Fleet-of-Foot secured his shock-lance and motioned for Tusker to grab the human lying sprawled on the grass while he reached inside the trailer with his other two arms and lifted the other human out. Slash waved his assault-rifle at them impatiently.
"Move it, move it!" he hissed urgently before turning and running back towards the far side of the field to the gate. Slinging the bodies over their shoulders the other two warriors turned and loped after Slash. Slipping through the gate, they saw Crater lurking in the shadows next to another darkened building holding a couple of large dark sacks stuffed full of bulky smaller objects.
"Human food, I think," he responded to Slash's inquiring look. "It's not safe here anymore, we need to get off this road and find cover quickly." Slash cocked his head at the scientist who was securing the sacks into the large backpack he had with him. "I think I set off an alarm when I was obtaining this stuff." turning, he looked down the road towards the centre of the town and gestured to where a light was flashing outside one of the buildings.
"Wonderful," Slash commented dryly and snorted. "Double-time it back to the shuttle then, and keep to the shadows. You three ahead, I'll cover from behind." The others nodded and took off back towards the distant mountains, ducking in and out of the shadows as they could with their various burdens. Slash shook his head as he loaded up a second assault rifle... So much for a simple snoop'n'sample mission, he thought to himself with a twinge of excitement. Off in the distance he heard the faint wail of what he took to be more alarms and saw other flashing lights converging towards him from the direction of the original alarm. Locked and loaded, he briefly considered sticking around for a bit of fun. Regretfully, he backed away then turned and sprinted after the others.
After rendezvousing back at the shuttle, they stowed their gear and the two limp bodies and took off. Not bothering to make any secret of their departure they made straight back towards their ship at full-throttle, figuring they would be outta this system before any of the humans could do anything anyway - it looked like the need for secrecy was over.
The departure of the shuttle was very much noticed - and not just by the startled town-folk. A great deal of interest was shown by staff at a nearby Airforce base - interest that soon resulted in the discovery that there was a larger vessel parked in a Lagrange orbit out past the moon. And not any recognisably human vessel either...
"Welcome back, I take it you were successful?" Predator asked Slash as he stepped out of the airlock.
"Yeah, got what you asked for." He passed the leader and made his way towards the weapons bay. Next out of the airlock were Fleet-of-Foot and Tusker who were carrying two limp human bodies with them. Two-Talon looked at the unresponsive humans and then back at the two warriors with a questioning look on his face. Fleet-of-Foot stopped and turned to the medic.
"We used shock-lances so I'm pretty sure they're still alive. They still seem to be breathing anyway."
"How long have they been like this?"
"A couple of hours, give or take."
"Alright, Spanners has converted one of the smaller storage rooms into a make-shift holding pen - I'll examine them there." Fleet-of-Foot nodded and both of the warriors strode off down the corridor carrying their burdens, followed by two-Talon, clutching a bag full of medical gear.
Predator made his way back to the bridge and looked over at Spanners who was standing beside the navigation console.
"We're getting out of here, Spanners. I suspect that the shuttle launch was probably noticed by the aliens. How're we looking?"
"Repairs to the FTL system are complete and I've plotted courses back to base. Quickest route takes us on a very close gravity-assisted sling-shot around the aliens planet and up out of the ecliptic where we should be able to enter sub-space without interference."
"And the other option?"
"The other, slower route takes us back to where we first came into this system. It means we wont have to spend as long in sub-space but it will take us several weeks to get there. The quick route will take five days and means an extra month in sub-space with at least a couple of exits along the way to adjust course." Frowning he continued, "And in this piece of floating-garbage it is the riskier of the two options - sling-shot manoeuvers can be problematic if things don't go smoothly."
"Victorious-Hunting got us here in one piece, it'll survive a little longer. Quick and dirty it is - take us home."
The engineer initiated the engine startup sequence and pushed the power-controls to maximum once the engines were online.
"Ancestors preserve us," he muttered darkly when he thought Predator was out of earshot - the leader pretended not to hear as he walked off the bridge to see how the captive aliens were doing.
He reached the storage area just as Two-Talon was securing the bulkhead door.
"They'll recover shortly I believe," the medic told him as he turned and started walking back to the med bay. Predator accompanied him down the corridor.
"Have you altered the gravity plating in this section? Feels lighter than normal."
