Not much farther into the hanger bay that the Void Runner was docked, Tak stepped out of a transport ship. He raised his arms, stretching, happy to get himself off from that cramped civilian ship. It was built for humans, and half the trip he had been crouched just to fit inside the room without fear of bumping his head. It had been a long, irritating flight. But it was worth it. He had been told to come to this specific station, because nearly everyone in this quadrant winds up stopping here, and the most desperate of people offer jobs here. Of course, sometimes those jobs weren't necessarily a safe one. Not that Tak minded. He made a living off of danger.

As he stepped off from the railing that lead up to the ship's enterence, he took a moment to take in his surroundings. To his left was a cargo ship, loading some Rhynth. Ugly beasts. Not that much smaller then an Earth Rhino, they had long muzzles. Halfway down the snout (rather then at the tip) were the horns, which curved up and backward. Rhynth meat was famous for making one of the meanest steak's in the galaxy, but the problem with raising Rhynth was that if you were ill equipped they were very dangerous. They have four eyes, two big ones and two small ones. The big ones are on the side of the head, giving them a wide field of view to watch out for predators, while the small ones are on the front, focused forward so they could see what they were charging at. Rhynth are generally too big to get up on their own if they falter, so transporting them is always dangerous.

Farther to his left was what appeared to be a damaged ship that was under repairs. This peaked Tak's curiosity, but he shrugged it away, knowing full well he wouldn't likely be able to find the shipmaster of such a vessel and find out what had happened. He continued forward, stopping by the far wall that opposed the ships while he gazed outward into the beautiful view of a nearby star cluster, letting his mind trace backward on the events that had led him here, as he trailed one finger over the scar on his face, his golden harness glinting in the light. A light tugging on his right hand caught his attention, and he looked down to find a small human suckling looking up at him in awe. "Hiya, i'm Jake," It said with a happy smile. "I was just wonderin', how didja get that?" The boy pointed to the scar that lined the left of Tak's face. He smiled, leaning down to rest on one knee. "I sustained this injury in a swordfight. I'm a warrior, you see." "Awesome! Guess what!" "What?" He asked, amused by this child's company. The boy dropped his bag and scrounged into it for a few minutes, before pulling out what appeared to be some sort of handle. He pressed a button on it, and a holographic blade shot out of it, resembling an ancient human sword. "I'mma warrior too!" He said with a smile, turning and swinging several times for tak, showing him some obviously unpracticed sword stances with the toy. Tak chuckled to himself. "I can only pray that if we meet on the battlefield, that you are on my side." He said. The child beamed happily, when something else caught tak's attention. A loud scream, several men shouting, and something big grunting in rage behind him.

His head snapped around just as the cage to one of the Rhynth pens was forced open. They had just loaded this Rhynth into the pen, but hadn't closed the gate. A man ran up to it, shouting, only to be batted away with a swing of it's massive head. Its lips were twitching in rage, and its eyes were fixated on Tak. Why? What had he done to provoke this thing!? Its front eyes twitched as they focused on their target, and Tak realised he wasn't the target. His eyes shot down again to the boy, who was looking at the creature in shock. Then his eyes fell to the holographic sword, the strange bending of lightwaves causing the creature to become confused and irritated. Another man with a tazer ran up, only to be knocked away with another swing of its head. It pressed its front foot down and pulled it back, preparing to charge. Tak stood upright, his right hand swinging down to push the boy backward, as the beast suddenly lurched forward, accelerating as it sped forward, now past the ramp. Time seemed to come to a crawl to tak, as he took his right foot and took a step backward, gaining more balance, and pushed his right hand forward, then his left, each grasping a horn. The force of the beast his him head on, and he grunted, forcing himself to keep his breath, as he pushed forward with his own legs. His feet were slipping, and the angry creature wasn't stopping. It got annoyed at Tak, and leaned its head down diagonally to knock him away. Tak immediatly tightened his grip and twisted both handsturning the creature's head. It resisted for a moment, before it collapsed to the right on its side, letting out a few grunts of displeasure as it couldn't get back up.

