The Cell he was now calling home, was small, smaller than a double bed. With just enough room to curl into a corner and sleep. The smell was horrific. Damp walls that had some form of plant life growing on their skins and gave of a putrid stink. Well, at least he had been given the gift of sight again and with a sigh, he sat into the driest corner where some straw like bedding had been tossed messily on to the ground. In the little room, there was a small slit in the stone at the far end, opposite the door, the gap was no more than two inch tall but six inches long, allowed just enough light in to feed the putrid smelling plants with their daily requirement of sunlight. At least Theo could see if it was night or day. Two nights of imprisonment, two nights of sleeping restlessly upon a straw corner, two nights of the dreams of freedom, walking through the long grass, feeling the soft bristle of the flowers against his legs and fingers. Two nights of loneliness was all the Gryph allowed him before they breached his new home with shields and batons, calling wildly and beating him savagely, finally slipping the damp blood stinking hood over his head once more. The air around him soon turned cool with a kissing breeze, Theo felt the fear at once, but it soon turned to paralysis when they halted him in his tracks. Was this it? Execution time? Presently, the hood was lifted and Theo was pushed on his knees. "Corporal Theo Richmond, of Red Seven Three. cast your eyes upon the beautiful sky of my world and see what is happening!" cried the Gryph commander in a crisp white padded suit "I have asked my men to try use your language, to help speed things along." Theo slowly looked up, seeing the few stars in the clear night sky, mostly the black void was visible. "Governor Arden, The fleet has left and our ships are in position." said one of the guards to the commander. He looked at Theo with a malicious smile, full of hatred and joy, but simply pointed at the sky, Theo looked up and saw four large blue balls light up the black void. "Fun show, no?" asked Arden darkly before ordering the guard to cover his head once more, the guard did as he was ordered without hesitation and bagged Theo's head in the blood hood and dragged him back to his cell as Arden folded his arms behind his back and looked up to the blue balls with admiration. What was the point of that? Were they trialling a new weapon? Or was he simply flexing his muscles and demonstrating to Theo just the level of command he held, that he had no boss to consider, that he had no limits on what he could do to him?
Captain Errol sat in his fresh clean chair, thinking of what to do next. What was best? They had almost finished repairing all the electrical systems of The Iron Fist and The Vengeful. The Hopeful had sped up the tedious repairs upon their arrival, they had kept a battle spread formation as they floated through the void, in case the pirates made another go at them. A young man handed Errol a data slate with new positions of the Gryph fleet upon its skin, "Ah... they've decided to help now have they? Now that we are nearly bloody finished!" said Errol as he handed the datapad back and walked over to the helm screen to see the Gryph ships moving into a line position to their starboard. Errol cocked his head and saw they had stopped in a perfect line, facing directly at the human ships. Errol raised an eye brow and turned to ask a question to the tactical officer, however, he never did, the klaxon fired and the bridge auto security systems turned the bridge red, Errol cast his eyes back to the Gryph ships to see a large blue ball of plasma hurtling towards him. Not even thirty seconds had passed from Errol turning to ask a question to when the plasma smashed against The Judgement, tearing apart the bridge and ending the lives of the crew, Three more plasma balls had been fired at the other three human ships, equally tearing their hulls and melting their crew. The Gryph had betrayed them. The Mission had failed. Blood spilled over arrogance, pride and stupidity.