"Yeah, the aliens are used to about a third of the gravity we are. Our air is a bit thicker than what they're used to also, but it's nothing they wont adjust to. I'll change the gravity back slowly over time until they get used to it." He stopped in the corridor and turned to look at the leader. "What is in store for them once we get back?"
Predator gave him an unreadable look and continued down the corridor.
"Hrrr, interrogation and mind-scans I would imagine. What we get out of them coupled with the information we were able to get from their transmissions we should be able to get a good idea whether or not they're likely to pose any sort of problems for us in the future."
"So this is a one-way trip for them then?"
"It probably is, yes." Two-talon stopped again.
"Listen, I don't think this is -"
"No you listen! Stronger and wiser minds than ours have thought this through and it is not our place to question their decisions. Just do what you're ordered to, understand?"
The medic tipped his head back exposing his throat and closed his eyes in submission. Predator snorted, satisfied. Turning, he walked away without looking back. Feeling somewhat humiliated, Two-Talon stormed into the med bay and threw his data-pad at the wall where it shattered into several sparking pieces before falling to the floor. Dejected, he brought all four of his hands up to his snout and tentatively sniffed at them. My talons are for healing, not harm, he thought to himself sadly as he studied both of the slender talons on each of his hands.
He didn't know these 'humans', but he had a very well-developed sense of empathy and this just felt all wrong. The chances of the aliens surviving any interrogation was slim, and they would almost certainly be eliminated once they were no longer useful to the council anyway. He had never agreed with and was somewhat outspoken about the Vanguard methods of dealing with other alien civilisations - who were they to be arbiters over everyone else? Surely they had enough information taken from the scans of the planet, the interception of transmissions and the other samples the landing party had taken - without having to resort to abduction? While still somewhat primitive these aliens still had a right to decide their own destiny.
Rightly or wrongly, Vanguard civilisation was based on strength. The Strong Lead the Weak - The Strong Protect the Weak, these were the basic tenets of their entire society. He would not... Could not challenge Predator on this, but he sure as hell didn't have to like it. And while he couldn't reverse the decision to take these aliens, he could at least do his best to protect them.
An hour or so later Tusker walked through the door carrying the sacks of food that they had brought back from the planet with them.
"Thought you might want to have a look at this stuff we got on the trip, Crater thinks that it should be mostly food items." He emptied the sacks out onto an examination table and started rummaging through the items, taking tentative sniffs of some and examining the packaging. Two-Talon smiled and walked over to the table.
"I'm glad you're back. I've been a little busy with things here, otherwise I would have come to see you sooner." He stood behind the young warrior and wrapped all four of his arms around his chest and hugged him. Tusker turned his head and licked the doctor's face with affection.
"How are our 'guests', anyway?"
Two-Talon nodded at a nearby monitor which showed the two aliens huddled together in a corner of the converted storage room.
"The second smaller one only woke up a few minutes ago. Physically they appear to be in good shape... But mentally? No idea. I have little information to go on, however I think they're quite scared." The warrior watched the monitor for a few moments.
"Not surprising really I suppose. Weird looking things aren't they. They a breeding pair y'reckon?"
"Don't think so, they both appear to be young males unless there is something I've missed in their biology." He looked back at Tusker. "I'm beginning to think this is a mistake. They should never have been taken, this isn't right." Tusker pulled away from Two-Talon and looked at him with a serious expression on his face.
"Is that what that argument in the corridor with Predator was about?"
"Yes, we shouldn't be doing this, we have enough information from other sources without abducting any of them and they'll probably be destroyed once any useful information has been extracted. Doesn't that trouble you?" The warrior shook his head.
"We're under orders from the leading council to do this. We may not like it, but it's not our place to question their decisions or motives."
"This could have been handled differently you know - the damned council isn't always right." Tusker frowned.
"Right or wrong, that's not our decision to make." The medic lowered his head and looked at the pile of stuff on the table.
"You sound just like Predator"
"The stronger have always lead the weaker - it is our way!"
"Just because someone is stronger, doesn't make them better!" The conversation was making the young warrior angry, questioning his beliefs wasn't the sort of thing he expected from his partner. Especially now.
"Enough!" he bellowed. "You're talking treason, and that could get us both killed."
