[center][h2]Midorimachi, Litvan[/h2][/center]

"No."

Four university freshmen sat at the bar, their light, wooden-brown faces framed by the black cloth draped around their heads. The rest of the bar's customers looked on in surprise at the spectacle, trying to figure out just what they were doing there. Nobody had ever seen a blank at the department store lunch counter, and no blank had ever tried to go to the lunch counter. The customers knew the blanks weren't supposed to be there, but they had no idea what to do. They'd never had to think about what to do.

"Well you boys are stubborn, aren't you?" Said the server "What the hell are you even trying to do?"

"We're trying to get a meal, Sir." Said one of the four, keeping a completely innocent tone. "What's the matter with that?"

"You know damn well what's the matter." Responded the server, his voice taking on a more hostile tone. "We don't serve blanks."

"We won't leave until we get our food."

"Oh my God." Said the server, placing his hand on his forehead. "Just give up, you stupid blanks."

The students were silent, simply sitting there, waiting for the food they knew would never come. The minutes turned to hours and clients came and went, each and every one of them staring at the students. The server just gave up on them, deciding to just let them stay there. When the time came for the store to close, he expected to have to shoo them off like they were dogs getting into the trash. Instead, they walked out of the door along with everyone else.

"So you sit down at the dark-only counter, but leave when we close?" Said the Server, almost ready to laugh "You're not all that good at breaking rules, blanks."

"Unless we're dogs, we didn't break any rule." Said one of the students.

"You weren't supposed to sit down at the counter, that's a rule."

"Just as I said." He said in response "We never broke any rule fit for a Rissan."

[center][h2]Deep space, one day from the Asteroid Belt[/h2][/center]

"Alien mothership on radar! Heading is approximately 30, 0.017, solar relative!"

"Futaskai." Growled the Commander, his teeth clenched. "They haven't come for our resources, they've come for our people."

The bridge of the [i]Dreadnought[/i] was lit in a bright yellow, making sure the crew could easily see their controls. The windows looked out into the vast expanse of space before there, a tiny dot of light barely visible to the right of the ringed gas giant that filled the left of their view. The rest of the fleet could be seen on either side, advancing towards that tiny dot. The nuclear pulse tugs had broken away from the fleet, all docking with the carrier. If things went south, they could do a "ten ten" burn to get out of the area. That is, 10g acceleration for ten seconds. Needless to say, that wasn't something anybody wanted.

"High-def ladar scan complete!" Yelled the sensors officer, turning around to face the Commander "Multiple possible weapons identified, all apparently anti-ship cannons."

"Cannons? Are you sure?"

"Yes, Commander Shou, about sixteen or so of them."

"So the aliens don't have a concept of fighters?" Said Shou, oversimplifying the situation "Every time we learn something new, this whole thing becomes closer and closer to that of a B-movie."

"Orders, sir?" Said the tactical officer, his hands on his keyboard.

"Launch the fighters! Take out those cannons and move in the fleet, the plan's been altered!" Yelled Shou "The heavies will encircle the ship and cut into the airlocks, then attach to the alien mothership and deploy marines!"

"Understood, Sir!" Responded the crew, frantically inputting the orders. The voice of the communications officer filled the bridge as she ordered the other ships to launch fighters, while the others typed orders into their computer terminals. Streaks of rocket fire filled the windows as fighters launched out of all three heavies, flying towards the alien vessel at reduced speeds so as to not end up overshooting their target.

The fighters launched missiles at the weapons emplacements, which were unfortunately far more effective than they had thought. A dozen fighters were torn apart by precision fire, a sight which made Shou cringe. The attack plan was adjusted, with the fighters getting too close for the alien weapons to track them effectively. The alien ship was using solid slugs instead of flak, which made their job significantly easier. Their missiles made short work of the weapons, thanks to the apparent damage they had suffered over years of spaceflight.

With the alien defenses crippled, the fleet moved in. After cutting into the airlocks using plasma torches, the four heavies latched onto the alien ship. Inflatable air seals were deployed, to prevent depressurizing rooms where the abductees might be held. The moment preparations were complete, marines stormed into the ship from all sides, opening fire the moment the doors opened. Instead of finding themselves in a lift-or-death struggle with a crew of alien monstrosities, they found that their bullets had hit only the walls. There wasn't anybody there.

Commander Shou walked in behind the marines, who continued to advance cautiously as if there was an ambush waiting for them. Still, they found nothing. It seemed to be a ghost ship, its crew long gone. Then one of the marines called out to Shou.

"Sir... you're gonna want to see this!"

Shou ran over the marine, taking out his own pistol just in case. When he got there, he saw a giant row of pods. Through the glass on top of them, he could just barely see the silhouettes of some kind of creature. Above each was a computer monitor, displaying what seemed to be vital signs.

"What the hell is this?" He said, examining the computers. "It looks like whatever these things are, they're asleep."

He suddenly realized what was going on, and turned to the marine.

"Oh my God they're prisoners!" He exclaimed, running over to the nearest one. "Can we free them?"

"None of the other teams found a single walking alien." Said the marine "I think this is the [i]crew[/i]. Perhaps controlling the ship telepathically?"

After thinking for a moment, Shou decided to agree with the marine. It made more sense than keeping prisoners in suspended animation, at least.

"How do we open them up?" He asked, looking at the computer monitor.

"We could just start pressing buttons." Suggested the marine

"I don't see any buttons..."

"Maybe the screen is touch sensitive?"

"Why and how the hell would you even make something like that?"

"They [i]are[/i] aliens."

Shou tapped a button displayed on the screen, and saw an increase in heartbeat rate on it. The pod below drained fluid out of it, and opened to reveal an alien that looked like a wet bird. To Shou, there honestly wasn't any difference. He pointed the pistol at the alien, and screamed at it.

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO MY PEOPLE?"

After getting no response from the confused and terrified alien, he pointed the pistol at another pod. A shot rang out through the room as he fired, the bullet smashing through the glass. The heart monitor flatlined as fluid leaked out of the pod, signaling the fate of its occupant. He quickly pointed the pistol back at the awake alien's head, finger twitching on the trigger as he stood above the odd creature.

"You'd better give me a response [i]right the fuck now[/i] or you'll get a bullet just like that inside of your goddamned brain!"