The lights in the auxiliary room were faint; only illuminated by the red alert and hue of some of the monitors, Runt noticed. Everything else was so, so dark, but not that. It was almost like they were illuminating But that wasn’t exactly what he was focused on. What the Caitian was fixated on was Reon Williams—his friend, his best friend—who was cornered by two Vaadwuar, and injured.

”WILLIAMS!” Runt cried, causing both of the intruders to turn and look at Amira and Runt. The doctor glared forward as he ripped out her phaser, aiming it.

Williams looked up to see Runt and Amira coming to his rescue, a small smile forming across his face. As the Vaadwuar turned towards the cry, Williams threw himself at his right attacker; sprawling across the floor, and hitting one of the supply boxes mounted nearly nearby.

The two collapsed to the floor in a struggle of confusion, giving Runt the chance to hiss and jump directly for the other attacker. Amira just watched, amused.

“LITUT! GET THE CAT OFF OF ME!” The one Runt was going crazy on screamed. Before he could respond, Williams sent a fist down onto his face and blacked out almost instantly. Runt, meanwhile turned to put him in a headlock.

”DOCTOR!” Runt cried as he thrashed. “Tie this dude up—or, or something!”

Amira rolled her eyes and reeled her heel back, swiftly kicking the Vaadwuar in the face. And all he saw then was black.

–

“…nd it makes no sense to not head down to engineering with him.” Amira’s voice slowly came into view as the Vaadwaur invader came too. His hands were bound and his legs were bound as well, as he was tied against one of the monitors legs. Amira stood in front of him as Runt tended to William’s side.

”I say we beat some sense into him first!” Runt sneered, standing up—only to be stopped by Williams.

“No, we need him to talk. How many of his friends are aboard and whether they’ve taken any of our crew..”

He stopped and looked at the now clearly waking prisoner. “Now we can do introductions right. Hello.” Williams stopped Runt from tending to a cut on his forehead and got back to his feet.

”…..” The Vaadwaur didn’t speak, only glaring up at Williams as Amira stood near the door. She clearly had something on her mind.

”I’ll play good cop bad cop, I swear to god.” Runt stood up. “Listen, buddy. You’re outnumbered—spill the info you have now, or we throw you out into space.”

“Good cop bad cop…?” It sparked something in the back of his mind. Where had he heard that phrase before?

Runt lunged out and grabbed the man by his collar. “I rip open ships all day pal! Body’s not too different. Maybe I’ll open you up and see what makes you tick!”

Of course! Williams remembered watching Old Earth Media with his dad growing up. Good cop bad cop! He slipped into character opposite Runt.

“Easy there Runt!” He grabbed his shoulders in restraint and pretended to hold him back. “This guy just wants to get home. He doesn’t deserve to die.”

“He and his little cronies almost ripped out my ears!” Runt let out a very unhappy grumble, crossing his arms and pouting as he turned away from Williams. “But be my guest.”

“You won’t get a word out of me.” Hissed the captured Vaadwaur. He spit on the ground and glared at Runt. “Especially with the cat around.”

Williams crouched down and leaned into the Vaadwuar. “I understand. All this unpleasantness, it’s above our pay grade am I right? Listen, we want to go home, you must want off our ship. I’m sure we can help you back to your ship if you helped us a little.”

”Tch, what? I can serve my empire without having to bend to starfleet.” He spat with such malice in his voice it caused Amira to even cringe a bit. “You can kiss any chance of information away.”

Runt took a deep inhale and glared, trying to compose himself.

Williams sighed. “You gotta work with me here, man. My crewmate over there,” Williams motioned to the seething Runt. “I can’t be responsible for what he’ll do to ya. I mean, you should’ve seen what he did to the Gorn we caught in the neighboring system.”

Runt scowled from across the room, letting his claws notably come out. It seemed as if he was playing up the antics.

”I’ve heard the cold-blooded know how yo keep their cool. But one hour with our Catian…” Williams gave a shiver. “…I can still hear his sobbing.” He turned away as if remembering an unpleasant memory. He also happened to give the Vaadwuar a clear view of a disgruntled Runt heaving with frustration and glaring with a predators gaze.

”Oh, please. What is the kitty going to do, hm? Huwt mwe with his widdle cla—“ before the man could finish, Runt had already flung across the room and slammed his claws into the space next to him. The Caitians claws were sharp, he was very overwhelmed, and his fur was fully bristled. Indents were left on the wall.

”Talk.” Runt snarled. The Vaadwuar looked slowly to the side of the claws, and gulped.

“GOOD GOD! Okay, okay, fine!” He cried, as Amira from behind mimicked a very impressed round of applause. Williams pulled up a small crate for himself, Amira, and Runt, as they all sat and listened.

”It’s not even my like, fourth day here, okay?! I-I joined cause I had too, and I was living a pretty well pampered life with my mom! My names Ivvën, yeah? She’s a high ranking official, she can give you money if you let me go…!” Ivvën gave an uneasy chuckle, his tough demeanor instantly breaking.

“We don’t want money. We need information.” Amira crossed her legs, gaze intense. Ivvën tried to plead to Williams with his eyes for help.

“Why did you board our ship Ivvën?” Williams sat forward on his crate. The three listened intently.

”We’re here on conquest! And I uh, I…I don’t really know much about what we’re doing. Just…get rid of starfleet, take over sectors!” He squeaked out.

”Get rid of?” Runt hissed, tensing up.

Williams sat up. “So you’re not taking prisoners..” The sad thought set in as he realized that just outside of this bay, the crew were likely being slaughtered.

”Listen, it’s not—MY idea! Okay? It’s my captains! H-He wants to do it like this. I can’t say anything back!” Ivvën frowned. Runt was about to say something else, but Amira put a hand out to stop the cat.

”We’ll untie you and let you go.” She narrowed her eyes.

”OH, thank you! Thank yo-“

”BUT. You’re with us. I want a hostage that we can negotiate with.” The doctor stood up, glaring down at the intruder. “We won’t harm you, but I can’t promise what we won’t threaten.”

Williams stood up and walked over to a wall console, Runt trailing behind. He tapped it a few times and the deck layout appeared before them. “There’s an armory locker a few meters down the corridor from us. We can get phasers and move from there.”

He tapped again and small red signatures appeared moving down the corridor. “Looks like two… no three on our level.”

”Ugrh. Just our luck.” Runt hissed, grabbing out the handle for the plasma knife and flicking it on. Ivvën looked over, eyes widening.

”H-Hey! Hey, I don’t want you attacking any of my men!” The Vaadwaur squeaked. “At least, not fatally!”

”Your men are going to try to kill us, Ivvën.” Amira raised an unamused brow as she observed the map. “You’re suggesting we let them?”

“N-No! No! Not at all!” He stammered, as Runt glared the poor man down. “Just….please be careful?”

“Runt.” Amira looked at him, her voice a tone of warning. With a sigh, the Caitian turned off the knife and instead unsheathed his claws.

“Ffffiiinneee…” He grumbled.

They snuck down the corridor and Williams entered the combination for the locker. A rack of phaser rifles and pistols slide pit towards them. He takes rifles and hands them out.

Amira looks at Ivvën, then turns to her fellow crew members. “Set for stun. We’re heading for engineering.”