"Look you're probably right, that was a stupid thing for me to say, I'm sorry. Hey, want to help me sort through this stuff?" he gestured at the jumbled pile of goods on the table, hoping to defuse the situation. Tusker gave him a cold stare and walked towards the door. Two-Talon followed, putting a couple of hands on Tusker's shoulder to stop him going.
"Please, don't go - I'm sorry!" the medic pleaded.
"I'm late for duty." Brushing off the hands and closing the door, the warrior left.
Tainui awoke to the mother of all headaches, a sore back and only a vague recollection of what had happened. He seemed to recall something about large monsters chasing him and Troy... Troy! The singer was lying next to him, partly covered in his old blanket - thankfully, the boy was still breathing. There were some bruises on his chest and what looked like a couple of small burns which were covered with something clear and sticky, but he seemed otherwise unharmed. Touching the goo with one finger, Tainui brought it up to his nose and sniffed it, it smelt medicinal... He wiped his finger on his pants and winced at the movement, noticing that he had a small sticky patch on his upper back where he was hit by the weapon the things were carrying - that, at least, would explain the soreness.
Sitting up and looking around in confusion, he noticed everything was strange, the air was slightly hazy and he felt heavier than normal. His breathing was also difficult, the very air itself seemed thick and almost syrupy.
Looking around he saw they were in some sort of roughly cubical room with dark grey metal walls with a metal and glass door set in one side. Tainui became aware of the sound of running water and hunted around for the source. In one corner opposite the door there was a small pool with water flowing through it, pouring out of vents on one side and disappearing into a grate on the other.
Concern for Troy temporarily sated he staggered to his feet with difficulty - why was everything so bloody heavy? - and made his way over to the door.
"Hey! Is anyone there?" No response.
Unsurprisingly it didn't move when he pushed or pulled at it and there was nothing in the corridor beyond that he could see so he went over to the pool and examined it. As with the air, the water was also warm but seemed otherwise normal.
Rubbing his aching head, he went back over to the unconscious boy and tried to rouse him. Troy groaned again and opened his eyes blearily, blinked a few times and then sat bolt upright. Or tried to, everything seemed to move in slow motion and he felt so heavy. Tainui was looking at him with a worried expression on his face.
"What's going on, Tai?" he managed to mumble. "Where are we? And owwww goddamit my head hurts..."
"Not sure, some sort of prison I think. What's the last thing you remember?"
"Uhh, went outside for a piss and then... Oh shit, those things! Man, was I dreaming those? What the hell!"
"If you were dreaming those too then welcome to my nightmare. You OK?"
"Yeah, I think so. What's up with this place, I feel so weird."
"Dunno... Everything seems to be heavy and the air-con is broken I think." Tainui struggled to his feet and went over to the door and started banging on it. "Hey, anyone there? We need help in here! Hello!" Nothing. Dammit, was this some sort of sick joke? Had they been kidnapped? Whatever the case it wouldn't do to go scaring Troy, the situation was bad enough as it was. Shuffling carefully over to the pool again, he cupped his hand to get some water. It tasted flat and metallic but seemed otherwise OK. Gathering more water in his cupped hands, he made his way back over to Troy and offered it to him.
"Thanks." the boy drank the offered water and sat back against the wall. "We're in trouble, aren't we?"
"Yeah, I think so... Just not sure what kind. Don't worry, I'll protect you whatever happens." That elicited a small smile from the shaken youth.
Several minutes later they heard some muffled sounds from beyond the door - it sounded like someone was coming. Tainui got to his feet and walked a couple of steps towards the door. Someone was coming - he could see a dark shape in the gloomy corridor beyond getting closer. It was only when the thing got close that he could see what it was, and he stepped backwards with a cry. One of the monsters, about three metres tall and looking like something out of a science-fiction movie. Tainui quickly positioned himself in front of Troy. Stopping by the door, the thing stood there and looked at them for a few moments before turning and walking away.
"Holy shit," he realized he'd been holding his breath and let it out with a rush. This was getting weirder by the minute but he was realized this was no stalker or run-of-the-mill kidnapping. Something genuinely freaky was going on here. Demon? Alien? It looked for all the world like some sort of mutant upright raptor-like dinosaur with four muscular looking arms - one slightly smaller pair in front of the other slightly larger pair set on very broad shoulders. Each arm ended in four short talons on each of the 'hands'.
