Shavael had decided that dragging every student she found interesting to either of her labs left a rather large gap in her understanding of the species. Certain, indeed most, behaviors needed to be observed in the field. When confined to a lab the anxiety made gathering useful data difficult. And of course she herself could only remain cooped up for so long. She needed to get out and stretch her legs some, relax and maybe find her a human to 'relax' with. She had yet to allow herself to fully enjoy that little perk granted by her agreement with the station's administration.

So under the cover of darkness Shavael had set out into the forest to set up a small hide within the cover of the trees. Nothing overly impressive, a few sonic screens to keep the insects away, a monitor and a handful of nigh invisible drones with observation equipment. She let them loose in the morning after resting the rest of the night.

The drones went about, taping and recording all they saw, showing it on the monitor before the alien woman. The day progressed slowly, sun climbing overhead as Shavael noted down several observations and then one of the drones came across a very interesting sight. Two women coupling in their dorm room. She watched, fascinated, as the women worked each other into a frenzy, feeling that slight desire to 'relax' turn into yearning. Scientific detachment was abandoned and she set the drones out to find herself a nearby human who caught her eye.

And find one they did. A red haired specimen taking a jog on the fringes of the forest. The only question was how to lure her in... Humans were fearful creatures, prone to panic, but that was hard to predict or direct and could run contrary to her desires... meaning curiosity may just be enough. She allowed a drone to lose some of its camouflage as it past a few yards before the jogging human, turned it to face her and then it darted into the trees. She had other drones prepared in case that wasn't enough, she wasn't about to let this little morsel get away easily.

It was a good day for a jog. That was what Melanie had on her mind as she set off running through the forest. In truth, she was only out for a jog because she was bored, and she was worried about intermingling with her fellow students. Some of them were... weird. Well, regardless, Melanie was going to jog for about an hour and get back to studies. Yep, that's what she was going to do. She had 45 minutes left before she had to get ba-

What was that?

Melanie saw a strange, mechanical looking device appear further down the trail. It ran straight into the trees as she approached it, though Melanie paused in front of the area where the device was lost in the forest. She watched it retreat, looking off to the side to see if its owner was nearby. Cautiously looking back at the retreating drone, she stepped into the forest and followed it... at a distance.

The drone didn't look mechanical in the human sense of the word. It was seemingly made of an opaque material. Plastic maybe. It was a smooth orb with a lens and had no obvious method by which it remained afloat. And the drone seemed lost, or at least worried. Again and again it would glance back towards Melanie as she followed it and then dart off as if frightened by her presence. But it never darted far enough for her to lose sight of it. The other drones, still cloaked, followed the red head to make sure she continued to pursue the fleeing drone. And in case she stopped, or turned around they made minor alterations to the landscape, projecting a little light here and a few images there. It created an optical illusion that would hopefully cause Melanie to circle deeper into the forest instead of back towards the school.

By either method, both sets of drones were attempting to lure her towards a clearing where Shavael had swiftly set up a disruption device. If any biological organism stepped near it the device would let out a low density charge of energy. It would function similar to a tazer, the energy screwing with motor control and causing the victim to fall, though the charge was entirely painless and lasted a lot longer than the human device. Shavael waited at the opposite end of the clearing, monitor in hand, tracking the red head's progress.

Melanie, despite the efforts of the drones, only kept her eyes on the single object as it scurried around, seeking... something. The orb flitted from tree to tree, attempting to find.... what could it be trying to find? Perhaps it was looking for plants or herbs, maybe it was just documenting the forest. Still, even if it was who was it documenting for? The school didn't have anything like this... plastic-based orb...
Melanie followed the thing with a single-minded determination, trying, despite everything, to figure out what the object was, and what purpose it served.

Finally, the Orb began to cross into a clearing. Thinking better of the situation, Melanie chose to circle around the clearing. Perhaps the orb WASN'T friendly. Then stepping out into the clearing would be a terrible move on the girl's part.
Of course, it didn't occur to her until she saw the machine. And even then, it was too late.

The disrupter was set off, and Melanie suddenly lost all control of her body, crumpling to the floor.
"Wuh-what the-!?"

Ah, she loved it when a plan came together. The human wisely chose to skirt the clearing, but still got close enough to the device for it to let out a pulse. Poor girl would have trouble to so much as move for probably 5 minutes. Smiling widely the grayish skinned alien tapped a fey keys on her monitor and also sent a few commands to the drones that had been following behind the red haired human. Melanie would see the two drones suddenly appear and float silently towards her, the third one which was the one that she had been following floating placidly across the clearing.

Now close to the drones Melanie would see they weren't made of plastic; they seemed to be made of crystal. They weren't perfectly spherical either, having hundreds of tiny facets across their surface. But the emergence of Shavael likely would distract Melanie from a more intense examination of the orbs. The alien stood at six and a half feet in height, with 2 sets of arms and was wearing a lab coat of all things. Long strides took her quickly towards the helpless girl. Her eyes, entirely black like a shark's, flicked to the drones and she spoke out a few words in her native language, syllables having a hissing accent and the drones focused their lenses on Melanie.

Apparently the drones could do more than film and record as tendrils of shimmering fiber like strands emerged from them, slipping down over Melanie's wrists, elbows and shoulders. They would send tingles of sensation across her skin, like static electricity. The purpose they had became clear as the tendrils wrapped around her arms and hoisted her limply to her feet. "Hello there human." The alien spoke in English in a happy tone, kneeling in the soft earth to pull out the disrupting device. It was roughly cylindrical, seemed to be made of the same crystal as the drones, and was about the length of Melanie's forearm. Black eyes turned and locked onto the girl who should be regaining muscle control shortly, observing her with a slow smile spreading to her lips. A fine catch.

The moment Melanie regained control, she proceeded to tug and pull at the bindings the drones had wrapped around her limbs. The alien was not a particularly ugly one, but she had trouble quelling that trill of fear that run up her spine. She hated how she got into this situation. How could she be so blind?
"O-of course. It just HAD to be a trap."

The gray skinned woman laughed at Melanie's statement, displaying pointed teeth and she waved the crystalline device at her "Humans seem to have a variety of phrases for situations like this; 'Hindsight is 20/20'. 'Curiosity killed the cat.' A word of advise to your species... think before you act. It will save you a world of hurt... not that I plan on killing you or even hurting you for that matter..." Hissing syllables faded as the woman rose to her feet, dusting off her lab coat. The crystal in her hand then began to fold into itself, compacting until it fit easily in the palm of her hand and she slipped it into the inside of her coat. At last her eyes focused their full attention on her suspended prize "Struggling is useless... those fibers are many times stronger than steel." Though they weren't at all uncomfortable, though the position wasn't ideal. A four fingered hand reached forward, brushing some of the orange bangs from Melanie's face away and she asked "Your name human?" So far everything she had said was conversational, though she had the tone of a teacher talking down to a student. It was a habit of hers.

Though Melanie probably should have been more respectful to her captor, she lobbed a set of insults in her tormentors general direction the moment she touch Melanie's hair. Of course, it didn't matter how she struggled. Sure enough, her strength was within human limit. Lucky Alien. Instead Melanie held onto her defiant glare.
"My name is Melanie. Though, frankly, you as well just tag me and send me on my way."