((My bad, Chad. I misinterpreted your post. I'll just go with it
))
Efaen hears Claxter's thought-speech faintly, far in the distance. She hesitates, enjoying the solitude of the moment, but also yearning for his presence.
<<I am in the woods, Claxter,>> she responds privately, although she doubts anyone else is near enough to hear, <<about a hundred yards in.>>
She closes her main eyes and breathes in deeply, enjoying the scent of alien flora.
---
The Imperial ship stops mid-descent, still far enough from the surface of the planet that all landforms are obscured by cloud cover. The Hork-Bajir leans forward, inspecting the computer readout.
"The target appears to have separated from the group," he says, his speech a gutteral combination of Galard, Yeerkish and the native Hork-Bajir tongue.
"All the better for us," the human replies, "The read-outs suggest a wide variety of sentient lifeforms, and I would prefer to distance myself from those who can sense us."
"Sense us?" the Hork-Bajir asked, "but we are cloaked."
"Cloaking devices are fallible, Iskret," the human says, "I would like to acquire the target with as little difficulty as possible. At least one of those life forms is Andalite - a
real Andalite, not some girl playing pretend. We get in, get the girl, get out and high tail it back to the Blade Ship, understood?"
"Yes, sir."
The human pilot entered in new coordinates, adjusting the ship so that it landed further from the bar. He chooses a small meadow far from the ship graveyard but relatively near the spot where Efaen stood awaiting Claxter. The ship remained cloaked, touching down on the grass gently.
"Alright, suit up," the human ordered, grabbing a holster and strapping it to the waist of his uniform, "In and out, don't forget."