Four large black eyes protected by bony looking ridges - two on each side of an elongated snout rimmed with blunt fangs - had stared coldly at them both through the door. The fangs were accompanied by tusks near the end of the creature's snout - two pointing up, two down. Although dwarfed by the large horns adorning the top of it's head, the tusks were the size of a kitchen-knife and just as lethal-looking - it looked for all the world like a demonic horses head out of someone's nightmare.
Whatever the creature was, it was obviously made for fighting. A short tapering tail descending down its back and between its muscular thick-set legs looked like it was used to counter-balance the heavy muscular upper body. Coloured in various shades of grey, it was covered in what appeared to be normal skin rather than the scales you would have expected from some sort of giant lizard. The creature wasn't completely naked however, wearing some sort of black skin-tight clothing, similar to what an Olympic wrestler would wear... if an Olympic wrestler had four arms, a tail and came from someone's fevered imagination that is. Completing the ensemble was what he guessed to be various utility belts, military style.
It wasn't long before the creature came back again, stopping by the door again and studying them for a couple of minutes. This time it opened the door and entered, closing the door behind it. Tainui and Troy backed into the corner of the room as far away from it as they could get, with Tainui shielding the boy behind him. Given that this thing outweighed him by several orders of magnitude he was sure it could rip him to shreds without thinking twice, but he wasn't about to let it get at Troy without a fight anyway. Crouching in a defensive posture, he waited for it to attack, but all it did was stand by the door staring at them.
After a couple of minutes it moved away from them to the opposite corner of the room and crouched down, resting on it's tail like some sort of unholy tripod, still looking at them and blinking it's eyes occasionally. Perhaps it wasn't hungry? Yet. Tainui relaxed - just a fraction - and waited for the next move. The creature pulled something from one of the belt-pouches and held it in one of it's hands. Tainui tensed again, what was it up to? Abruptly it started rumbling and hissing in a very deep and gutteral voice, with occasional snaps of it's jaw and shakes of it's head. It stopped and the device in it's hand chirped into life and spoke in a clipped monotone:
"You human. We (garble). No hurt, travel home. Need information. You threat, not threat understand, Interrogative!"
Tainui blinked and looked at Troy quickly before fixing his eyes on the creature again. Troy put his hand on Tainui's shoulder and whispered.
"Somehow I don't think we're going to be much of a threat to it." The roadie nodded and didn't say anything. The device was obviously quite sensitive as it beeped once and flashed after Troy had finished speaking. It looked down at the device then back at the boys and cocked it's head. Rumbling and hissing again it spoke for a few seconds and stopped, the small device spoke again:
"Confirmation required. Travel home confirmation. Understand, interrogative!" Looking back at them it appeared to be waiting for a response. Troy spoke up again, this time to the creature directly.
"We're not a threat! Please, we're not the ones you should be talking to! You should talk to the government or something. We're just regular people, we don't know anything useful." The translation device beeped and flashed at the creature again studied the device for a few moments, obviously reading something off a small screen built into the device. Sounding like a steam-train venting, the creature huffed for a few seconds and fell silent, staring at them.
Not sure what else to do, Tainui moved back and sat down beside Troy with his back to the wall. The translator didn't say anything, so perhaps the noise was indicative of something else. With one of it's arms, it slowly patted itself on the shoulder and grunted something gutteral, then it pointed first at Tainui then at Troy before bringing its arm back and continued to look at them through its enigmatic black eyes.
"I think its name might be, uh, 'Karak'? Sounded something like that." Tainui whispered, and Troy nodded at him. He looked back at the creature and tentatively pointed at it and repeated "Karak?"
The creature tapped its shoulder again and snapped its jaws once .
"Yes," the translator device simply said.
Tainui looked at Troy again then back, tapping his shoulder like the creature had.
"Tainui." Troy did the same, repeating his own name - they had dialogue! "Me Tarzan, you Jane." The roadie whispered quietly to Troy, who cracked a brief smile. The creature made a gutteral croaking noise, paused, then repeated it a few times, before the boys realized it was trying to say their names.