Tak exhaled loudly, his left hand gripping at his shoulder as the pain from staying crouched from two weeks returned to his back. It would go away with time, but right now he had overexerted himself without preperation. His mandibles hung low and wide, taking in deep, shallow breath's. He turned his head to look back at the boy, who was sitting, leaning back on his hands in shock, not able to decide weather to stare at Tak or the Rhynth bull. Tak caught his breath enough to stand up, and looked down to the boy with a smile. "Stay out of trouble now, Warrior Jake." With that, he turned and began to walk away, as several pen keepers rushed over to secure the Rhynth, one of them uttering a quick thanks to Tak for subduing it without harming it or the child. He grabbed at his uncomfortable shoulder again, cracking the socket, which made it feel slightly better.

He moved over to the Transport Ship's cargo bay. He had a few items that he didn't feel like leaving behind. It was easy enough to find. Most of the cargo was just random boxes or crates. He had a crate as well, but it was....different. Bright purple colors with curved edges and a strangely organic shape to it, he didn't need to search long.

He cracked his sore shoulder slightly, twitching his upper left mandible upward slightly, before he sighed, feeling slightly better. He tapped in the password for the crate and immediatly it hummed to life. Gripping a handle that extended, he turned and pulled it along behind him. It moved with relative ease. The bottom of the crate had several gravitational lifts installed, so it hovered in place and could be pulled with it feeling virtually weightless. But it needed an activation code. Without it, one would often need a power loader to move one.

He continued down the dock, spotting a human male that had been on the same ship as he head off to the main section of the station. He considered following him, but decided against it. Tak had other things to do. Like finding a job, or a ship. He didn't necessarily need the job for money reasons. Oh, no. A lifelong successful military career dosn't leave one poor. No, the reason he sought a job was to keep him busy, to bide his time. He planned on seeking revenge for what had happened to him, and regaining his honor. But first he needed to wait, lay low for awhile. Let them think he had dissapeared into the void. That he would no longer seek to hault them on their path to the great journey. Oh, no. He was still a devour believer in The Great Journey. But only the worthy could tread the path, and the one that had done him wrong was most definatly not worthy...

A familiar sight caught his attention and dragged him from his own musings. A ship by the name of "Void Runner" that was docked here, seemingly for repairs. With his curiosity peaked, he moved forward to inspect the damages. When he reached the bottom of the ramp that lead up into the ship, he touched the lock function on his luggage, and stepped forward, hand lightly trailing along the railing. Yes...curious...very interesting. While it was hard to say, as the ship seemed almost completely repaired, these repairs looked like the sure tell signs of a battle. Judging by the vital areas being repaired he guessed that either the ship that had attacked this void runner hadn't been alone, or it was massive. Some damages also seemed to suggest that the void runner had been taken by surprise. Though it was hard to say, the damage was probably a few weeks old and was mostly gone. Still, it peaked his interests even further, and he stepped through the open hatch. He lightly (lightly for him, at least) tapped his right knuckle at the metal wall, making a loud knocking noise that echoed throughout the halls as the device on his wrist made the metal ring.

Growing bold, he stepped inside. "Hello?" He called out. A small blip on his motion tracker told him that something was moving around inside, likely someone making repairs. He cracked his sore shoulder again, and began to move towards the source.

Seventy-Eight Percent efficiency, can do better, can do better.. Helen Carson mouthed the words silently as they ran through her mind over and over as she attempted to lock down the propulsion issue while simultaneously running diagnostics on several other systems. The Void Runner repairs were coming along very nicely, but they certainly weren't complete. And while fixing things weren't her specialty, the repair crews Eli had hired greatly appreciated her efforts, both in coordinating repairs by monitoring the various systems undergoing them as well as her efforts in heavy lifting. Eli would probably have preferred that she get out more, and had already mentioned so on several occasions, but Helen politely declined. She always politely declined. Helen had no interest in meeting strangers. Outside, welding torches blazed, causing sparks to fly. Inside, data streamed across the screen Helen had her eyes on, the system monitoring the repairs in real time. She would still double check at the end of the day with a full diagnostic, but monitoring things in real time had its advantages. For now, Helen turned her attention away from dealing with the propulsion issues. The repair crew was to begin working on that particular problem later on, and she was having no trouble pinpointing just what was causing the problems on her own. Thankfully, they were in no hurry to leave.

