Encounters

<snip>
“They’re all getting geared up to attack” Jay grumbled, glancing away down the tunnel
“Tell them not to – Chances are you’re going to save their lives by doing so!”
“Can I deny them the chance of maybe getting off-world?”
Cass smiled sadly at him
“Well, you know what I think you should do, but if you want to ignore me: That’s entirely your call Sparky...”
</snip>
Jay smiled – It had been a while since he had been called that
“To be honest Cass, I'm not sure if even I fancy the odds” he admitted “Those blue smeggers must be what? Three metres high and at least four times my body mass”
“Yeah, and don’t forget the teeth and claws” Cass reminded him “They look vicious - You’d be torn apart!”
Jay considered this for a moment
“I dunno...” he mused “I reckon I could probably take a few of them”
“What with?” Cass demanded incredulously “A rocket launcher?”
“Piss off” Jay grinned “Bow and arrows at range, and then a quarterstaff for close combat – I was Robin Hood, remember?”
“Well, okay; let’s say that’s three or four of the ten we saw down there, taken care of” Cass opened her arms to gesture expansively around her “Other than that shark thing, I don’t see anyone else around who would be able to handle even one of the others – You reckon we could manage the rest?”
“No” Jay admitted ruefully “At least not without casualties...”
“You know... The rocket launcher idea maybe wasn’t so stupid” Cass murmured, thinking aloud “Explosives should still work here on this planet - If we had any, we could just blow the cave ceiling and collapse it in on top of the machine?”
“That’s not such a bad idea” Jay nodded “Pity we don’t have explosives...”
“We might find some” Cass shrugged “Or I could probably cook something up with the right chemicals”
“Yeah...” Jay glanced away down the tunnel at the sound of Alex approaching “I should go and tell the others to halt the charge”
Cass smiled wanly
“Thanks for not ignoring me”
Surprised, Jay looked back at her
“It’s kinda difficult to do that” he began
“Guys...” it was Alex “I think we’re leaving”
Frowning, Cass looked from Jay to him
“Why?” she asked, somewhat perplexed “Everyone was all set for an attack a moment ago – What just happened?”
“Dunno” Alex shrugged “Before he just pissed off, Jaxx was going on about destroying the generator being a bad thing for you Jay – What’s that all about?”
Cass glanced sharply back at Jay, looking both surprised and hurt before her eyes flashed angrily
“Well, I feel smegging stupid” she grumbled petulantly “You could have mentioned that you had told everyone else, instead of letting me drag you away here, trying to protect your privacy”
“What? No!” Jay protested “You...” sighing, he glanced at Alex for an instant and then back at her “You’re the only one that I told about me being cured or in remission or whatever I am right now”
Cass frowned and crossed her arms, pursing her lips
“So how come that murderous smegging freak knows?”
“I honestly have no idea!” Jay said firmly
“So, you definitely didn’t tell him?” Cass demanded
“No!”
“Smegging great!” Cass threw her hands up and wheeled away, only to turn back again “So the smegging goit's psychic as well now? – That would explain how the psycho’s miraculously aware of everything I said while he was unconscious after we crashed on this smegging planet!”
“I s’pose we could ask him?” Alex shrugged
Cass glowered back at him
“Smegged if I want anything to do with him” she scowled, folding her arms again, defensively “I’ve seen the way he looks at me; it makes my skin crawl”
The two men exchanged glances, making Cass purse her lips
“What!?” she demanded coldly
“Yeah, about that...” Alex sighed, cutting in before Jay could say anything “You uh... You might wanna watch yourself wearing that outfit – It’s a little... revealing?”
Blanching and then colouring, Cass’s eyes widened in horror at the realisation of what he might have just implied
“You didn’t... see anything, did you?” she asked awkwardly, her eyes darting, not knowing where to look
“God, no!” Alex lied “I just thought I’d pass on a friendly bit of advice – Wouldn’t want anyone, y’know, getting the wrong idea or anything”
“No” Cass murmured, uncrossing and then re-crossing her arms uncomfortably “I mean, it’s bad enough being dressed like this” she looked at the floor in embarrassment “Anything else would be… well... degrading”
“Anyway” Jay said quickly “No harm done, eh?”
“If you say so…” Cass scowled, narrowing her eyes
Any further rejoinder was prevented by one of the blue “demons” suddenly emerging from a side tunnel a little further down, its massive form virtually filling the tunnel beyond, it’s muscular arms holding two human sized, wild eyed and grey skinned bipedal creatures back on leashes
It barked something in an unrecognised, guttural tongue and let go of the grey creature’s leashes

<tag>Well, that doesn’t seem very friendly - what happens next?</tag>