<USS Cervantes> And Even More Surprises

<<And apologies to Mallory and Machia--hope I didn't totally misrepresent your characters>>

And Even More Surprises

Saskia Lar

It was late by the time the three officers returned to the Khefiraan temple, Mallory stumbling on and refusing his colleagues' offers for assistance. Saskia had run a quick scan on him--he had broken a couple of ribs and strained a tendon in his right leg. It might have made her feel better if she could believe that this would teach him not to charge into a situation like this with his temper at the ready and the rest of their lives in danger, but from what she could surmise about Mallory at this particular moment, she doubted it.

The streets where the bazaar had been bustling a few hours ago were now deserted. The kiosks had been left in the street and covered with rich, brown tarps. The Khefiraans were apparently a trusting people. No wonder they had the Ss'lytha'a running around and stabbing them into statues. Saskia looked up at the sky. The rich colors of the wormholes had now faded to starker shades of indigo. Dawn was approaching. The idea of another day made her head ache, and she shook her head to try and clear the feeling out. "What the hell??" She knew better now than to think her eyes were playing tricks on her. If it appeared that something unusual was right in front of her, it probably was.

"What?" Mallory grunted.

"Wait here." Saskia approached the waning shadow of a building. A figure loomed up out of the stone, barely discernable from the darkened surroundings, as it was wearing a robe identical to her own. Her nose crinkled as it pinpointed a familiar, sticky smell, something the touch of her boot to wet gravel confirmed a moment later. "Great," she muttered to herself. "Seems we missed something."

Mallory and Machia had unsurprisingly completely ignored her orders to stay back. "Another one?" Machia asked.

"Yes," Saskia replied. "It seems that, on top of everything else, we have an assassin in our midst."

"Well, who is it?" Mallory loped forward and tore the hood off the creature's face. Lisith's gray-green skin, now damp with a silvery-blue blood, gleamed up at them. "Hey, charming."

"Lisith," Machia repeated. "It makes sense he would be here?he'd obviously want the money?"

"So then who the fuck was the bastard back there?" Mallory interrupted. "Ah! Damn, these ribs!"

Saskia suddenly felt an overwhelming wave of exhaustion engulf her body, and she tried hard to suppress the feeling that had been nagging at her for two days, an incredible desire to return to her quarters and curl up into a little ball in bed. "Well, we're certainly not going to find out," she said. "You didn't kill him, and we don't know that he wasn't alone. He's probably crawled back into whatever sewer he came out of by now." She gave Lisith's corpse a not-so-gentle nudge with the tip of her boot. One of his arms rolled onto the ground, revealing his now docile claws. "So what do we do with this one? Leave him here? I suppose we should contact the crew."

"Whatever we do, we'd better do it fast," Machia added. He looked up at the sky warily. "It's going to be dawn in just a little while, and if what we've observed over the past few days is any indication, it's going to be a little different around here."

"Good," said Mallory. "What I wouldn't give for some decent food and some normal humanoids. If I get one more grain of sand in my boots, I'm going to be pissed."

"Well, then, by all means," Saskia said, more wearily than she had meant to sound. "Press on."





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