‘Blink and you’ll miss it’ is a phrase that is generally used to refer to something of note happening too fast to be observed unless one is paying dedicated attention to it.
The same phrase I can now attribute to how the hlorsiené move when under extreme pressure.  Not dissimilar to a cornered animal, their senses and reflexes focus many times over and they become very dangerous.
For several units, I had considered my reflexes to have been refined through my training and energy mastery.
In the space of a few heartbeats, Rame taught me how much further I have to go.
Having successfully knocked his guards off balance, he grabbed Culpin’s baton as it fell, wove its way out of our boxed formation, taken Eugene’s right arm, twisted it behind his back and raised the weapon to the right of his hostage’s temple, pulling him around until they were facing us.  All whilst in handcuffs.
“Nobody move!”
His voice was shrill, his entire body twitching to ready himself in anticipation of intervention.
He had a finger applying a little pressure to the plasma trigger, the slightest movement and it would fire.
No matter how confident I was in my energy control, he had made sure that there was no room for me to strike without him without risking the baton obliterating Eugene’s head.  Trying to create a barrier between the two was impossible as their bodies were so closely pressed together that I would risk generating it within one or the other’s bodies, essentially disemboweling someone.
“I want a ship!”
Everyone in the docking bay seemed to be frozen in place, each being looking at one another as though trying to identify the person who would be taking charge of the situation.
It appeared that no-one was jumping to seize the task.
Taking a few short breaths, I began to straighten myself from the half crouch that I had landed in.
His eyes snapped to me, moving so that Eugene was positioned between us.
“I said don’t move,” he was attempting to stop his voice from shooting up another octave, “you especially.  I know what you can do!  Just try it and this guy will be the first casualty!”
With deliberate slowness, I raised my hands, fingers spread, hoping that the gesture translated and was not about to get someone killed.
“I just want to make sure no-one gets hurt.  There’s no need for anyone to die here today.”  My voice wavered with every word that I spoke, however I doubt that he noticed or even realized there was a difference, “Eugene is innocent, what will it take for you to let him go?”  I knew that it would have been pointless to ask him to simply let him go in exchange for an empty promise of an attempt to prove his innocence.  The best way to get him to calm down, even a little, was to try to understand him and convince him to understand how the situation would go.
“A ship out of here.  I don’t want to be here!”
I gently nodded my head, “and then what?”
He looked confused, “and then I’ll be gone, anywhere but here.”
“Okay, I understand what you mean,” I lowered my hands so they fell limp at my sides, “but where will you go?  Any ship on this station will be tracked and reported throughout the galaxy.  Eve if you did manage to get away, then what?  All of your assets were seized, your home, your finances, even your wife testified against you,” I felt cruel, my heart clenched at the words, “she won’t help you.”
“Of course she won’t!” he shrieked, “she helped him to set me up.  Then they both let me take the fall.  I didn’t do anything, I don’t belong here.  They do!”
“Then, if you didn’t do anything, you need to go about proving it with the law on your side.  If you do it by taking hostages and steeling ships, then you will be guilty of all new things.”  Had he been human, I would not have bothered even trying to reason with him, the characteristics that he was displaying would have had a desperate stubbornness, making him deaf to common sense.  I was gambling on the hope that a being of a race, that was more highly evolved than our own, would be able to understand.
His hands were beginning to visibly shake, his eyes darted around the room at all of the witnesses, self-doubt steeling into his mind and forcing him to calculate his choices.
“No-one has been hurt here,” I continued, “release Eugene and you have my word that we will all just pretend that nothing happened.  No casualties, no extra charges.  We’ll go in and see about finding you someone that can help you.  What do you think?”
I watched carefully as his eyes flitted about the room, attempting to work out which beings would actually be willing to go along with such an idea.
“I can’t,” his words stammered, “you can’t promise that, there’s no way they’ll let this go!”
“How about,” I thought quickly, “if everyone who is willing to just forget this, raises their arm, to show you that they agree to what I’ve suggested.”
A few arms were tentatively raised straight away.  It took a few glances and meaningful nods to raise the last few.  The only hand that did not go up was…
“Eugene?” for the first I looked straight at his face.  If a look could achieve a physical effect, I would have died from poisoning the moment that he had been grabbed.
His scowl was something to behold as he narrowed his eyes at me until they were barely open at all.
