Everglow: The Trials Of Agaron

29 - The Griflock

Both Ko and Fischer stood almost in Quin's arms as the jump ship broke through the airlock shield and entered the hangar of the Tyrant station. The knowledge that they were now boarding a potentially hostile station out in the middle of deep space was not one that Fischer put a lot of comfort in. 

Quin seemed to unintentionally cover them almost like a mother would to her children. She lay a hand on each of their shoulders and her tail seemed to curve around them like a snake constricting its prey. If she was trying to comfort them it was working. He felt a lot safer under her gaze. And he knew Ko would be safer as well. 

Looking out the window the sheer scale of the station became very apparent. The inverted trapezoidal hangar doors they entered through were at least twenty meters high and doubled in length. There was lime green field of static keeping the air inside the station and preventing debris and other unwanted materials from floating inwards. 

Gravity aboard the ship seemed much heavier than Xarder or Earth. Fischer could feel himself being weighed down with each step as the four of them walked down the now opened rear door of Spatch's ship. They were greeted by three figures standing at the bottom of the ramp,

Almost instantly Fischer felt Quin beside him tense up like she'd just seen a ghost, her fists clenched and her eyes wide open and horrified at what she was looking at. Following her gaze, he tracked it down to the three mercs at the bottom. Two of them were a species which he wasn't familiar with. They had strange almost skull like plates across their rather jackal like faces, sharp teeth jotted out from their gums. A pair of beady yellow eyes sat around halfway up their faces, a smaller pair behind the front two. Two burly arms the size of tree trunks sprung out from their shoulders and a large collar of fur encased their thick necks. 

Unlike most species that he'd interacted with so far, these creatures did not have digitigrade legs, instead being plantigrade like humans. The creature in the middle looked slightly thinner than the one to its right, but was covered in what appeared to be dense armour plating around its chest, across its shoulders and on its shins and knees. 

Across to the left stood a different being, this one almost looking avian in nature. It had black feathers all across its body and a large grey beak that was adorned with scratches and scars sprouted from its face. Two bulky arms extended from its shoulders. Halfway down the arms, the feathers stopped and gave way to what looked like the same material large bird's legs were made from.

As the three mercs approached them Fischer heard a small whimper escape Quin's lips.

"Spatch! You never told me there would be tyreptoids here!" She hissed through clenched teeth.

"Ah, right. . . yea probably should've said something about that. . . sorry," he laughed nervously.  

Before Fischer had any chance to ask what a tyreptoid was they were greeted by the rather unsettling face of the middle creature. 

"So. . . you lot are the ones after Tonner?" It asked. Fischer recognised the voice as the same one that spoke to the radio operator back aboard the ship. 

She began to ponder back and forth, eyeing down the group of strange aliens in front of her.

"A veranah. That doesn't surprise me. . . you rats are everywhere nowadays," She scolded. Fischer was next. 

"A human? Well well, that is a surprise. We don't get many human visitors here. Come to think of it, I've never tried human before. Wonder how you would taste?"

Her raspy words sent a sudden chill down his spine as she scanned him. He had to do a double take to make sure he wasn't imagining things. Did she say she wondered how he. . . tasted?