Homestar Saga

Chapter 16: Neutral Species

 They spent six days travelling through Xill space. Their escort stayed with them at all times, weapons locked. On the second day, Mims decided they weren't in immediate danger and implemented a training regimen. This time, he reversed their roles. Lissa would learn piloting and the fine art of combat. Yvian would learn logistics and Confed law. Neither sister enjoyed it.

On the third day Lissa complained about the new training. Mims looked at her gravely, then said, "You're trying to shift the balance of power in the Confed. You will be targeted. Do you want to be helpless when it happens, or do you want to learn how to survive?" Yvian had wanted to gripe about learning logistics, but she wisely decided to keep her comments to herself.

Near the end of the sixth day, their escort stopped. The Random Encounter stopped with them. They were still one hundred kilometers away from the next Jumpgate. In front of them was a small fleet. A dozen Migs, six Ligs, four (frigate class) Fligs, and one massive Xill ship. Despite it's one point six kilometer size, there was something sleek about the curves of its frame. It swam through the void like a predator of the deeps, deadly, menacing.

"It's a Quig," said the human. "Xill equivalent of a battlecruiser. Only a couple of these things have ever been seen."

"Dangerous?" Yvian asked. It certainly looked that way.

"Fucking Dangerous," the human confirmed. "A lone Quig dusted an entire Confed Military fleet once," Mims stared at the screen, then shrugged. "Not that it matters, as far as we're concerned. The Xill in our escort are more than enough to kill us if that's what they want. The real question is why it stopped us."

"Ok," Lissa asked. "Why did it stop us?"

"I have no idea."

Yvian had an idea. Several, in fact. Maybe that fleet guarded the entrance to Xill space, and their escort had to follow some kind of protocol before it let them out. Maybe the Xill weren't a unified force, and the Quig had come to kill them because it hated organics. Maybe they were unified, and their escort had brought them to a ship that could take them aboard so the Xill could experiment on them. She kept her thoughts to herself. Her sister looked as nervous as she was, but neither wished to give voice to their fears.

Captain Mims looked as unflappable as always. His calm demeanor annoyed Yvian almost as much as it reassured her.

They waited in silence. The Xill fleet came to a stop half a kilometer from the Encounter. Nothing happened for several seconds.

"Should we..." Yvian shifted her gaze between her screen and the Captain. "Is there something we should be doing right now?"

"We're doing it," the human's voice was steady. "We just have to wait while they finish their business."

"What business?"

The Captain shrugged. "I dunno."

The comm chirped. The sisters jumped. The Captain stared at the monitor for a second, puzzled.. "Huh. It's hailing us." He pressed a button.

A voice came from the Quig. Strange, metallic. It carried no emotion. The words did not flow together, each sounding as if it was spoken alone. "LIFE FORMS DETECTED. ONE HUMAN. TWO PIXEN. QUERY: WHAT IS HUMAN'S DESIGNATION?"

"I am Captain Mark Mims of The Random Encounter," the human stated. "But you can just call me Mims."

"STATEMENT: DESIGNATION ACCEPTED," The Quig stated. "STATEMENT: HUMAN WILL BE CALLED MIMS. STATEMENT: HUMANS ARE CLASSIFIED AS NEUTRAL SPECIES. QUERY: HOW DID MIMS ENTER XILL SPACE?"

"We were sucked through a Klaath portal into an unknown sector," Mims explained. "When we activated our jumpdrive to escape, it dumped us in your territory. We do not have the navigation data necessary to use the jumpdrive to leave Xill space. We apologize for the intrusion."