I raised my eyebrows imploringly and tilted my head towards him, willing him with all of my might, not to do anything stupid just because it would be the opposite of what I asked.
My hopes were dashed as I felt only a surge in spiteful indignation.
He took a deep breath as I shook my head as slightly as could be mistaken for a twitch, “Eugene, please, just… let it go, it’s not worth it,” my voice begged.
“Fuck no.”
His voice was calm yet undeniably filled with venom as he threw his head back, aiming to collide with the head of the hlorsiené that held him.
He brought his free arm to knock the baton away as he twisted away from Rame’s body, taking advantage of his momentarily dazed state to wrench his other arm from his grasp.
Rame’s eyes blinked slightly as his head absorbed the impact that was granted by the human skull, unfortunately hlorsiené bones are far denser than ours and the effect was gone before any shock could dull his reflexes.
All Eugene had done was gain a few centimetres of distance from the baton.
It was enough.
I flung a barrier onto the nozzle of the device as it fired.
It was not enough.
The energy from the plasma reacted with the remaining energy within the baton and it exploded.
The energy released was mostly harmless, the pulse of which knocked anyone standing too close, to the ground.  The plasma and electricity however did not disperse as harmlessly.
The damage did not extend beyond approximately a metre.
Both Eugene and Rame flew in opposite directions towards the ground.
The blast had scorched them both over half of their bodies.
Nether were conscious by the time they hit the floor.
Everyone jumped into action.
Tyler and Albert sprinted to Eugene’s side, calling his name.  The remaining passengers that had been waiting to return to the Venanth-Nepha, scurried onto the shuttle, out of harm’s way.  The two officers that had chosen to freeze during the incident, suddenly decided to take charge; ushering everyone back and away from the injured, whilst using their communicators to call for help.
Bernard managed to convince Tyler and Albert onto the shuttle.
Culpin appeared to be communicating with the officers and Ishni stuck close to my side.
I was beyond grateful to my teacher.  His presence helped me to keep my head.
I had just severely injured two beings.  For all I knew at the time, I might have killed them.
My ears were focused on the words that the officers spoke as they inspected the injured, taking note that they continued to help them instead of stepping aside and declaring them deceased.
My breathing started to come in gulps, before I realized, I was on the verge of tears.
Turning my head, I met Ishni’s eyes.
I felt my own right begin to fill with water
“Ishni…” my voice was a whisper, “what do I do?”
He placed a wing gently on my shoulder, “what you need to.  You can’t help them at the moment.  Now, tell me, what needs to be done?”
I blinked my vision clear and swallowed over the lump in my throat, “we need to get help to them.  That will already be on its way.  We need to get the others back to the ship but we can’t leave Eugene here.  Do we have the facilities that are needed to help him?”
Ishni continued to hold my gaze as I continued to think out loud, “we need to find out.”
I tapped on my arm, bringing up my communication list.
I selected Ven.
“Laura,” its voice was unexpectedly comforting, “we have had a report of a human hostage being taken.  What can I do?”
I cleared my throat and steadied my voice, “it was Eugene Hodge, he was taken hostage by Rame Niaares.  Both are injured.  If we bring Eugene back to you, do you have the facilities to aid his recovery?”
“It is likely that I do,” it said, “what can you tell me about his condition?”
“Severe burns over the right side of his body, he’s currently unconscious.  I don’t know about internal damage just yet.”
A few moments passed before its voice returned, “I will wait for a full diagnosis before I can confirm my ability to support him, however Deia seems confident that I have the appropriate equipment and medication needed.”
Attempting to keep my sigh of relief internal proved impossible, “thank you Ven.  I’ll send you the details as we receive them.”
“Understood.”
A few medical personnel had arrived along with a few more of the station’s officers.
The former set about treating the pair whilst the latter went about taking statements and collecting evidence.
In a surprisingly small amount of time, Eugene was stabilized and taken onto the shuttle.
We were told to return to the Venanth-Nepha to await the officers who would be transferring Hoejo and his colleagues.  They would inform us of the outcome of the incident and let us know what would need to happen next.
