Salem had grinned at Ossanlin and been about to respond when Myitt had pulled out her scanner and discovered Keshin. He'd frowned and stuck his tongue in his cheek, trying to think of a way to bull**** this one, or at least get Keshin off the ship, but Keshin had charged Myitt and wrestled her Dracon away. It was odd, seeing what appeared to be Al holding a gun to someone's head. The real Al was very nonviolent. It had been a point of contention between him and Salem in the past, but Salem had come to accept it.
Salem leaned back as the scene unfolded. It appeared Keshin did better on his own. He spoke with the real Al in the ship's computer system.
<<Hey, Al, do you think you could target the...>> he paused, glancing around and counting how many people were now near the ship. Two others had just run up. <<Six people here who are after Keshin with the thought-speak communicator?>>
<<Hey! Forgot about this thing,>> Al said, mock-excitedly. <<Umm... yeah, I think I could. What've you got in mind?>>
<<Sentient minds don't do well when overstimulated. Could you use it to send an overload of noise and images straight into their brains?>>
<<Are you kidding? That's almost like what I was built to do. Only, y'know, you're using it for evil.>>
Salem rolled his eyes. <<Be ready.>>
<<With you around, dude? Always am.>>
When Ossanlin leveled the Shredder at him, Salem narrowed his eyes at Ossanlin. He was liking this Andalite less and less. He wondered if it was just nostalgia for his old War Prince that had made him try to save his life. He was starting to regret it. I just hope you're as useful to me as I need you to be, he thought, looking at Ossanlin. He elected to react only by smirking at Ossanlin, then leaning against the wall and beginning to clean his fingernails. He was feeling surprisingly calm, considering he now had the enemy aboard his own ship. It was just another day of pushy aliens pointing guns at his head. It was easy for him to give the outward impression of being infuriatingly unconcerned. He'd found that the paranoia it instilled in his foes had a profound effect on negotiations. He wasn't going to have Al use his thought-speak ambush unless it looked like Keshin had no other options left.
He thought-spoke to Keshin and Joanne, <<Strength. You can do this, my friends. Strength. Al and I are with you all the way.>> He did his best to will some of the calm he was feeling towards them. The transmission of emotions was something very few Andalites he'd known had ever used on him, and he wasn't sure his thought-speak chip was even capable of it, but he thought he'd try. His head was killing him, but he pushed aside his concerns. He'd deal with that later.