Cory woke with a start, remembering that he wanted to ask the Commander something. He took a quick shower still amazed at how clean he felt after a sonic shower, but he still craved the feeling of hot water coursing over his still sore muscles and sooth his quickly fraying nerves. Putting on a fresh plain uniform, since he had no real rank in this organization yet, He got himself put together and walked out the door.
He reached the command center in a few minutes. Going in he saw T'ilvesh at the table going over reports that had been put there while he had been off-duty. Krystal was at her station, watching a monitor for any disruptions in the vicinity. She smiled brightly when she saw him enter.
"Sir," Cory said, as he stepped up to the Commanders desk "I'd like a minute of your time when you have it."
"Now is fine, Cory," the Commander told him, "Have a seat."
"Thank you,Sir," Cory said, "I have a question."
"Go ahead."
"Have you ever captured a live Ruchkitay and if so, could I get a chance to study it and maybe find a weakness we can exploit?" Cory inquired
"Very few have ever been captured since they normally fight to the death. They ask for no quarter nor do they give any." T'ilvesh responded, "But I think that there might be one or two you could observe."
"How about live feeds of past battles?" Cory asked "That could help, as well.
"Yes, we have footage of some past battles, but our own scientists have not found any weaknesses," T'ilvesh stated "How do you think you can help?"
"Fresh eyes may spot something that others won't because of their familiarity with them." Cory said "I might not find anything either, but I'd like to try."
"After your training. That will give me time to put all the records together." the Commander told him.
"Thank you, Sir." Cory replied, "I'll be back then."
"No need to be so formal since we only use those ranks in battle. You'll find this out as we go along." T'ilvesh responded with a grin, "Saves time and makes it easier to relate with the rest of our coalition if you don't throw rank around a lot."
Cory smiled as he thanked the Commander again and left for breakfast before meeting the rest of the squad for training. When Cory got to the mess hall he found the squad there waiting for him. He got his breakfast, then sat next to Hawk and started to eat.
"So," Rufin asked, "how did your night go with the lovely Krystal?"
"Pretty good," Cory replied with a grin.
"Details, my boy,details." Rufin coaxed, "We can't gossip without them. C'mon, give."
"You won't get them from me." He said, "I don't kiss and tell."
"Awww, spoilsport," Rufe pouted then brightened, "Krystal will."
"That's Her choice," Cory responded, straight faced, "But I'll be more surprised if she doesn't slap you when you ask."
"Honestly, I would be, too." Rufe laughed, "But I had to try."
"Has anyone ever told you, it's women who are supposed to gossip?" Cory teased him
"The guys on my world do it as much as women do."
"I bet the divorce rate is sky high there, too."
"Not really, nobody pays attention to it, anyway."
"Then why do it?"
"Boredom, mostly."
Cory laughed throughout the rest of his meal at that.
The rest of the day was filled with weapons training and hand to hand sparing. Although fiercely out numbered Cory managed to hand out some hits of his own. Hawk and Rufe had some bruises to prove it. They slapped Cory on the back and praised him on his performance and improvement.
As Cory was walking towards his quarters, sweating profusely from his work-out, Krystal ran up and threw her arms around him before he could stop her. She kissed his cheek and let go.
"Yuck! You need a shower." She told him.
"You didn't give me a chance to stop you." came the response "That's where I was headed."
"See you after." Krystal said "T'ilvesh said the records are assembled for you. What records?"
"Tonight's date." Cory said, smiling.
"Sounds interesting."
"Should be."
Cory went into his quarters and got into the shower. As he watched, the sweat dried and fell off leaving him clean. He got dressed in jeans, T-shirt and sneakers. Grabbing a pizza and root beer from the dispenser and went to meet Krystal at her quarters door.
Knocking brought Krystal out.
Her hair fell past her shoulders onto an emerald colored dress and sandals. She looked fantastic to Cory, although she always looked hot and sexy to him, tonight she took his breath away.
"WOW!" Cory exclaimed when he saw her. "I just ...WOW. You are amazing."
"Not bad yourself." Krystal said "Dinner?"
"Got it here." Cory said "Let's go."
As they walked she grabbed his hand, intertwining her fingers with his. The smile on his face said he thought he was the luckiest guy alive.
When they reached the conference room the rest of the squad was sitting around one corner of the table trying to figure out why they were there.
Cory waved and continued on to talk with T'ilvesh.
"I thought your squad should be here for this," The Commander said "They might help you spot something. I've got to finish up. "
After he had left all eyes were on Cory to explain what he was looking for.
"I wasn't expecting you to be here," Cory began "but I'll take all the help I can get."
He went on to explain what he was looking for. As he spoke the looks on the faces of his friends told him they were taking this seriously. He was gratified to see this since it meant he would get the help he needed.
"Let's get to it," Rufin said "but first, what is that I smell?"
"It's called pizza," Krystal blurted out "It's fantastic !"
"So, let's try some."
"I wasn't expecting you. I only brought enough for two."
"There's a dispenser over in the galley area in the corner." Krystal pointed out, looking over in that direction. Cory went over and brought back four large pies. Krystal went with and brought back root beer for the rest.