Ishni piloted the shuttle.  Instead of taking us back to the shuttle bay, he took us to the outer rings, to where there was an airlock that opened directly to the med-bay.  The airlock itself could be used as a cell for prisoners in need of treatment, the outer door is set to open only when it is connected to another ship with life support.  Or at least it is now.  Under Nesutten’s command, it was also used as a way to flush uncooperative inmates into space.  Ven has since changed the requirements for its release.
We gently transferred Eugene into Deia’s care.  He was placed into something resembling a hyperbaric chamber which, if I am not mistaken, contains billions of medi-bots and fresh materials that heal and restore.
He will not be waking up any time soon
Deia says that the pure force of the combustion ricocheted through his head, to avoid any unnecessary damage, that could be caused by being conscious, he would be kept sedated until his brain has healed enough to react to the shock of the memory of what happened.
The burns can only be healed to a certain extent.  They cover fifty-eight percent of his body, which is more or less his entire right hand side.
The majority of the burnt tissue is currently blackened and will have to be surgically removed before the fibers of his clothes can be extracted.  With generous care, and extra surgical procedures, his skin will return to its original deep caramel colour.  The shape will never be the same, barring more surgery and prosthetics.
I have already decided that I will use my own funds to cover any procedure that he chose to have.  It is far shy of the least that I can do.
When he wakes up, we will ask him whether he wants to go to Virrion or to Tiima-Vira, a world dedicated to rest and recovery.  There are companies and facilities there that will be able to help him.
My greatest concern is that he will refuse my offer of help.
I believe that I will have to ask someone to act as an intermediary.  It feels like a cowardly decision to have made however, I know without a shadow of a doubt, that he come after me with a vengeance if I show my face to him.  I do not want him to be handed the chance to do something that will cause him self-corruption.
He deserves vengeance against me.
If it comes down to it in the future, I may let him take it.
That is if I do not die in the overly dramatic way that Desmosa insists is still maintaining its probability.
I will have to wait and see which comes for me first.

Once we had everyone settled down and generally dispersed into the crew quarters, we received a request from Meneleo, asking us to grant a Community ship access to our docking bay.
Geidon came on board with ten officers, each armed with huge batons and dressed in rather scary yet flexible looking body armour.
Firstly we were informed that there would be no follow-up to what happened during Rame’s escape attempt.  The actions that I took fell under the jurisdiction of what force bounty hunters are allowed to apply to capture a criminal, which is technically what I did. 
Rame has been admitted to a medical centre on Eriost Tilten Which is what he is entitled to as a convict there.  As we have brought Eugene back to the Venanth-Nepha, they no longer have any concerns for pursuing charges against anyone.
It I get a chance in the future, I would like to attempt apologizing to Rame, however he will likely be unconscious for as long as Eugene, therefore such a conversation shall have to wait.
The officers then made quick work of transferring the five former members of the Venanth-Nepha’s crew into the cells on board their own shuttle.
Despite the fact that they were the only criminals that we had caught ourselves, there was no reward for their capture as they were only seen as guilty after the fact.  No bounty was offered for their capture therefore there was nothing to claim.
I cannot really comment on the fact that it seems more financially worth while to allow a criminal to get away before they are captured.  I wonder if it was that sort of temptation on Nesutten’s morals that lead him and his crew to become worse than those that they hunted.
The simple fact that he is still free out there in the galaxy makes me very nervous.
I have resolved to catch him before he can get to me.
The rapidly expanding number of how’s are beginning to weigh down on me however.
We have no clue as to where he escaped to.  He kept any information regarding safe houses or emergency contacts out of Ven’s systems.
There are a few routes that Ishni can show to me; places to go, contacts to talk to, rocks to look under.
All of which are somewhat hampered by the fact that we have another task to focus on.
As we track down and retrieve more of mankind, we will be focusing on hunting bounties that are in the systems that we will be traveling to to collect them.
Needless to say, this will hamper our likeliness of discovering the former captain’s whereabouts, so for now we will simply have to double our defenses and watch our backs.
Our next destination is Virrion, to drop off our passengers and recover the Piti.
There will never be any time that I will be ready to face anyone on Virrion.
All that I can do is what I have been doing.
Remain calm and absorb all that they have to give to me.
My guilt will never outweigh their pain and I need to help them to feel that they do not have to hold back what they feel towards me.
No matter how many physical or verbal attacks that will be coming my way.
No matter how many stung cheeks I receive.
Or worse.