Chapter 391: Inspection Check, Rewind! (Part 2)

"Ahh..." The heavy sigh echoed within the ship’s silent command room. "What do we do now?"

"We’ve already sent Y-3892 to find out," The Syndicate officer with seniority adjusted his glasses. "If it is indeed one of those spaceships, we’ll follow our orders."

"What were they again?" The third and last officer asked. "We’ve been on this mission for so long... I was convinced they would never make it."

"We still do not know whether it is them or not." The senior grumbled.

"Who else would pass through this path? Only Mercenaries, and they wouldn’t stop for a check. They would run for it."

The senior turned towards his junior and stared for a moment. He re-adjusted his glasses. They were issued to him by his higher-ups within the Syndicate. Despite not telling anyone, he was particularly insecure about his vertically slit eyes, a particularity of his race that he saw as an anomaly.

"Just sit and wait patiently, Z-9901." He finally sighed.

"Even now you refuse to use our names?" Badge number Z-9901 scratched his head. "Well, if it is them, then our assignment together is practically over..."

A slightly anxious silence settled.

Noticing his juniors’ unease, the senior explained.

"It is unlikely for the ship to be theirs since the trackers placed on their ships still pinpoint their location to Serolia and Tyl. They might have found out about them and gotten rid of them, but that is unlikely."

"One tracker points to Serolia and the other to Tyl. The two ships were separated, which wasn’t something we thought would happen. Anything is possible."

"That’s correct, T-705, and it’s exactly why we were stationed here, because anything is possible, no matter how marginal the probability."

"The spaceship model is an exact match to those sent by Wor."

"Y-3892 will come back soon. If it is them, then we will inform and call for reinforcements, as we were tasked to."

"Reinforcements? Why?" Z-9901 asked.

"Because they might attack us?" T-705 hypothesized.

"After spending so long in the wilderness, you think they would attack people? We must look like saviors to them, though." Z-9901 argued, imagining the crewmates coming back from a journey of many months, bruised, wounded, exhausted, and on their last leg. "What do you think, Qinn?"

"We can’t speak on their state of mind as of now," Quinn, the officer with seniority, answered. "It doesn’t matter either way. The orders are as they are." The two knew how much of a stickler Quinn was for rules and orders. "And don’t call me that. You will refer to me by my badge number, as protocol entails."

Quinn wasn’t his real name, but a nickname they had given him against his will.

"Hm..." T-705 scratched his chin. "They’re not going to make it out of this, are they?"

"Why do you say that?" Z-9901 asked and turned towards Qinn.

The latter remained silent, and the ship was plunged back into silence until Y-3892 made it back.

Y-3892 raised his badge. A red light flashed from the ship as it scanned it, and the ramp immediately began to lower.

The three officers stared with grave expressions on their faces as their fourth and final comrade entered the command room. He seemed at ease. They assumed it had been a false alarm.

"It’s them," Y-3892 informed with a nod. "The ship from Wor."

"I see, I suppose we will stay here a bit longer..." Qinn’s vertical eyelids twitched. "What?"

Following Y-3892, two female Worka entered the command room.

"Hello," Liz said awkwardly.

"How do you do?" Roka stood by her side.

The three Syndicate officers froze at once, their minds racing. It made no sense for Y-3892 to invite them in. Had they threatened him? Were they threatening him? Their hands held no weapons, though...

"They’re tired after traveling for so long," Y-3892 explained as he walked through the command room. "I thought they could use the rest."

Qinn studied Y-3892 carefully and noticed that he had walked to reach the hidden button under the command board, which they were supposed to press in order to call for reinforcements.

He directed his attention to the Worka, judging that it was his job to divert their attention away from Y-3892 so he could press the button without arousing suspicion.

"Please, sit." Qinn gestured with a hand, guiding them towards two chairs on the other side of the command room. "What are you doing in these parts?" He questioned. "We’re stationed at the edge of the world, so it’s not every day we get-"

"You can stop that." Y-3892 interrupted. "I already told them that we know who they are, where they’re going, and where they were."

Qinn was surprised that Y-3892 had done so. He was even more surprised by the confession.

"M-Maybe we can arrange for you to be escorted back to Wor," T-705 started. Since Qinn had been caught being deceitful, it was only logical for him to remain silent from now on. "You still have a long way before reaching home so-"

"The escorts in question will probably kill you," Y-3892 said. "Well, I’ve told you as much already."

Roka and Liz nodded. Neither had taken a seat.

At once, both T-705 and Z-9901 reached for the weapons holstered around their waists.

Before those weapons could even be pointed at the Worka or at Y-3892, they fell to the ground. The two officers followed shortly after, their unconscious bodies hitting the ground.

’Wha... What was that?’ Qinn asked himself. He kept his body as still as possible while his mind raced. ’An attack that came from behind? How come? The two are...’

He was completely unable to find an answer.

’For a moment, it looked like... They were electrocuted?’

Qinn gulped, opened his hands, and cautiously raised them.

"I surrender." He declared.

"That’s good." Y-3892 nodded.

Qinn slowly glanced at the officer, of whose betrayal he was now certain.

"What’s that?" He asked, uncertain if he even had the right to talk. "Around your neck?"

They were invisible to all but Qinn.

"You have good eyes." Invisibility deactivated. Cero’s body was slowly revealed, and so were the tentacles wrapped around the neck of Y-3892. "Hello. Qinn, right?"

The officer stared at the alien’s imposing body before glancing at Y-3892.

"You didn’t call for reinforcements, did you?"

"No," Y-3892 shook his head. "I did not."