Quereus and Aeleath crouched in a shadow of the cave, lit only by the faint glow of fluorescent minerals in the rock around them. A thick blueish mist obscured the floor of the cave, seeming to absorb the ambient light and make the walls glisten organically. Both were bruised and battered, and the the stocky Borean's thick, sap-like blood oozed from a half-dozen cuts. Quereus checked his rifle.

“I'm nearly out of charge.“ His brow furrowed with worry. “There’s no way we can get back to the rest of the crew with those razor bugs between us, and the ship won't be able to get a lock on us in these caves. How about you? Got any tricks we could use?”

“Their hive mind is too diffuse for me to connect with, and I've only got one full charge pack left”, replied Aeleath, “My pistol can't hold enough power to stun more than a couple of them at a time.” The graceful Elysian rummaged in her pack. “Let’s see if there is anything around here that we can use.” Aeleath took out her scanner and lightly pressed the activation node. It emitted a barely audible hum as it swept their surroundings. After a few seconds, the scanner’s viewscreen pinged softly with a single blue dot.

And then another. And another, until the panel was illuminated by in solid blue. Aeleath’s eyes widened. “This mist! It’s a sea of Quark Plasma. All the energy we need is right here.”

Querus’ eyes narrowed. “Collect as much of it as you can. We may have a chance to get out of here after all.”