John crept aboard a star cruiser that was headed towards the Ctarl-Ctarl home world. As soon as he was on the ship, he slipped to the lower compartments of the ship where he would be spending the rest of the trip as a stowaway. He knew Jim was on those terrible beasts planet because he overheard Jerome say that that was where the ship was going. John only prayed he got to his friend in time before one of the savages got to him. He crawled into the ventilation shaft and fell asleep. He would need all the energy he could muster if he was going to survive on the Ctarl-Ctarl.

“I’m coming to save you Jim,” he whispered, before falling into a deep sleep


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Several levels above where John was sleeping, a Ctarl-Ctarl male that John was intimately familiar with was standing on top of him, clenching a fake passport. He growled at the picture on the passport, it looked nothing like him. Any Ctarl-Ctarl could tell the difference between him and this picture, but to the meatball that had stamped it, his kind looked all the same. He was going to head back to his home world and make contact with his former employer Jerome. Silently, he hoped that his boss wouldn’t be upset about him ditching him and going after his new mate.

“Once I’ve cleared things with Jerome, I’m coming for you Aisha,” Hojoma Jinjin growled, as he prepared to head home.


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At Starwind and Hawking Enterprises, Gene was tapping his toe impatiently, while Melfina was talking on the phone. Next to him, Suzuki was sipping her tea and watching the man walk around in circles. It would be amusing, if he wasn’t muttering incoherent curses every minute. He’d been like this since learning that two fifth of his crew had been kidnapped. Gene wanted his young friend and cat girl crewmate back with him and until that happened, he was going to be on edge. After what seemed like an eternity of watching Gene walk in circles, Melfina got off the phone and walked over to Gene. Melfina had been on the phone with the spaceport where Jerome ship had been stationed. She told them that the Timate 691 had left several hours ago, on route to the Ctarl-Ctarl home world.

“Start up the Outlaw Star, Mel. We’re coming to rescue to idiots that got captured,” Gene said, already half way out the door.


#######################################################


Hovering over the Ctarl-Ctarl home world, Jerome applied artificial skin over where he had been cut. It would look like he had a large scare over the right side of his face, but it was better to have a scare then metal sticking out. He had been planning on showing the Ctarl-Ctarl’s his displeasure with in person, via his fist and a few kicks to the ribs. But alas, his revenge would have to wait. He had important matters to attend to on the home world of his customers. A few of his distributors were upset at the loss of the young terrans on Heifong and he had to go and smooth things out with him before they started looking for someone else to supply them with young terrans. This redundant trip was due in part to Aisha, making Jerome hunger for revenge even more. He would kill her in due time, but now, he was heading to Ctarl-Ctarl HQ.

“Look out universe, Jerome is coming,” he cackled, as the ship began to begin entry.