Lois
My view of the commotion is very quickly blocked by a huge Xaviann frame, and then another. Az and then Kiahn seemingly instantly switching into defense mode.
There’s shouting.
Angry shouting.
I hear the whirring sound of those huge blaster guns powering up.
Lady Zalora even picks up her cane like she’s about to whoop ass with it.
But from the quick glance I got before the expanse of Az’s muscular back got in the way, it looked like what strode inside the dining room was… a shadow.
Not a literal shadow. But the tall figure had been dressed completely in black and had no facial features.
“Your security is severely lacking in the palace’s west side. I suggest the guard’s rotas are revised,” says a deep, raspy, and unfamiliar voice.
“How did you get in here?!” Kiahn demands, training one of his guns at the newcomer.
“I believe I just answered this question, Prince Kiahn,” the voice says, and it sounds like… it kind of sounds like he’s talking into a voice modulator or something – it’s almost unnaturally deep.
I chance a peek around Az and see that our visitor is huge.
And wearing tactical gear – most notably, he’s wearing a hard, plain black mask that covers the whole of his face – kind of like a cross between a motorbike helmet and a fencing mask, but I can’t see any hint of his face beneath.
A set of horns – shorter than any Xaviann’s I’ve seen – are the only uncovered part of him.
“Okay, okay!” Zann interrupts, putting himself between the newcomer and his brother’s gun. “Everybody needs to calm down.”
“Zann,” Kiahn snarls, not lowering his gun. “What have you done?”
Zann shrugs with his hands still up, trying to calm his brothers. “I’ve just hired some extra security detail for while I’m away. That’s all.”
“You know this Zyxiaan?” Az spits.
Zyxiaan? So he’s a completely different species? That would explain the shorter horns, I guess.
“Yes-yes,” Zann answers, walking back toward the mystery Zyxiaan and clapping him on the shoulder. “Drex and I go way back. I believe we first became acquainted when we doubled up on a game of duos against some Zerathi at the gambling houses on some space station or another.”
“It was planetside on Garoothi Five, and I believe you ultimately lost us all our winnings… and then some,” ‘Drex’, our new, masked, deep-voiced guest, adds.
“Did I?” Zann responds, grin still in place. “Well, we all remember these things differently. Anyway,” he says, turning back to his Aunt and brothers, “Drex was in need of employment. I needed someone to watch my bride while I’m in exile. I think things came together nicely, don’t you?”
It’s at that moment that we all look to Jaya – poor Jaya, who is looking like the proverbial deer in the headlights.
That huge, dangerous-looking, super-soldier-ass-mask-wearing-Darth-Vader-Voice-faceless-situation is going to ‘watch her’? What? Like a bodyguard?
The room erupts into an argument with almost everyone bickering – most of the ire aimed at Zann.
I take another look at the mysterious Drex. He is casually holding some kind of alien assault rifle with both hands as the others argue in front of him. I can’t tell, because of his mask, but I swear from the angle, he must be looking at the opposite side of the table from me – to where Jaya sits.
And for the first time, I notice an armored tail flicking behind him.