The starlings.
The escape pod could only go so far. And the only place within reach was a Crag planet. None military, but that didn't mean it couldn't be dangerous. Called Treos.
"Please secure yourself," came the automated voice, "We are entering the atmosphere."
Even though they are far more advanced than before the ride was still rough.
Before they landed Garrick surveyed the landing. A rather rocky terrain. There was what appeared to be a village two miles away, still inhabited.
"This could be bad," he said as they landed uncomfortably.
He looked at the people in the pod. A short brown haired doctor with olive skin. A average height black haired scout. An average height bulky soldier, wearing armor not disimalar to Garricks. And a tall, slender, and bald, mechanic.
"We may have some trouble when we land," Garrick said, "There's a Cray village nearby. Possibility of being hostile, like most."
"You worked with a Crag didn't you?" The soldier asked informally, "Why do you think they're all bad?"
"I did," Garrick said, "because the one I worked with said they kill the ones who aren't. And what's your name?"
"Special operations Kirk Wallace, sir." Said Kirk.
"And the rest of you?" Garrick asked.
"William Yar, proffesional medic and scientist." Said the doctor. As if in order the next ones said their names.
The scout, "Recon proffesional James Pearce."
The mechanic: "Cheif mechanic, Eric Xavier, sir."
"It seems I've boarded with professionals, maybe." Garrick said.
The hatch opened.
A Crag was standing there waving his hands in a sign of peace. He had a language interpreter over his mouth which he spoke through.
"Humans! Good to meet you! Need anything? Food? Water? Bandages? We would be delighted to assist you!"
"What in the world!!" Garrick exclaimed. They were all utterly confused.
"Well...since none of yiu appear to be injured, please follow me," it said almost a little to wistfully, "I am Ankornk, it is good to meet you all."
"What reason do we have to trust you?" Garrick asked, he wasn't about to follow a Crag without any good reason.
It turned around, "What other choice do you have?" It's strange almost melancholy voice didn't help.
They walked, almost running, behind the Crag for quite some time. When they reached the village initially there wasn't anyone ther, halfway in they started to see things quite out of the ordinary. The Crags, they were wearing smily faces! They had attached face masks on with the simple smiley face that a child would write or you would find on the street. Different colors but all the same design. And they were all speaking in that same melancholy voice, "Hello humans, do you need anything? We'd be happy to help,"
Garrick thought that of all the things he'd seen this may be the worst. It terrified him on the inside. The only one of them keeping his cool seemed to be Eric. He just walked with them casually and smiled back, a little to nonchalantly.
"What's going on here?" Garrick asked the Crag walking in front of them. It turned around and startled them as it was also wearing that same mask, "What do you mean? Is there something wrong? We'd be happy to help."
"We just need a ship, enough to get us to our own." Eric said. His smile remained but there was a certain change of attitude in his voice, not fear, not anger, Garrick wasn't sure what it was.
"Of course. We'd be happy to help." The Crag said. It walked over into a borrow, "Wait here please."
Meanwhile all the Crags just stood there. Anytime someone made a noise, even a small one, they received that same phrase, "Is something wrong? We would be happy to help."
Finally the Crag came back, "Let me direct you to a ship made just for humans." And it began walking out. They reached a fairly large rocket like ship. It wasn't pretty, especially with those faces, but it looked rather sturdy. Eric nodded to the Crag, "I will check it out before we board."
The Crag just stood there. So Eric went inside. He remained in there a while and Garrick felt the tension building. Finally he came back out and looked on the outside.
"It appears good." Eric said, he was still skeptical.
"It was designed for humans." The Crag repeated.
"Indeed," Garrick whispered. Obviously the Crag heard it.
"What else can we do but trust them?" Asked Kirk.
Garrick and Eric both glared at him until he lowered his head.
"Please, get inside." The Crag interrupted.
"Not yet." Eric said.
"Please, get inside. Go meet the starlings."Other voices started saying as more Crags appeared almost out of nowhere and started coralling them in.
"Get ready to run!" Garrick yelled as he threw two grenades at the front and right and then started blasting away at his left. The grenades went off but more Crags just filed in. Garrick started running while taking down as many as he could along the way trying to clear a path. Kirk took up the rear and protected them from any semi slow moving Crags trying to grab them. Eric grabbed a Crag claw that somehow survived and hacked at the Crags using two of the fingers like knifes. Finally they made it out but they had to keep on running. There was a forest ahead, they might find shelter there.
"Into the forest! Climb the tallest tree you can! Then we'll manuver through them to get deeper into the forest and make some form of tree shelter." Garrick called.
"Oh yeah. Cause they totally won't try to climb up and EAT US! William called back."
"Something tells me they wouldn't make it past the first branch and that they don't use axes or anything else to cut down trees." Garrick answered.
They made it in and up, though extremely exausted, and tried to put distance between them and the Crags. Luckily the trees seemed to be perfect for going from one to another and they made it quite far before Garrick called to stop.
"Hope and pray they don't find us." He said, "And that it doesn't rain either. Now sleep, if you don't you'll regret it, despite the nightmares."
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