Helen considered taking some time to rest, as monitoring all the systems simultaneously was taxing, even for her. Though she could handle processing data at a very impressive rate, her ability to think and comprehend beyond very simple concepts was not quite up to par with her ability to process data alone. The mismatch had the tendency to cause moderate to severe headaches, and she was beginning to feel the onset of one. She left her station near the helm behind and headed toward the elevator on the center of the level, intending on taking it one level down to the crew quarters to get a little rest, that is until something else grabbed her attention. The hatch and ramp leading up to it were left open so that the repair crews could move in and out as needed, or so she recalled at least. Helen remembered being taught by Elias the concept of introducing oneself to an unfamiliar place by knocking after a few incidents where she had entered stranger's homes unannounced, particularly after she barged in on a diplomat's private residence on Sharjila. But in this case, it didn't make sense. The repair crews knew they could come in and out to do their jobs, and there was no reason for Eli to announce his return in such a way. He owned the ship, after all.

Given the fact that the Void Runner had been the survivor of a Coalition attack only three weeks prior, Helen naturally jumped to one of the worst possible conclusions: The Coalition had tracked them. She was currently unarmed and unarmored, dressed only a pair of dark gray slacks, a black tank top, and boots. She did, however, pack one hell of a left hook. Not the airlock, starboard ramp, coming from there. Not exactly one for the subtle approach, Helen swiftly approached the ship's starboard ramp only to spot an armored and very strange creature, like nothing she'd seen before. It easily dwarfed her short 5'5" frame, though oddly enough she didn't seem phased in the slightest and stood there, her expression conveying a lack of emotion. When she did speak, her vocal range was normal for a human female but strange. It sounded cold, very impersonal. "Don't know you, recommend you leave."

As Helen walked up to him, she would find him studying a holoboard. Streams of holographic data and information slowly slipped before him to be scanned by his sharp eyes, only to slip out of the holographic field and be replaced. His eyes hardly turned to Helen as she rounded the corner and stopped, taking in his appearance. A small smile spread along his maw, as his eyes returned to the holoboard. Moments before she had found him he had discovered it, left behind by a member of the repairs crew as he went off to do something else. Perhaps grab a bite to eat? It was well known that at this hour that in the dining hall they had several specials. She further regained his attention when she collected herself and spoke up, in a rather unusual tone at that.

He lifted his hand to tap at a few keys on the holoboard, and new streams of data flowed before his eyes. "Interesting damages to this ship. Several hull breaches, burn damages, and some severe structural damage to the propulsion system." He tapped at another control, and more data flowed in front of him. I find it interesting, because of how strategic these damages are. I know the signs of battle when I see one." He tapped at the power of it, and the holoboard shut off, as he tilted his head towards her, his eyes scanning her emotionless face.

"Right now, you're wondering who I am, and my motives for coming here." The grin on his face grew, and he let his ams fall to his sides, the holoboard still in hand as his eyes squinted, analyzing her. "I didn't come here to harm you or anyone, I only seek the Captain of this ship. As for who I am, you may call me Tak."

Helen's dark eyes glanced up and then down, finally centering in on the holoboard in the strange creature's hand. It was sentient, though she hadn't doubted that. Even without ever having seen such a thing before, the armor it wore gave that away. But not knowing just what she was looking at made Helen especially wary. It was smiling at her, too. She couldn't understand why. Her direct command to leave seemed like a very strange thing to smile about. It didn't exactly put her at ease. It hasn't left yet, not good, not good. Coalition? Could be. The creature then began to go into detail about the ship's damages, knowledge he clearly picked up from the holoboard in his hand. It mentioned battle like it had experienced such things before. When he finally introduced himself and his intent, she waved it off and shook her head.

