Kaellum stared up at the two hulking brutes with scowls across their faces. He heard Adi’s voice in his ear. ‘The Felidae are not generally diplomatic, Captain. Get out of there!’

Kaellum threw himself back onto the floor and rolled feet over head before springing up from his hands. He landed just out of reach as one of them swiped a paw forward to grab him.

In one swift motion he spun on his heel and disappeared into the crowd.

The two Felidae monsters looked at each other and gave something of a sigh and a shrug as they lumbered off into the sea of beings to follow Kaellum’s trail.

Kaellum moved through the crowded space as quickly as possible, bumping into everyone and everything along the way. He gave more than enough mumbles of “excuse me” and “sorry” to make up for the inconvenience but most of it went unheard and unnoticed as the walkways were already packed and uncomfortable.

What was one more person shoving their way through?

Kaellum found a break in the crowd and took off across the platform to find a small inlet in the outer perimeter near the bathrooms. He hid himself behind a column near the wall and watched from around the cylindrical shape as the twin hulks made their way out of the crowd and looked around in disbelief.

He seemed safe for the moment. And starving.

‘Good job escaping them, Captain. What’s next?’ said Adi through the earpiece.

“Now we find my sidekick, Adi.”

‘It’s missing?’

“That cat creature took it during our scuffle. I was trying to get it back but they were good at keeping it just out of my reach. And then the twins showed up.”

‘I cannot find a tracking signal on the device. Must be disabled.’

“I ripped it out years ago. The last thing I want is someone being able to track me. The Hoomta Corp would have found us forever ago if I hadn’t.”

‘So how do you find that creature if you can’t track the device?’

“It’s encrypted, so it is going to take some time even for a master thief to crack into it and transfer the funds to another sidekick. For now, we look in the shadows.”

Sitting in a small, dimly lit area at a workbench the violet colored Felidae creature works with glowing tools on the exposed circuits of a small device. The creature connects wires and clamps and all manner of electronic equipment together before turning to a digital screen and moving their fingers wildly about a panel, tapping away at buttons and flipping switches.

Lines of text start to fill the screen one by one, moving down the page. Once the screen is full it just keeps scrolling, adding line after line. And then suddenly stops with a line of red text.

The creature slams its hands down on the desk with a grunt.

They move a few connectors around to other parts of the circuitry and restart the process. Again the screen fills with lines of text and scrolls before stopping with a red line.

The creature once again expresses frustration before sitting back in the seat with a sigh.

KROOM-KROOM-KROOM

The loud sound of someone banging on the door of the vessel with a lot of force startles the creature. They grab the device and rip it from the attached cables before stuffing it into the pocket of a leather belt.

The creature rises and moves across the room as another round of knocks come from the door. They reach up and activate a small screen attached to the center of the door. On the display the grumpy twins can be seen outside waiting for someone to answer.

A violet paw reaches up and touches a button before speaking in an unrecognizable dialect. The sound is propagated outside the door and the hulking twins reply with what seems to be anger before attempting to beat the door down.

The creature inside moves back to the workbench and starts gathering small tools and equipment to fill the pockets of their leather belt and harness. They move to the front of the craft and find a few more items, including an earpiece.

They move to the back of the craft and tap a few buttons on the wall.

The monsters outside step back as the door unseals and slides open slowly. They pop and stretch their knuckles in anticipation while they wait. Once it is fully open they wait a moment and even yell something into the opening. No response.

The slightly smaller of the two steps forward and leans its head into the vessel before stepping inside. There doesn’t seem to be anyone near the door. The giant squeezes itself forward toward the cockpit of the ship.

A heavy metal canister falls from the ceiling and makes contact with the back of the creature's head as it falls to the floor. The thin violet creature drops from the ceiling and gives the monster a kick to make sure it is down as it groans from the pain.

Hearing the noise from outside the other brute pulls an electroblade from its jacket and activates the weapon. It moves toward the opening to enter the craft when the feet of the purple creature come flying through the portal and make contact with its chest.

As the giant falls back to the floor the smaller thin creature drives its feet into its massive chest and springs forward into a roll, landing upright just a few feet away from the hulk. The creature makes sure to kick the electroblade out of the brute’s hand and down the walkway before taking off back toward the main facility.

Once inside it locks the door to the docking bridge and turns around to meet the unhappy face of Captain Kaellum.