Grantor City Safehouse Romeo, Grantor-3POV: Skhork, Znosian Dominion Marines (Rank: Six Whiskers)Skhork didn’t have much time.Every time the human operators left him alone in their safehouse, they’d ask him what he planned to do to escape. What he was plotting. How he was going to hurt them or get them killed. Questions of that nature, which he was compelled to answer while they grinned at him as if he were a toy. They were a paranoid bunch, these— people, and they’d always ask in case he got a new idea.But they’d forgotten one question.And he did get a new idea.He slowly hopped to near the command center of the safehouse, keeping his thoughts as clear and pure as he could.I have no ill intent. I am not going to imminently cause danger to the team. I am not going to sabotage any equipment.As expected, there was no one there. His eyes fixated on the FTL radio they left on the table. He knew it was rigged to brick itself if anyone who was not authorized began to operate or study it. Gingerly, he picked it up in one paw, holding it away from his face, hoping this one wasn’t one of the explosive-rigged models they handed to the Granti that would activate if or when that contingency arose.I do not intend to use this radio in a malicious way.Trembling, he turned it on, still keeping his thoughts as neutral as he could.After a few seconds of just holding it in his paw, he sighed in relief. The humans must have programmed it to allow his usage. Potentially for one of the missions they’d had him do. Or for emergencies.I am not planning to hurt the war effort of the Terran Republic. I am not planning to reveal their secrets to my people.He dialed the channel he knew by heart from watching Director Mark do it a dozen times before. He pressed down the talk button, which was a little stiffer than he expected. “Ground team to (...)