"I don't think it's capable of speaking properly, it's just not made for it," Troy observed. He smiled and nodded at the creature, "Yes, very good," he spoke loudly and slowly to the creature. Abruptly it stood up and in one fluid movement had made its way over to the door, opened it and stepped out and disappeared down the dimly lit corridor before Tainui could give so much as a nervous twitch. Damn the thing was bloody quick! The door slid closed behind the creature as soon as it exited the room, before either of the boys had thought to try and make an escape.
"Maybe it's gone to get an anal-probe," Troy joked weakly, quickly dropping his smile at the serious look on Tainui's face. Staggering to his feet, he discarded the blanket and made his way over to the pool in the corner of the room, gingerly lowering himself to his knees by the edge and testing the water with one hand.
Despite his dark foreboding about their immediate future, Tainui couldn't help but admire the youthful body on display in front of him. The muscles moving lithely beneath the boy's pale skin... And that arse, that deliciously hot, tight arse... He was a little shocked to discover he was getting quite turned on, his cock rapidly springing to attention in the confines of his pants. His body obviously didn't have the same concerns that he did - and perhaps his body was right. Although things were grim, Tainui suspected they were not in any immediate danger. With this thought in mind, he shucked out of his pants and made his way over to where Troy was crouching, wrapping his arms around the boys chest from behind.
"I was thinking of having a quick dip, the water feels..." a pause. "Hard?" Troy turned his head and looked at Tainui's face, noticing the twinkling eyes and amorous smirk - not to mention the rigidly throbbing tube of flesh rubbing against his butt-cheeks. A weak protest died on his lips as his lover lowered him into the pool, then slipped in beside him, pulling him around so they faced each other. Smiling, Troy held onto the bigger man's shoulders and wrapped his legs around his waist.
"Not sure this is the time or place..." Troy started to say before being interrupted by Tainui shoving his hot tongue into his mouth and mashing his lips shut with his own. Moaning, Troy started pulling against the Maori's waist with his legs, forcing the hard uncut cock between his cheeks, nudging insistantly at his twitching hole which slowly yielded to the pressure. This time he barely winced as the head of Tainui's cock breached his ring and inched it's way into his tight clutching passage.
"You OK?"
"Just shut up and fuck me hard" Troy hissed through clenched teeth. The young Maori obliged, flexing his thighs as the boy skewered himself on the engorged cock. Riding the waves of pleasure coursing through his hole, Troy enthusiastically bounced up and down on Tainui's rod, sending waves splashing around the pool. Pounding away, the huge cock rubbed against the boy's prostate, making his hole contract harder around the uncut weapon reaming his bowels. Without missing a beat, Tainui spun around and pushed Troy against the side of the pool and taking the hint the boy turned facing the side and draped himself over the edge of the pool so that Tainui was fucking him doggy-style.
"Fuck me! Fuck me! Fuck me!" Troy groaned breathlessly over and over as the relentless pounding assault on his arse continued at an increasing rate. Tainui, his eyes closed and sweating profusely, slammed his huge fuck-stick deep into the boy, throwing water everywhere. Pulling all the way out he then slammed it back in, repeatedly knocking the wind out of Troy, whose untouched cock mashed up against the side of the pool exploded - mixing cum with the tepid water. Tainui roared out.
"Gonna bury this deep inside you, ungh!" and smashed his cock to the hilt inside Troy's tight, wet hole, crushing his balls and pubic hair against the boy's butt-cheeks - and releasing burst after burst of hot cum inside him. Panting, Tainui pulled Troy upright and held the dripping wet youth tightly against him, cock still firmly lodged up inside the boy's throbbing hole.
"God you're unreal, so hot and tight!" he muttered, chewing gently on one of Troy's earlobes as he held him close. Eventually his cock softened and slipped out of the youth's hole. Troy turned to face his lover and grabbed his face in both hands, giving him a sloppy deep-tongue kiss before pushing him over into the water with a laugh. After mucking around for a few minutes in the pool, they both clambered out and made their way back to the discarded blanket where Troy lay against Tainui's chest and rested his head on the Maori's shoulder. Tainui looked around the room again.
"Damn, I'm getting hungry.. I hope those monsters are going to feed us soon."
"Feed us? Tai, after that little performance I hope they're going to pay us!" Tainui chuckled appreciatively. "We make a good team, don't we?"
"Sure do, my little bro, we sure do."
To Be Continued...