"Irrelevant. You shouldn't be here. He is not here, either. What do you want to see him for?" Her suspicions that the strange creature may have been Coalition were starting to grow. Helen knew that Elias was out looking for potential recruits and crew members, but the idea that someone might actually come looking for him? The only people she knew of that might be looking for Elias were members of the Coalition. By now the fingers of her left hand were curling upward into a fist. She didn't make any movements other than that. Her eyes remained glued to him, unblinking as she tried to sort through jumbled thoughts and guess at his motives. Could be looking for ship captain, passage? Why would it pick a damaged ship? No, no. Can't be that. Must be looking for Elias. Hasn't mentioned his name? Nnnngh, not enough data, not enough.. Helen silently mouthed the last words but said nothing out loud.

Whether or not the creature was speaking truthfully, there was just no way she would give up where he was. The first reason was that Elias Williams was the only organic being she trusted in the entire damn galaxy. The second was that she didn't really know. He hadn't said anything about where he was going. She would give the creature a chance to respond to her original question before continuing to speak herself. "Regardless, I can't help you. Don't know his location. He is looking to replace the deceased members of the crew."

His sharp eyes took note of her hand, a sign of aggression. Was she threatened by him? Normally this would be natural, but he had flatly said his motives. Did she take him for a liar? He furrowed his brow as he watched her mouth out a few words. Something about 'data'. It was a shame it was always so hard for him to lipread things with such strange mouths. He often wondered how they even ate, or spoke for that matter. He leaned forward, tapping his bottom mandibles together - an equivelant of a shrug.

His attention snapped back as she mentioned that the previous crew had mostly died. This brought a grin to his face. Not because they had died, but because that meant this ship had indeed been in a battle. He had been right. His mind slipped into a small fantasy, of him having the job he is suited for, while at the same time keeping a low profile. Of him charging into enemy lines and saving the crew. There was no glory in war, but there was certainly glory in victory.

He stood upright, clenching his right hand into a fist and raising it to his shoulder level, still looking down at her, while giving the fist a slight shake. He had found the perfect job for him. "Glorious! Contact your Shipmaster, and tell him he has the services of Sangheili Fieldmaster Tak Vakamee!" He said boldly, in fact it almost sounded like an order the way he worded it. It was of course unintentional, he wasn't accustomed to not being of high command.

She spoke of not knowing the location of her shipmaster. Well, she certainly wasn't doing a good job, now was she? "Surely you can contact your Shipmaster somehow. Do you not have a BattleNet?"

The way this creature was looking at her, Helen was starting to feel more uncomfortable. It was grinning at the mere mention of dead crew, and while she hadn't been particularly close to those that had perished, it seemed like a generally held organic belief that death was a bad thing and not something to smile about. And yet this organic was grinning from ear to ear, so to speak. Helen was about to open her mouth to speak but before she could, the creature continued to make gestures and speak himself, gestures that only served to make it even more difficult for Helen to tell whether the creature was hostile or just excited.

Organic emotion wasn't a concept she had fully grasped yet, from others or even her own. What is it talking about? She thought to herself as it spouted unfamiliar words and titles as if she was supposed to know who it was. She did however gather enough information from its speech to figure out that it was interested in becoming a crewman of the Void Runner, but the way he spoke... it seemed to Helen that he believed Elias's ship to be some kind of warship, a falsehood that she would immediately discredit.

