The exit they went up was on the far port side mid-ship. Peeking around the corner to look down the hall all they could see was one of the two huge olympic sized swimming pools on the top deck. Something was wrong with it though…

Looking through some binoculars Bear could see a swarming mass of the dog/crab creatures. The pool was crammed full with monsters who were in constant motion, surfacing and diving over and over. The had to have been thousands in just that one pool. With his limited view all he could see was the pool. They were going to have to creep to the edge of the hall and peek out to see the deck, but that would no doubt aggro the crabs.

Bear turned to his party. “OK, here’s the deal. There is a swimming pool out there filled with those dog crabs. The pool is close to this exit and if we go down the hall to get a look at the deck we will be spotted and attacked for sure. Ideas?”

Onida peeked around the corner. “I can lay down a thorn hedge and block the width of that exit, but it will only be about four foot high. I don’t know if those crabs can jump, we still might get swarmed.”

Jane jumped in. “I have a A.E. chain lightning if that happens, but I dunno how many it can handle at one time.”

Bear nodded. “As a last resort I can raise an Earth barrier wall, but we would lose the access through this entrance to the deck.

Bernard who was listening in behind the group spoke up. “Chief, We still have half of the grenades, but this hallway is only wide enough for about five people. If we can establish a defensive position outside of that door we have enough men to take out a lot of crabs.”

Blackbear thought about it for a minute weighing his options. “Bernard, send a team to the Chief breaching this deck where ever they are. Tell them we are coming out and make sure they don’t fire on us.”

“Onida, we are going to try and make a defensive stand outside of the doors, I don’t want to trap all of us in this hallway. You focus on laying down as many of those barriers as you can.”

“Jax, I want you to find a group of warriors who have speed attacks and group up with them. Use any speed buffs you have in a group with them.”

“Jane, if they come for us concentrate on that chain lightning as much as you can.”

“Smitty go back through the men and tell them the plan. If this gets as hairy as I think it can I want everyone concentrating on any A.E. damage they have.”

Bear waited a few minutes to let everyone get ready. He equipped his staff and attuned to Earth. The staff was good for sweeping away swaths of smallish mobs from in front of him and he could also use it to create a wall.

Bear looked back at everyone and held up a fist to get their attention. He held a finger over his lips for silence and then held up all five fingers and started bringing them down counting off the start of the move. At three he turned his back, waited another second and started creeping forwards leading the attack.

As he got closer to the end of the hall his field of view started to expand and he almost stopped seeing that the pool was even larger than he thought and the number of monsters were way more than he thought they could handle. He peeked his head out and did a quick left to right sweep of the deck.

They were exiting at the right end of the pool. It was set up like a beach where hundreds of deck chairs would sit. The chairs, however, had been removed and used he thought to form more of those weird barriers that he could see way down at the other end of the pool.

The area to the right had a lot of open space and the wall of the hallway provided some cover behind it so Bear held up a fist for everyone to stop and then waved his hand to the right signaling that he wanted the men to head that way.

As Bear stepped out into the open the din of the pool of monsters got quieter. Some of them had obviously spotted him and were watching what he was doing. As more warriors started coming out of the hallway the crabs started getting agitated.

Roughly half of the warriors had made it outside when the crabs started to mass and then charge. Onida quickly threw up a thorn hedge in front of the doors protecting the men that were going to get cut off and exposed and a line of men raised rifles behind it and waited for the signal to attack.

The crabs started move towards them, slowly at first and then picking up speed. Onida managed another hedge line slowing them down and Bear called out, “Fire at will!” A huge wave of noise followed as the first barrage rang out. Laser rifles, fireballs, lightning streaks, and bullets engulfed the first wave of crabs turning them into mincemeat. Dozens were insta killed.

Bear’s war band didn’t let up. Bernard tossed a grenade into the throng taking out a mass of the beasts. Then a piercing whistle whistle could be heard above it all and the crabs seemed to stop and rush back at the pool.

Bear held up a hand and shouted, “Cease fire! Cease fire for a minute, let’s see what is happening!”

A voice could be heard shouting from behind the first wall. “$&*@! $&*@! %*: ^()+-^~/!”

Bear looked and found Onida. “Did you have that translator app thingy we bought at the shop running?”

She nodded and look at it from the chain around he neck she has it attached to. “Someone is shouting Stop! Stop! You animals!”