All the team members were impressed with the meal, but were silent as the footage of their foe was displayed. As stated the Ruchkitay were viscous fighters. Watching the footage Cory barely kept from throwing up. The beings not only gave no quarter but when an opponent was no longer able to fight they ate the other fighter.
Hours later they stopped watching, their eyes dry and grainy feeling.
"I didn't notice any weaknesses from this," Cory stated "but We're not even a quarter of the way through, yet."
"Short training tomorrow, then back to the footage. We have to find something, our lives and worlds depend on it." Surni said desperately, looking at the rest of the group.
They all nodded in agreement as they made their way back to their quarters. Saying good night they split apart and went their separate ways. Cory walked Krystal back to her quarters. At the door he kissed her goodnight and turned to go. Krystal grabbed a handful of Corys shirt and pulled him inside with her.
"You don't think you're getting away so easily, do you?" She said to him as she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer. Clearly she wanted him to stay with her as long as she could.
"If it's always going to be like this, I don't want to go," Cory replied, kissing her gently "but I'm beat and need my sleep. If I stay I won't get any sleep. THAT I can promise you."
"I'll hold you to that." Krystal told him as she reluctantly let go of him "I'll see you tomorrow ?"
"I'll be up in about eight hours for breakfast," Cory said "want me to come for you then ?"
"Sure, if you're not too busy by then." She replied
"Alright then, I'll see you in the morning. Good night."
" Good night."
Cory went back to his quarters and lay down to review what he had seen earlier. The Ruchkitay seemed invulnerable. Energy weapons didn't phase them. It looked like it was absorbed without any effect. Cory wanted to see if projectile weapons could harm them. Tomorrow he would talk to the commander for permission to experiment with a captive enemy. Maybe he'd get lucky, but he doubted it.
"It's worth a try." He told himself as he drifted off.
A few hours later he woke with a start. He had been dreaming about home. Running away from giant roaches that were devouring everything and everyone they came across. He tried to relax and fall back to sleep. He was too keyed up to sleep however so once again he wandered the corridors of the ship as he pondered over what happened to Surni's world.
She had described a scene from a horror movie, people laying dead as she ran for her life as the young hatched and began eating. Everything. She explained that when she went back after hiding in a small cave that the dead were gone, eaten by the Ruchkitay as they grew. She had stumbled upon a scene she would never forget, watching from cover she saw the young eat her siblings. Fortunately, they were already dead but the sight was enough to anger her to fight.
Now it was all that drove her, the chance for retribution.
Cory walked and walked but couldn't keep the visions of his dream from occupying his thoughts. No doubt about it, he was terrified. The Ruchkitay were headed for Earth and so far nothing was stopping them, though he knew his new friends were trying. He also knew they had failed in their attempts.
He soon found himself in the mess hall. He got a cup of coffee from the dispenser and turned around almost knocking over the rest of the squad. Like him it seemed everyone couldn't sleep.
"I'm surprised to see you guys here" Cory said.
"Why?" Hawk said in return "You're not the only one with disturbing dreams. Watching that footage ... well it didn't help, either."
"Sorry, I didn't know T'ilvesh was going to invite you to watch." Cory apologized.
"Not your fault." Rufin said "We had no idea what you were up to. I'm sorry now, too, but it needs to be done. We have to find a weakness, we have to."
"What's that?" Surni asked pointing at his coffee.
"Coffee, a drink usually for waking up," He answered "The dispenser has it in it's memory since I brought it back."
"Smells good, very fragrant" Surni replied as she got some for herself. She made a face after her first sip.
"Bitter though."
"It's an acquired taste."He told her as the others got coffee for themselves.
"It is good," she said swallowing her second sip, "nice and hot."
"Don't drink too much, it has a kick. Caffeine is big on my world. I usually only drink a cup or two at breakfast, then I switch to water. Too much caffeine is not good." he explained "You can wind up shaky or have digestive problems and sour stomach from too much."
"OK, just a cup then."
The rest sat and sipped their coffee as they discussed their plans. Cory told them about his plan for the morning. After an hour of discussion they walked back to their quarters and separated.
Cory fell asleep quickly even with coffee. Unfortunately for him it didn't last as a few hours later he was awake again. He took another sonic shower and got dressed for training. He left his quarters and turned towards Krystal's door. Just as he was about to knock she opened her door. Cory jumped back, startled.
"I wasn't expecting you so quickly," He said
"I've been waiting for you for an hour, I had trouble sleeping last night." She told him.
"So did I," He replied "I met the rest of the guys at the mess hall. We talked for awhile about what we watched. We agreed we need to find a way to win this as quickly as possible, but nobody saw anything that could help."
"That's why after we eat I want to see T'ilvesh." She said.
"Me, too," He stated "I want to try something but I need his permission to do it."
"What do you have in mind?" She asked him curiosity eating at her.
As Cory explained, her eyes grew wide. By the time he finished her mouth hung open in disbelief.
"You can't! If you get killed now all is in vain!" she almost shouted at him. The fear shown on her face gave away how much she really cared about him.
"I don't plan on doing anything that stupid." he reassured her, seeing how she reacted to his idea.
"I know you won't because I'm going with you!" Krystal told him in no uncertain terms. "And don't you dare try and tell me no."
"Wouldn't dream of it." Cory said holding his hands out in surrender. "So let's go have breakfast before we do this."