ye’tab. "Apparently, there are a lot of things that we don’t know about them."
"Well, I am sure that you are going to fix that," I said with a strained smile. "Right after you fix the lights. Because if they are smart enough to know what systems to shut down, they are also smart enough to stop you from turning them back on."
Tension rose in the room as my words echoed in the darkness. I could feel Midnight stiffen behind me and pull me deeper into his embrace. I had refused to sit in the captain’s chair, if there even was one, preferring instead to remain standing with the rest of the guys.
I was blowing up this ship the first chance I got and leaving this nightmare behind me.
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Princess stalked her prey, waiting for the perfect opportunity to pounce. The males hadn’t seen the small youngling hiding in the shadows, but that didn’t mean that she didn’t.
Her snow-white coat made it impossible to truly hide in the darkness, one of the reasons why she was considered defective, but she didn’t care. She would show everyone just what she was capable of... right after a small snack.