"Shipmaster? Battlenet? This is a civilian owned ship, not a warship. The Captain is away looking to replace the deceased members of the crew." She said, pausing after echoing her previous words. "He did not tell me where he was going to do this. As I stated." Despite her directness and what could be construed as her slightly dodging the issue, she didn't come across as harsh or cold or even rude. Disinterested, perhaps, though her body language didn't convey that, only the tone of her voice. In truth, Helen did find the odd creature in front of her fascinating simply due to it being new to her. "He will return eventually. I can't say exactly when." There was some hesitation on Helen's part, as if she wasn't sure what to do or say next. "Wait here, if it means that much to you."

He turned his head, letting his arm fall back down to his sides as he flicked his mandibles in irritation. She wasn't understanding him. Where was the shipmaster? He would probably be able to understand. He deduced from the way that she spoke that her shipmaster's name must be 'The Captain.' Why the word 'the' was a part of his name was a mystery to Tak. Perhaps he is so respected that they speak of him in such a mannor. He gave himself a small nod as he deduced this as a viable reason. It seems they also lack a comunication channel of their own. So many faults, no wonder the entire crew died.. He turned to face her again when she mentioned that this ship was not a 'warship.' He couldn't help but let out a small laugh. "Pah! That means nothing! Once, I lead a lance of only a handfull other inexperienced Sangheili against well over ten lances of Cardonians, led by a C'thu'kan warlord! With my tactics and skills their number advantage meant nothing."

He relaxed slightly, placing the holoboard that was still in his hand back onto the hanger on the wall he had found it attached to. She would notice that the armor he wore looked very advanced. And she would even pick up a strange energy signature emenating from his armor and surrounding his whole body, yet it wouldn't show anything visibly. His armor was a bright, colorful golden that somehow didn't reflect that much light, but still somehow maintained a shiny look to it. He tilted his head away from her, facing down the hallway.

"Perhaps you could show me around the ship, while we wait for your shipmaster to return."

Helen wasn't sure what to make about what the creature was saying. It was going on about its experiences in battle. Something about being outnumbered, though she wasn't really listening. Helen was far more interested in simply watching it. The way it moved and spoke was very strange. To Tak, it most likely seemed that Helen was giving him a blank stare, something that Elias had told Helen to try and avoid doing. "Whenever you see something you're interested in you always uhh...well you stare at it. A lot. A little creepy if you ask me, don't do that," she remembered hearing him say once. Even so, it was a hard habit to break. Helen broke the stare around the time that Tak asked for a tour of the Void Runner. She blinked a few times, perhaps in disbelief. Technically, Tak was intruding on the ship without permission from Eli, and now he wanted a tour? Her immediate thought was to flat out say no but she hesitated. Over time, she had discovered that most organics were not generally as patient as she could be, and so she didn't predict he would react well to being told to wait outside the ship.

Elias probably won't like it.

As Helen weighed the decision a couple of men from the repair crew made their way up into the ship. One of them paused when he got a look at Tak but neither said anything about the Sangheilli's presence. Instead, one of them began speaking toward Helen. "We're ready to run the test again, Ma'am." Helen gave a brief nod and the repair crew moved to monitor their end while Helen returned to her own station. With any luck, the minor tweaking they had performed would have boosted the propulsion output to an acceptable efficiency. After a moment's hesitation, Helen silently waved Tak to follow. He would at least not have to stand around waiting, and it was better to have him where she could see him, she thought. "90% Threshold, minimum, higher preferred.." She muttered softly. "Can't show you around yet. We're working on getting propulsion back up to speed. Better this way. Elias is a better, uhh...people person."

He gave a curt nod as she gestured for him to follow. As he walked politely behind her, he swayed his head to and fro, his clever eyes scanning his surroundings. She said she wasn't giving him a tour, yet she was taking him somewhere around the ship. She continued to talk about some technological nonsense that didn't really interest Tak, and his eyes glazed over while his mind began to wonder back to the glorious days..

