((Yeah, Chad, I think Temrash probably was around when Salem asked Thordon to get his ship out. Salem's doing his best to bluff
Haha... the mob that seems to be forming to chase after Salem should grab torches and pitchforks and start screaming "witch!" It'll be the Salem witch trial
))
Al began typing quickly on the keypad of the small device in Keshin's hand and said, "I wouldn't worry too much about Salem. He's been in worse situations before. Besides, he's got me. And you, if you're up for it." He smiled and raised and eyebrow. "I'll keep in mind that the bar changes people. I'm just hoping I can get the people there to loosen up. Everyone seems so tense all the time."
The hologram device trilled, signaling it was ready. "Okay, whenever you're ready, you just hold this thing in your hand and concentrate on it and it'll change your appearance to whatever you want. It'll work for about thirty hours before needing a recharge, but you need to keep it on you. Probably want to keep yourself as a female human and still acknowledge that you're a Yeerk, just in case anyone wants to scan you. Pretend you're a new arrival at the bar and nobody should look twice. You probably want to wait until Salem gets back here, just in case the people following him see you."
***
Salem laughed. He could feel the adrenaline coursing through his system, but it was a different kind of rush than trying to keep a War Prince from dying. This was Salem's comfort zone. He was used to dealing with ****y aliens with guns pointed at him.
"I don't think so, Temrash," he said, grinning. "I'm carrying some expensive equipment. I can't just give it to you and get nothing in return. That's bad for business."
He activated the small device sewn inside his pants, just above the back of his knee. It began to glow bright white, setting up a powerful electromagnetic field and heavily ionizing the air in the vicinity. It was actually a similar effect to the one he'd set up with the plasma warhead he'd fired at Temrash's ship, but this was designed to last a bit longer, and wouldn't be enough to affect a whole ship. As long as Temrash stayed within twenty yards or so of Salem, his Dracon shouldn't work properly, at least until the device burned itself out in a couple of minutes. The field would render most of Salem's equipment inoperable, too, but he wasn't relying on electronics. This was one of the only devices that Salem had ever felt it prudent to carry multiples of.
Salem reached down, knife still in hand, and calmly pulled up his right pant leg. He began unstrapping what looked like a gun constructed from pieces of copper pipe from his leg.
"The ship that fired came closer to hitting me than to hitting your ship. You want to tell me you think I did it, fine, but I don't like being held at gunpoint. There are two ways for this to go, Yeerk. Either you put down the gun and we talk this out like civilized creatures, or I make sure they're finding pieces of you in this forest for the next decade."
