With my legs shaking, I tremble timidly toward the left side of the Great Hall, scroll in hand.

It felt as if the gravitational field had been metaphorically turned off, though I knew that was ridiculous. The only other time an incident like that occurred was during a training accident in which a soldier was thrown into the power grid. Her death had been so shocking that the other Tau still gleefully spoke of her agonized screams and horrific end to this day.

As soon as I approach the entryway, a guard greets me with a customary Tau slap across the face that takes my breath away. My head snaps to one side as soon as her fingers leave my cheek, and I cough a little, touching my throbbing flesh. 

 "Ah'lan, fellow soldier," The soldier greets me with a touch of excitement in her tone. "You may refer to me as Nadeer. I am the guard tasked with your debriefing and decontamination. A star shines on the hour of our meeting!"

"Ah'lan, Nadeer," I reply, and then I slap her right back as hard as I can, making her braids jump and her head wobble. "The stars are indeed shining on us today."

I refrained from telling her that the stars had turned their backs on me and actually weren't, in fact, shining at all. I was alone; they had run off into the corners of the universe.

"Come with me. We have much to do before you leave the planet!" Nadeer orders and pivots on one heel before marching down a very long hallway lined with images of our past Superiors, each one more fierce than the last, some even holding the severed heads of hideous alien species proudly as they stood in front of battlefields and the untamed Tau wilderness. 

I quickly scurry along behind Nadeer, and we make a left and several more sharp turns through the dizzying halls of the fortress where we trained and often bunked together as young Tau.

"This will be a long process, but we expect to send all the invaders to their designated planets by tomorrow morning," Nadeer informs me as she pushes open a metal door and glances over at me. "You will need weapons first and a suit so that you do not perish a horrible death in space."

"Is it that horrible?" I ask, wrapping my arms around myself for comfort. 

"In space, you cannot inhale," Nadeer informs me calmly. "You cannot exhale either. There is nothing but a slow, cold agony that washes over you, and then you die mercifully."

I'm left in open-mouthed awe as Nadeer pushes open the door to the armory and begins going through the metal cabinets while I trail behind her, my arms open when she begins laying assorted devices capable of causing great pain to a subject into my hands. They were all familiar—knives and swords that unfolded into even larger swords. She even hands me a ray gun with a pink coil inside and a sturdy glass backing.

Just when I think I can't take anymore, Nadeer stops in front of a suspicious row of metal crates with holes in the front and unhooks a pair of keys from her belt.

"This will be your last weapon," she tells me. "It will also pilot the ship while you remain in stasis on the long journey. We pride ourselves on breeding this species."

"I do not remember the Tau breeding creatures and using them as weapons," I admit.

"You are the first to hear of this and the first to test it out," Nadeer chuckles. "We affectionately call him Yanyan, but he is very fierce and has consumed flesh!"

A long, snarling growl erupts from the crate, and I take a nervous step back when Nadeer carefully unlocks it. Of course, she had no fear of the thing inside; she was Tau. 

Admittedly, I was also Tau, but I enjoyed my limbs and face remaining intact.

The guard swings open the cage, and much to my utter terror, the hairy beast inside wails his fury and reveals a set of sharp teeth. His fur was a brilliant green tipped with black, and he had a long tail that swung around. Two triangle ears move back and forth, and antennas bob in the middle of his head. "Meowwww!" Yanyan undulates, then begins to lick a paw daintily. 

"By the stars!" I shriek, and I grab Nadeer and hide behind her. "He is hideous!"

"He will be your companion," Nadeer informs me, and then proceeds to pick up and shove Yanyan into my arms. "Now, you need a ship, and both you and Yanyan will also be decontaminated and shaved bald before undergoing the treatment for stasis. In the morning, the ships will lift off, but you'll only be awake for a very small part of the journey."

"Rrr-eeeow!" Yanyan wails, but he does not rip into my flesh as expected.

I suspected he enjoyed my company or was possibly saving me to consume later as a snack.

The last things to collect in the armory are our suits and shoes, and then Nadeer sends us to the decontamination room. That's the last I see of her for the journey when she salutes me and pivots around to march back down the hallway, leaving me standing there holding a pet crate and a bag full of weapons and clothing. It was all I would be allowed to take, nothing more.

"Soldier Luna," a guard calls from the room behind me, swinging open the door as wide as they can. 

Inside, I hear buzzing and faint sobbing as my fellow Tau are slowly shaved and rid of their gorgeous long locks. Half of them are naked, up against the wall, and being hosed down with steaming hot water as they shriek and squeal in agony. They weren't scared, mind you, but Tau prided themselves on their hair and not being treated like dumb beasts.

"You will receive a haircut and a bath, and then we will choose a ship and begin your stasis." The guard informs me, "During that point, we will insert tubes into several of your orifices, including your rear end."

I look around the room, then I bolt for the door as fast as I can.

"No! Have mercy on me, please!" I squeal, and two guards grab me and pull me back into the room. "I have changed my mind!" I shriek, "I no longer wish to travel to Tralfamadore!"