Not far away from where Moo was abducted, Lieutenant Tixia was holed up in an alcove with one of the intruders’ communications devices. In her lap was a fully armed blaster. She was hard at work trying to figure out how the device functioned so she could listen in on the enemy’s communications, but the mechanism and circuitry were totally unfamiliar to her. The strangely shaped device seemed to be designed to wear on the side of the head near the ear and also seemed to have some oddly biological components of some kind. In fact, it had changed shape at least once since she retrieved it from the intruder she had shot. She was certain it had something to do with their ability to teleport as well, but that was a secondary concern. Right now, she just wanted to listen in.

A row of yellow lights lit up one side of the device, which didn’t tell the young signals officer much. She was just about to give up when a chorus of dissonant sounds came from it. They sounded like screams of pain and only lasted a few moments. Then it was silent again. She turned the device over and continued trying to get it to work.

All at once, the ship’s power shut off completely. The entire deck was plunged into darkness. Even her blaster pistol indicators went dark. Sparks and flashes from the damaged electrical junctions continued for a few moments and then even they were gone.

As she experienced the loss of artificial gravity and felt herself float up off the floor, Zony heard something. It was coming from the device she had commandeered. It sounded like the radio transmission of a creature of some kind breathing. It grew louder as she listened. Finally there was a voice. It made the hairs on the back of her neck stand straight up.

“You were all warned, lieutenant.”