((Haha... no, not on a Bug. The Yeerks landed a larger transport ship, escorted by a couple of Bugs. The transport's still got enough people on it to man its external cannons, and the Bugs have landed, but they're still powered up. These guys are nervous as all hell, a lot of that simply because they're not totally sure what they're looking for, but their commander wants to keep casualties down. And yeah, I know I've got a heck of a lot of bodies running around here. My guy brought a full-scale manhunt down on top of him
Anyone can feel free to Yeerk the teams of humans and Hork-Bajir running around. They're basically just running a search operation at this point, and are probably well trained enough not to fire unless fired upon... that would just turn this whole area into the OK Coral
.))
The team of Yeerk forces searching the ships continued to look around. They weren't having much luck- the ships all seemed to be empty. When they could, they'd pry open the hatches to look inside. When that wasn't an option without firing weapons, they'd request a detailed scan from their transport ship. The transport began slowly painting one area with a low-level Dracon beam until the air in one spot seemed to distort, like heat rising on a hot day. It looked like there was a cloaked ship here after all. Three Hork-Bajir and one human fanned out around the craft, standing uneasily and wishing they'd been allowed to draw weapons. The rest of the team carefully kept their distance, though it was clear they wanted to keep the cloaked ship in sight. One Hork Bajir walked closer to the area. She wasn't sure if anyone was onboard, but she called out anyway.
"We know you're there. We don't want to fight. We're looking for someone. Lower your cloak and your shields and this won't have to get messy."
***
The rest of the team moving towards the large, grounded spacecraft moved on, carefully, trying to keep the man walking towards Paul in view.
The man called out to Paul with a thick Ukrainian accent, his voice audibly shaking, "Please lower your weapon. If you fire, we will be forced to kill you. I only want information. We seek a fugitive. Human. Have you seen any suspicious humans lately?"
***
A small team finally arrived at the Pride. After watching from the trees for a moment as people went in and out, two of the members- a human female and a larger than average Hork-Bajir- walked steadily towards the ship. They kept their hands ready to draw their weapons, while two Hork-Bajir watched them from the trees. The Hork-Bajir was obviously very nervous, but the woman seemed calm, almost bored. ((I assume you guys still had the hatch open? If not, would it be plausible that she just walked up and knocked on the door?))
As they neared the ship, she called out, "'ey! You, in the ship! We're looking for some'un! The quicker we find 'im, the quicker we'll leave. Think y'all could give us some 'elp?"
***
The commander's pace slowed as he neared the bar as he strained to see inside. Finally, he stepped cautiously through the doorway and looked around at the patrons, many of whom looked very unnerved. He sighed. What did he expect, landing a small army in this otherwise-quiet corner of the galaxy?
He yelled into the bar, "I apologize for the rude entrance. We believe a dangerous fugitive may have landed in this area. He's a human male, about six feet in height, with brown hair, and he'll most likely be carrying weaponry unique to you. There's a reward being offered for any information leading to his capture. Has anyone noticed any new human arrivals besides my team lately?"
***
Thienal, the gray-skinned boy, and Ikakek, the giant, fierce-looking insectine creature, held a quiet discussion as they followed the commander towards the bar.
"I must come back here," Ikakek said with a tone of wonder. "Do you know how many wanted people a place like this will attract?"
"I only care about our friend. He shot down my ship."
"You know better than to engage him without Serin present."
"How did we get stuck working for these slugs anyway?"
Ikakek shushed him and assumed a ready stance as the commander called something through the door of the building. Unlike the Hork-Bajir and human searchers, Ikakek drew a pair of guns- rather plain-looking ones at that- and began to uncoil the five razor-wire-like appendages alongside his body. They snaked through the air with surprising dexterity, some of them touching and overturning rocks and leaves several yards away from where he stood. Thienal used his antigrav-boots to hover to a spot on the roof, and drew his nearly-invisible rifle, using the scope to watch the searchers around the area.