The sun burned brightly on the third moon of C'ta in the Thul'wak system. The lands smoldered with blazing heat that left the terrain scorched and bare. The only scenery were rocks, bolders, and some leafless trees--if you could really call them that, since they were all twisted and thin and frail, devoid of nearly any water. Tak crouched low, his golden combat harness shining brightly in the hot desert sun. All around him ten Sangheili of lower rank crouched. Tak's second in command was an Ultra by the name of Tsar Ashanee, there was one Officer that was under Tsar's command, and several Minors below his. They were far from the most experienced sangheili to serve beneath Tak, but Tsar was a good leader, and knew how to demand the respect of those beneath him.

A quick glance through the burned hole in the trench that they lay crouched in cover told Tak of the enemy positions. They were heavily armed with automatic ballistics-based weaponry. The majority of the forces were Cardonian, with a single C'thu'kan Warlord leading them. Tsar's words interrupted his musings.

"Fieldmaster," Tsar spoke, motioning towards him, "The enemy forces have us completely surrounded." Tak looked at his second in command, then sneered, pulling his mandibles in as if to contain something, before he suddenly burst out into a loud deep laughter. "Perfect!" he exclaimed, continuing to laugh, flaring his mandibles as he did so. "...Sir?" Tsar replied, tilting his head to the side in confusion. Tak struggled to contain himself long enough to speak. "Don't you see, Tsar? Now we can attack from any direction!" He began to laugh again, and this time the Sangheili surrounding him joined him in laughter of the joke.

As their laughter subsided, he turned again to the hole he had been peering out of. "..I have a plan."

Helen paid little attention to the musings of the alien. He seemed to be wrapped up in his own thoughts, which was all well and good. She couldn't afford to get distracted now, as she didn't want to risk setting their progress back. The repair crew seemed competent enough, thankfully. Even so, the diagnostic test needed careful monitoring. Her eyes were glued to the screen, she was even crossing her fingers. She didn't quite understand why the gesture was relevant but Elias had said to do it when she wanted something to happen. The efficiency numbers were climbing steadily, 80, 82, 86. They were making good progress, but it needed to reach at least 90. "Come on, come on..." she muttered softly. Her expression curled into a faint smile when the number levelled out at 92. Not perfect, but definitely good. She pressed her finger to a button on a nearby panel. "Efficiency leveled out at 92%, good work." She was about to turn to speak to the alien, but another voice interrupted before she got a chance.

"Trying to sneak your friends aboard while I was gone? You should probably warn me first before you go setting up a party...oh well. Nothing broken yet, I hope?"

Elias! Helen had anticipated the alien's presence being a problem, however she hadn't expected Elias to return already. Helen had been hoping she would have a little time to think of something to say about the issue. Of course, Elias wasn't bothered about it nearly as much as Helen thought he was. Unfortunately for her, the concepts of sarcasm and humor were hard to grasp. "I was going to-"
"Relax, sheesh. You've worked enough today, head down to the crew deck and get a little rest. Or...whatever it is you do for rest." Elias shook his head with a small grin on his face. Helen was about to protest, but he simply held his hand up and motioned toward the direction of the elevator. Helen heaved a sigh, nodding to both in passing before leaving."Right. So...I'm guessing she had a reason for letting you aboard my ship?"

His musings were interrupted by a new voice, one he didn't recognise. He shofted his feet, turning to face this new person. The female began to apologize for something but was suddenly cut off. She seemed to hold some sort of respect for this male, then he dismissed her. Then he said that this was his ship. The Shipmaster! Finally. He raised his fist into the air at his right, before slapping it onto his chest, bowing his head respectfully. "Shipmaster, I am Tak Vakamee, Fieldmaster and Swordmaster of the Sangheili race, Zealot rank. I saw that your ship was damaged, I recognize a battle when I see one." He said, tilting his head upward slightly as he explained himself. "I wish to tread the path with the company of you and your crew, which I know you are currently in need of."

He took a moment to stand upright again, holding his fist in the air now. "If any enemy ever dares to step foot onto this ship, or we need to engage groundside, I will grind them into dust, and scrape their excrement from my boots!"

