Eduian regarded Mystique as she worked considering her words, considering their situation. Considering everything that was going on. Making mental calculations. Listening and waiting. Listening and thinking. His hand brushed absently at his bloody hair again. Running his hand through the matted strands, feeling the sticky wetness beneath his fingers. He frowned and then looked at the radar readout displays in front of him. "I'm no engineer, I have no clue how to get that damnable gate to open somewhere else to allow our ships to get out of here. Pilot do you have any ideas?"<br/><br/>The man looked up at him his face covered in sweat. "the gate could be hacked," he said and shook his head, "If we had a full crew and an engineer, but we don't." The man said frowning severely. His eyes wide and startled. Fear evident in every plain of his face.<br/><br/>Eduian sighed heavily took the damp cloth and pressed it to his bleeding head. He brushed more blood out of his eyes in irritation more then anything damnation head-wounds bled badly. He was just about to hit the com button to open a channel to the pirate ship and see if they could help when they said exactly what he knew was the only way out alive.<br/><br/>"Signal all our ships, they are to follow Captain Darin's lead," Eduian said and the pilot ye sired him and did as he commanded. Soon the fighters where docking into the civilian holds. Retreating into the civilian ships and thus standing down. "Good open the com to Captain Darin,"<br/><br/>As soon as the secure channel clicked open Eduian spoke directly to the Captain's ship, "Captain Darin, I have ordered all Tearsia ship to head your commands, you have full controlled backed by our authority. I have received no words on the Aridian's, but presume that Skar will stand down and employ the diplomatic card, unless we are directly threatened again. He cannot risk open warfare with the Coalition. Not without the full backing of the Aridian Orkd Council and his mother's, the Orkd high queen's consent. Sadly our greatest ally will not be able to render aid. We are relying on you Captain Darin, and I will see to it personally that it is well worth your efforts to continue aiding us."<br/><br/>Just then the signal reached his ship. They were being signalled forwards for inspection. Something else flashed for a moment. An open airlock. What the? He looked again and it was gone. He didn't have any military support on board yet since the docking fighters hadn't locked their hatches yet. He looked over at Mystique, "We might have intruders, or been damaged in the launch, I do not know which, since the majority of this ship is children with few if any adults, I need to know if we can keep them safe. If we are breached, we might be risking their lives. I do not want them harmed,"<br/><br/>---<br/><br/>Zir sighed heavily as he got the all of the communication from the bridge, "Yah I got that, I'll do what I can, but honestly I'm not a hacker Dar. Explosives however, now there's my cup of tea!" He laughed, "You want more bang or more show?" He basically meant do you want the stargate to be destroyed totally and inflict some collateral damage if it was even possible, or do you want the Stargate just damaged and a lot more show to it. Something he didn't really like. The more damage they did the more chance that someone would want retaliation.<br/><br/>"Dar, you know that once we hack the gate we ain't gunna be able to choose where it goes right? It'll go to the first gate it finds, sort of like a seeker. It'll latch onto the first gate next in line. That could be lord only know where..." Zir finished sighing again. He unstrapped himself as he did so and walked down towards his work tables. "If your going to throw me about the ship again warn me Dar I can't build you an explosive if the ship is thrown every which direction and all that. We have no gravitational stabilization without the computer and were still in manual mode so thus no computer. You dig?"<br/><br/>---<br/><br/>Skar watched as his monitored showed him the retreating fighters and the ships lining up. Watched as they were starting to be scanned. He listened to the chatter on the secure lines in his ear. So that there was no risk of them being overheard by the open channel to the coalition. He looked over at his man. The man was organizing and recalling their fighters into the larger ships keeping only a small number surrounding his diplomatic ship as was appropriate until he knew if he was 'safe'. It was all done in Aridiannian so unless they understood the language which most didn't it wouldn't be anything but random background noise, and even if they did it wouldn't be anything he cared about having overheard. Everything was just as Skar liked it. Efficient and reliant.<br/><br/>He returned his gaze to the woman who was speaking. He waited for her to finish. Impatient as always. Skar wanted a blade and he wanted to fight. Always wanted to fight. Always itching for the fight. "I appreciate your warning ma'am, I was marly responding to a distress call from the planet surface. I happen to travel these parts often and personally know quite a few civilians. They are neither rebels nor terrorists of any kind. Though I cannot deny that they might not all be the most normal of allies." He nodded politely, "as it appears you are taking care of the civilians I will of course allow you to safeguard my person and ships. As you can see I have recalled my fighters and am showing no signs of hostility, I will not however lock down my weapons, that is against Aridian policy and procedures and not the way we operate. I shall make no move against anyone here, unless they first make a move against me. I will however, allow you to open your Stargate onto Aridian space, or allow me to exit this sector and enter Hyperspace on my own to return to my home. I will not go to a Coalition base to be interrogated like a criminal I am a Crowned Prince and have broken no Coalition law. You have no reason to hold me. Allow me to leave this sector and nothing more will come of these events. Prevent me from return to Aridia and it will be viewed as an act of war against Aridia's crown."<br/><br/>Skar said all of this in a softly controlled and neutral voice. Not wishing to seem hostile, in fact the words were not a threat or a demand, simply a statement. Since most including the Coalition high command didn't know the way the Aridian government worked he preffered to state things openly.<br/><br/>---<br/><br/>"I've ordered an evacuation, the pods are...." his voice broke off as he felt the sudden attack. He was knocked backwards his words dying as the wind left him. He felt the strength of the being on him. His mare human form wasn't anywhere near as powerful, but he wasn't going to just lie down and die. He heard the rest of the words in the link on his ear, words he didn't pay attention too. He struggled as his arms were pinned down. He felt the sting of a blade at his throat and he gasped.<br/><br/>He felt a slight shift in the ship. A hard jerk as the pods launched and it felt like they were being pulled into the planets gravitational pull. It was enough to dislodge the blade the tiniest amount. He shove hard with his free knee dislodging the man on him ever so slightly. With a sudden scream he threw all his weight straight up feeling the blade dig painfully into his shoulder. Tossing both him and the man into a roll. The blade now stuck in his shoulder cutting deeply caused the wound to bled profusely. He screamed and felt blinding agony lance through his body as he was slammed into the wall. He struggled to get out of under the attacker. He wasn't a match for the man. He was a commander not a soldier, a leader, a diplomatic man, he'd never done hand to hand. He had no weapons. He struggled and fought and felt something cold and metallic under his hand. He looked down at it. The control panel. And right there. A small green button. He pushed it. And felt the pod launch.