Unfortunately for the Locum, who had been up to now successfully engaging the Trimadians in frequent battles over distant galaxies, this one battle with Talokta’s forces did not go as planned.
Their main Controller, known as Merif, had taken on the form of a humanoid. In fact, most of the crew, since discovering Cantals and now detecting the presence of Earth humans found the body they took over or “absorbed” to be equally efficient for their needs and for covert operations. However, the need to replenish the body with substances like organic food and this biological need to defecate was absurd and inefficient.
From the outside, you would not tell the difference at first, they could be your fellow neighbor, best friend or your mother. Though their mannerisms were stiff and robotic, perfection was still not complete. But inside the complex mix of organic and inorganic materials was Locum. Merif was reviewing the technology that this particular force had in their possession. The loss of three of their ships at such a rapid rate was unexpected. Their normally powerful and undetectable scanners were being blocked and, more importantly, their supply of Crytaalic would not last forever.
Even more devastating was the fact the Trimadian’s rocket weaponry consisted of Crytaalic crystals, which under normal circumstances they would be able to absorb. A sample was taken via a dragonfly scout craft, undetectable on most ships’ sensors but just sufficient to bring a few molecules of dust back to the city ship for inspection. After analyzing the “dust” that was the remains of their ships, it was revealed that the Crytaalic was peppered with minute elements of Zymergillian, and the Locum were unable to absorb the impact on the ships by such a poisonous concoction.
It is a little known fact that after preliminary scans by their computers, they used their physical selves to absorb the nutritious Crytaalic almost instantly. Thank goodness, it was protocol to scan everything before they absorbed. The Locum, as a whole, was deadly methodical once a prey had been scanned and given the all clear. Scanning and absorption took only a matter of seconds.
The Trimadians’ attack on Ahmadeus was particularly savage, and the Locum was too late to save the Crytaalic mines that were destroyed. They were aware they should have been able at least to overcome some of the Trimadian force present, but the sudden unexpected loss of three ships put them at a terrible disadvantage. Trimadians using Crytaalic was unheard of and did not compute. They had advanced their technology at a great rate. But just as the Controller ordered another attack on the Trimadians, he received intelligence to let them go for now.
The message came from, as far as they could tell, a spy on the Trimadian vessel they were going to destroy.
After decoding, the message gave a warning that something unique was taking place. A group of Earth humans and Cantal rebels were aboard, and it was imperative to further investigate. Battle must wait. Leave, and avoid further loss.