“Damn it! I said to wait!” the Navigator cursed. She was out of options, either she attacked, or the Inthidlon was going to shoot her partner. The Zapper barked three times, sending three, needle-thin rays of energy at the creature’s head. A bubble of force shimmered into existence around the alien, stopping the shots before reaching his body.

The Scout’s helmet unfolded, revealing his head. “A Zapper? You shot me with a Zapper? What am I? A level one Ezz? Even your friend’s primitive projectile weapon packed a stronger punch. At least it was slow enough to bypass my armor’s force shield. You should have used your Dart Launcher, it might have actually scorched my armor.”

“I didn’t want to kill you, but I had to do something,” Nori said with clenched teeth, her gun still aimed at the creature’s head. “You were going to shoot him.”

Fle'gak waved his small golden weapon. “This is just a stunner. It wouldn’t have killed--”

“You killed my men!” Bulco exploded into action. Taking advantage of the short distraction, he charged at the alien. His fist shot forward and The Puncher triggered, adding to the force of the strike.

The Inthidlon brought up his free arm and caught the fist that was aimed at his head. His armor hummed and the golden lines glowed as he was forced back a step, but the force of the attack was absorbed. With a grunt and shove of his own, the Engineer was sent flying against a wooden table holding several vials. The table shattered and Bulco crashed into the ground in a shower of wooden splinters and broken glass.

Before Nori could intervene, the alien’s pistol fired. A blue pulse hit the struggling Engineer and seemed to dissipate harmlessly.

“Well, that’s surprising,” Fle'gak lowered his gun. “That pulse was enough to immobilize every human I encountered here. Ah, I see now—you are both level seven. Very admirable. You were level five only a solar day ago.”

Nori partially lowered her Zapper. “Are you saying you didn’t kill anyone?”

He shook his head. “No. I followed your flight path from the station. When I got above the city, I got into range and picked up signals from one of my packmates’ comms. When I came in to investigate, the humans here started shooting at me.”

The alien was standing with his back to Bulco who was still grunting in pain. Through the wreckage, Nori could see the large man holding an unbroken beaker, and he was reaching for something inside his jacket.

“I don’t know why the signals led you here,” she said, lowering her weapon completely. “Your packmate is obviously not here. You made a mistake.”