Now, moving on to Wes who in parallel had found Johnny's corpse, in his Therk physique. Emmerich had killed him. In a way, Wes was not surprised. He was aware that Emmerich's Sciro was one of the strongest in the army and for this specific reason he was chosen for this mission. Not to mention his savagery. On the other hand, this strength came in with the burden of loss of control over himself. Wes had known Emmerich almost his entire life and he has never met anyone on Palatex who struggled with his emotions so much in order to preserve his inner beast. Currently, he was out loose God knew where in pursuit of the Braxis leader. Johnny's carcass had deep bleeding injuries inflicted all over, limbs spread wide on the cold barren ground where Wes found him. He decided to bury him deep, so no human would accidentally run into it.
The Sciro was gaining on Reed who got wounded as a result of the great blow which got him instead of Kira. It was great hard work trying to dodge its talons. He kept a distance between him and the orange monster by shooting lasers until he had finally lost him. For quick few minutes Reed stopped to work on his bleeding arm. His abnormal hearing picked up the Therk Sciro's running within the vicinity and before he could blink the monster popped up from out of the darkness. Thinking quickly, the Braxis aimed precisely, firing at the very centre spot on the Sciro's stomach which reversed the shape shifting. In a flash, the orange fur was gone, its size shrunk to human form, and there was Emmerich kneeling on the ground, slightly perplexed. The enraged Reed took his chance and daggered him in the stomach. Emmerich gasped in pain.
'Feel that? Not pleasant, huh?' tortured him Reed, holding the dagger inside him as he whispered menacingly into Emmerich's face. 'The Braxis don't heal as fast as the Therks. So, I'm taking this moment to inflict as much pain as I can but I'm not gonna kill you.'
Emmerich's body convulsed as Reed skewered the knife deeper into his stomach in a slow agonizing motion. Streams of warm blood oozed from the cut down his naked his body.
'It would devastate Kira and I don't want her coming after me. I know you don't want that as well. Infuriated, she'll lose control. Destroy everything in her path. Eventually, self-destruct. So, you and I have a common interest, to keep her alive.'
The Braxis abruptly yanked out the knife, causing Emmerich to bawl. He laid flat on his back, letting the skin repair itself in a mere few seconds.
'You, Therks, are pathetic, trying to control your inner Sciro,' sneered Reed. 'You should learn to embrace it instead of restraining yourselves. That's why the Braxis have it easier. We can turn it off whenever, wherever we desire.'
Emmerich glowered at him, panting. Reed grinned wickedly and rushed into the shadows of the woods. In the next minute Leon appeared.
'Emmerich!' he cried, getting on his one knee beside Emmerich.
'I'm fine,' Emmerich replied, touching on his stomach where the Braxis stabbed him. Perfectly healed.
'I heard your scream. What happened?'
'Nothing.'
Emmerich's mind automatically replayed those few minutes prior to Leon's arrival. Without the need to hear his response, the Commander understood from reading his thoughts and did not say anything.
Back at the Donahue residence, the Therks were analyzing their findings, mainly Wes and Leon. They were deeply indulged in skimming and scanning the information transferred via the storage drive. There were three monitors installed and plugged to a single complex huge keyboard. A human IT specialist would not be capable of utilizing Therk technology. Wes, the tech officer, concentrated on the symbols on the screen while Leon ambled back and forth across the living room, waiting impatiently for the results. They worked till the first streak of dawn which dimly radiated the room and shed some light on horizon of the forest.
