"I should never have let him go alone!" Herc slammed his fist into the console. The ship that had grabbed the boy was capable of pushing warp 10, a lot faster than the pride could manage in Hyperjump, which was little more than warp 3. What worries Herc more was recognizing it�s make before it warped as Nodarian� The sector's most notorious and dangerous black market traders.

Jayce tried to adjust his legs into a more comfortable position, but the steel cage into which he had been stuffed was too small. He slowly shook off the drug he had been given and looked around the room. Across from him was a cage of rare Mari finches, their tiny bodies glittering like crystals. Most of the other cargo was living, or was once. A pile of animal pelts was stacked in the corner. He recognized them as feline and a wave of nausea swept over him as one of the patterns sparked a memory. The lightning League had helped her and the other Felids rid their world of the Monster Minds�.

"Who are the Nodarians, Herc?" Flora asked, hugging the root to her chest. Something had told Jayce not to take it, so he left it in her care.

"You don�t want to know, Flowerface." He sighed. Nodarians were known for destroying entire civilizations for the sake of profit. He didn�t think even Sawboss would deal with such mercenaries� "Is this thing going to work, Gillian?"

"Well, we�re picking up their warp signature fine for now. I don�t know how long the residual energy will last, though."

"Long enough, hopefully� if the Pride doesn�t break down. She�s not made to keep up this pace�"

Jayce grunted as his cage hit the ground hard. Through the bars he could see feet and behind them a lush forest. He felt the antigravity unit activate and the cage started moving towards then through the woods. Soft rustling in the bushes around him caught his attention and he got a glimpse of wild golden eyes watching him. Because of the dense underbrush and other vegetation, some of which had poked through the bars and brushed his face, he couldn�t see the high gated complex until they changed to a cleared path.

It reminded him of a strange crystal cluster. Silvery-white columns were grouped together, towering over the nearby trees. Several pens surrounded it within the fence. Some contained large wild animals, cats and other predators, and some what appeared to be their prey, gentle plant eaters. The others were to high walled and fenced for him to be able to tell. The cage glided lightly to the fence, which he could see was electrified, and then inside. It moved a few more yards, past one of the stone paddocks. He could smell animals and blood from within them.

He was carried inside the crystal complex, which was about the most immaculate place he had ever seen. Everything was so clean, almost obsessively so. A few well trimmed trees and plants broke up the oppressive silver and white of glass and steel.

He was loaded onto an elevator and felt his stomach jump as it quickly descended. He watched the floors go by rapidly, becoming darker as they went down.

"Sub-level 7" a computerized voice spoke softly as the glass doors parted. He was pushed out and into the cold room. It looked like something out of his horror novels. Several caged animals whimpered and mewled in pain. He had never smelled blood so strongly before.

"Good, good! He�s here. I must admit, I never thought you could catch him!" a sharp voice with a strange accent spoke from� somewhere.

"We�re Nodarian. You pay. We deliver."

"Well, you certainly deserved every bar of that payment! You�ve never disappointed me before, though, so what WAS I thinking in worrying?"

"I couldn�t tell you." The Nodarian responded in an almost robotic voice. Jayce�s cage was pushed across the room and finally settled, more gently than before, in front of a docking bay. It was pushed flush with the gate and the bars lifted.

"Go on!" a harsh voice barked, "Get in there!" Jayce hesitated for a moment and then crawled out of the cage into a larger holding pen. The door was rapidly slammed shut and he was left in near darkness.

"The trail seems to lead to the� Albeiro system. I�m almost positive!"

"Great, that REALLY narrows it down�" Herc grumbled, "There are about 8 M-class planets in that system and about 15 L-class. He could be on ANY of them." �If he�s still alive,� he thought to himself. His worries were mirrored in Flora�s face as she clutched the root in her lap.

His breath was knocked from his as he was thrown into the chamber and the door locked with a hiss. The hard steel was cold against his bare skin. After six of them wrestled him to the ground, the complex�s worker drones stripped him of both clothes and jewelry before dumping him into the chamber.

Jayce lay dazed for a moment then struggled to his feet. There was no obvious escape from the circular room. The door was triple reinforced titanium, sealed from the outside. A thick window of shielded glass allowed him a fuzzy glimpse of his captor. The gaunt man stroked his short beard for a moment before speaking through the intercom.

"I would advise you to calm yourself, Jayce. This is actually a very simple procedure, if you cooperate."

"Who are you? Why am I here?"

"Curious, aren�t we? Curious and energetic. The Nodarians tell me you were quite difficult to catch. Your jumping talent, no doubt. That IS why I picked you, at least one reason. I�ve seen images of you in action. You are definitely compatible."

"Compatible with what?"

"Feline DNA. D�nik, begin the melding sequence."

"We can rule out Albeiro 15, 9, and 3. They�re L-class, but I doubt anyone could live there for long." Herc said more to himself than the others.

"But� if they took him to� wouldn�t that be what they wanted?" Flora asked softly.

"No. If someone hired Nodarians to kill him, they wouldn�t have bothered grabbing him. They wanted him alive for some reason."

"How do you know so much about them, Herc?"

"I was there for one of their routine attacks. It was on a small outpost, a trader�s station. They took everything and everyone they could catch. I�m amazed I got out of there, but the Pride was in better shape at that time� They almost make the Monster Minds look like juvenile delinquents at times. You pay them to do something, they do it." He then smiled weakly at the girl, "So at least we know the kid�s alive. We just have to find him." Flora nodded gently and hugged the root.

Jayce lay curled up on the floor in his holding cell. Every inch of his body ached. One word echoed in his head. Falco.

"D�nik, begin the melding sequence."

"Understood Professor Falco." A soft humming then pain. Blinding pain. He woke later in his cell. His clothes were piled in the corner, but he didn�t have the strength to dress himself. The cell door could have been left open and he would never have been able to get out. He was as weak as a newborn kitten. He raised his head with the little energy he had at the sound of soft rustling, and found himself staring into fierce yellow-green eyes.