Bear walked to the left edge of the hedge in front of them and came out into the open. “If you wish to surrender to us come out and talk. This is your one and only chance. I will not offer another. He gestured to Onida to come over to him.

A Larian head poked out from behind the makeshift palisade and arms and tentacles waved wildly in a kind of universal signal for surrender. Bear called out, “Can you understand me? Come forwards and talk, I am not coming next to that pool full of creatures!”

The Larian started yelling and speaking moving at them. Onida chuckled. “He said something to the effect of “Of course I understand your primitive stupid human language you simpleton.” With a LOT of choice swear words describing you as a waste of life, or something like that.”

The being moved closer to them. He got about twenty feet away and stopped at the edge of the pool. He started talking.

Onida translated, “He demands to know why we are destroying his colony.”

Blackbear let out a sharp bark of a laugh. “They attacked us first without so much as a hello.” He pointed back at The Village that was clearly visible only a few miles away. “Did he miss that giant city sitting right there?”

The Larian yelled back at him, “There was no city when we arrived, just the rubble of a destroyed town.”

Bear yelled back, “Well there is one there now. It will have hundreds of thousand of people living in it soon and he is too close for comfort as far as I am concerned. What are you doing here anyways?”

The man turned to the right and pointed to a spot across the river about five miles from the city limits across the shore. “We have planted our crops over there. We are sea kelp FARMERS! We are not warriors or we would have destroyed you already! You have killed HUNDREDS of our family! (And more insults calling you some hairless creature from his planet).”

Bear shook his head at the alien. “Maybe you should have considered the consequences of attacking us unprovoked! What do you want? I have better things to do than stand here while you insult me!”

The Larian raised his hands up. “Go away! Leave us alone! Most of us alive here are our women and children…” He turned and shouted back at the wall. “Step out and let him see!”

The noise of feet moving could be heard and a large group of what were obviously children stepped out into view. They were a third of the size of the Larian and hugging each other in fear. There were a lot of them.

Bear looked at Onida and swore. “Shit, I am not giving the order to slaughter kids, no matter how ugly they are.”

Onida yelled over to the Octo, “You cannot stay here, what if Chief Blackbear grants you permission to relocate over on the shore near you kelp beds?”

The Larian slumped over in distress. “We have no material to build a commune for our people. That is why we temporarily used this structure. Were were going to build a village over there soon. Please do not kill our children! We know how the Truinnar operate.”

Bear grumbled at that. He turned to Onida. “Can we build them a fort over there? I just want them out of my hair. This is too close for comfort having them right here.”

She nodded. “Not a bad idea actually. They would have our flank guarded over there in case of a swarm. Of course we will have to bang out a treaty and demand some tributes and a schedule for repayment on the building.”

She yelled out to the Larian, “How many people do you have and how big of a structure would you need? My Chief is generous and considers building you a fort on the far shore over by your kelp.”

The Octo looked down at the ground in embarrassment. “There are roughly two thousand of us. Three quarters are women and children. Many are over by our kelp field living in what you would call tents. These Wambas you were slaughtering are our main source of food.”

Onida nodded at him. “You will sign a treaty becoming vassals to the Chief before he builds you a fort. You will repay him within a five year period or relocate. This will be sworn in before the System of course. Or you can fight us and die right here and now.”

The Larian started muttering.

“What’s he saying?” Asked Blackbear.

“He is once again calling us all kinds of nasty names. Truinnar whore keeps coming up a lot.”

The Octo man got down on a knee. “I swear it will be so… I will swear to your demands by the System, not as if I have any choice in the matter.”

Blackbear walked toward the man. “Stay right there down on your knees for a minute. I am going to check and see if you are lying to me. If you are you will die right now and another will take up your mantle.”

Bear walked up to him and stared into his huge, bulbous eyes. He triggered Enthrall and the Larian started and fell back onto his ass. “What are you...”

Bear said, “You will not plot against me in any way. If you even consider doing it you will feel yourself becoming violently ill.” He tried to scan the being’s mind, but it was so foreign that he couldn’t even begin to understand what he saw. He could, however, feel a twinge of resentment and acceptance. He stepped back.

“I have read your mind Larian. If you plot against me you will become ill and an aneurysm will pop in your brain killing you. You have one day to remove your people from this ship. I will go build you a shelter. You better not disappoint us.”

Blackbear turned and walked back to his party. “One more thing taken care of and a million more to do. Let’s head back to The Village and check the list for what’s next.”