“How could I let this happen?” Man’ar said miserably, looking out from a distance at the ruins of the Exodar. “How could I let Velen down?”

          They had just barely escaped the Horde attackers. It took an elemental summoned from Sayaadi’s totem and a huge cyclone created by Ilthilior to get them away, but they’d escaped.

          “If you’d tried to help him any more than you did, we’d be dead,” Ilthilior said.

          “It was pretty obvious from the beginning that he was done like dinner. You’re beating yourself over a cause that was lost before we even got there,” Sayaadi added.

          Man’ar shook his head. He knew they were right, but yet he knew he hadn’t done enough. “What now? The Exodar’s lost, we don’t know what they’re planning with it, and the draenei race has been literally decimated.”

          “We go back,” Ilthilior said, unfittingly calm for the situation.

          “What?”

          “You said yourself, the Exodar’s lost and we don’t know what they’re doing. We can at least try to find out. Maybe it won’t end up being a total loss. Who knows, we might even be able to get some ideas on how to take it back.”

          Man’ar blinked. That was the longest he’d heard Ilthilior talk in a long time.

          “In an odd way, he’s got a point,” Sayaadi said.

          He stood up again. “All right. We’ll go in there, round up survivors, and find out what they’re planning.”

          “Why does this place feel so different?” Sayaadi said, a chill running through her.

          “It’s typical of a place where a great battle’s taken place,” Man’ar replied. “None of the dead here have found true rest, and most of them never will.”

          They stepped carefully among the corpses strewn about the remains of the massive ship. There were a few Horde fighters, so they tried to stay generally out of sight.

          “Did you hear that?” Ilthilior said suddenly.

          The other two stopped and listened carefully. The echoes of shouting and battle could be heard down the halls of the Exodar. They walked in its direction, careful to avoid sight from the guards.

          Soon they came to the Trader’s Tier. The shrieking was louder and more bloodcurdling now. It was impossible to tell what the source was yet, and there were three orcish guards in the way. Man’ar quietly signaled to Maladath to fly overhead, while Ilthilior’s body started to suddeny change shape. Within a second, his body was like a panther’s, lithe and powerful. Blending into the shadows, he snuck behind one of the guards. Man’ar held his bow at the ready, pointed to Maladath, then to the middle guard. Finally, he snapped his fingers.

The attack was sudden. Maladath divebombed one of the guards, stabbing him in the head with his tail. Ilthilior pounced from the shadows and ripped at another guard’s flesh, killing him before he could even call for help. Man’ar’s arrow flew straight into the third guard’s skull, killing him instantly. With all three dead in seconds, the three ran towards the source of the sound.

          “Next time you pull a sneak attack, I want in on it,” Sayaadi said jokingly.

          When they arrived, they found a hectic battle going on. One appeared to be an undead, two swords in hand, locked in combat with a draenei engineer, who could do nothing but use a metal pipe to parry his blows and take occasional smacks at the attacker with a wrench.

          “Give me the warp engine, you damn fool! Maybe I’ll spare you then!” the rogue yelled. His blades sent sparks flying as he struck the reinforced pipe.

          The engineer smashed his attacker in the stomach with the pipe, knocking him off balance, then cracked him across the head. “I’d sooner die than let you take this!’

          Finally the rogue brought both blades down on the pipe, slashing it in two and throwing the draenei off guard. Before he could recover, the rogue stabbed him in the chest with both swords. The engineer dropped to the ground, barely breathing.

          “All right, let’s get this thing to the master...”

          Shk. Man’ar’s arrow hit him in the back. He gave a yelp of pain and turned to his attacker. Angered, he charged towards Man’ar, blades ready to find flesh. Man’ar lifted his spear and jabbed, impaling the rogue through the chest, then pulled it out and cracked him over the head with the flat.

          Sayaadi and Ilthilior ran to the dying engineer. “Hold on, we’ll get you to safety, we’ll…”

          The draenei wasn’t listening. “Don’t let them get it… don’t let them get it…” he wheezed over and over again. He started to reach to the pack on his back, but his hand fell limp and dead before he could get it out.

          Man’ar put his spear back and walked to the dead engineer. “What was he talking about?”

          “He kept saying not to let them get something. Probably that warp engine they were talking about,” Ilthilior said, keeping his eyes on the body, its face still warped in a pained expression.

          “Well, now we know what they’re planning. They want to get this thing to fly again.” Man’ar reached to the backpack and shuffled inside. He pulled out a strange object. It resembled a crystal with a ring of magic around it. Smaller crystals were orbiting it. Surprisingly heavy for something of its size, Man’ar had to lift it with both hands.

          “If they want to get this thing flying, they’ll have to get this thing,” Sayaadi said.