"I wouldn't really call it a battle. More like an ambush, or a turkey shoot.." Eli paused as his eyes traveled up to meet those of the alien in front of him. He didn't know much about their kind, but figured he probably didn't know what Eli meant by turkey shoot. "...Let's just go with ambush." It was obvious that the alien was offering his services. He was quiet for a few moments as he took the time to weigh the decision. Considering how far out the alien was from his home systems, it seemed very unlikely that this Tak fellow was here to cause trouble for Eli, which meant that the offer was probably genuine and not, say, an attempt by the Coalition to catch him off guard. Not the usual type that I hire on, but...a little extra security and muscle couldn't hurt. Maybe.

"Well you certainly are enthusiastic about your... ermm, work, it looks like. This isn't a warship, and personally, I prefer when the shit doesn't hit the fan, but I can see how a little extra insurance wouldn't hurt. Alright then, Tak Vakamee. Sounds like a deal to me." Eli took a moment to step away, glancing over the system where Helen had been standing over. He was pleased by what he saw. If propulsion is good that means we can be off this station in a day or two...just as well, I'd prefer not to attract the Coalition by sitting around any longer. He bit his lower lip briefly before turning back to the newest crew member, motioning for him to follow. Eli strolled at a casual pace down the dimly lit hall and tapped a few keys on the door at the end of it. The door slid upward, revealing the central room on the main deck. He pointed at an elevator nearby first. "Main elevator is there, one level down is the crew deck, down one more is the cargo deck." He pointed in the direction opposite the elevator, to a door on their right hand side. "Head that way for the...well I guess you could call it the bridge. Sort of. We just call it the helm. We have a briefing slash conference room, uhh, somewhere on this deck as well. Its a bit of a mess right now so you'll see it some other time. Questions?"

He walked with the Shipmaster, listening to him talk. From the sounds of it he had barely managed to escape from this...'turkey shoot', or however he put it. These people seemed to have very strange manners of speaking. When he announced his rank and title to the female she just looked at him like he was speaking nonsense. Don't they know a high ranking warrior when they see one? I'll probably need to explain in more detail later. He concluded, as they entered the central room for the main deck.

He listened intently to the Shipmaster's words, taking note to go retrieve his equipment in a little bit and situate himself properly. As he was questioned, he flicked the tips of his mandibles together as he mused. Yes, he had a few questions.

"I'm curious to know the ame of those that damaged your ship so extensively and killed nearly all of your crew. I also wonder how you escaped, judging by how damaged your propulsion systems are. Also, if you could fill me in on the enemy's spacial tactics, that would he great. And my last question, where is the training arena? I intend to see to it that your new crew are fit for combat, with your permission, of course."

The questions all made sense, considering the alien's claimed background, but still...Eli couldn't help but raising an eyebrow at some of them. Hardly questions that one would usually ask during a meet and greet like this. All business. Reminds me a little of Seth, poor bastard. As for the Coalition ship that ambushed them. Aside from killing him, reclaiming Helen, and putting down everyone who was stupid enough to help them, well he really didn't know what their aim was.

"The Coalition ship? Got me, maybe you should ask them. I'm pretty sure they want me dead. Beyond that though I don't really know. To be honest, I don't know much about the man in charge of the vessel. He isn't the 'Any last words?' kind of guy. They opened fire as soon as we got close enough, hit us hard enough to cause a lot of internal fires, but the ship held together long enough for us to make a jump." As much as Eli would have loved to give more information, he just didn't have it. And charging in to beat answers out of someone wasn't good for his health. If he could avoid the Coalition, that was exactly what he was going to do.

"These aren't the kind of people I'm looking to pick a fight with. Crossed them once, and it cost us. With any luck, they think we're dead." If only I could be so lucky. Eli heaved a sigh. Chances were that if they didn't leave soon the Coalition would eventually pick up their trail. He wasn't about to cling to false hopes, no matter how good they may have sounded. "Arena, huh? Well one of the crewman set up a sparring room on the crew deck. Never used it myself, but feel free to look into it. That all?"