As Va’roo ambled down the corridors of his ship his ears were tuned and listening for any indication something may be wrong. Deep space trading can be immensely profitable, but he knew firsthand the terrible risks associated with it. It seemed like these days a new catastrophe waited in ambush every other week.
The doors to the bridge slid open automatically as he approached.
“It sounds like the capacitor is almost charged and ready to jump.”
His first officer, Moh’ree, looked back at him as she stood up from the Captain’s Chair and mused, “I still can’t understand how you can tell that just from walking through the corridors. The faster than light drive will be ready to go in about five and a half minutes, Captain.”
“Do we have anything on sensors?”
Officer Coo’ma reported, “No. Ever since you switched to these out of the way routes there never is. I don’t know why you even keep me on the crew anymore. My talents are wasted here.”
“You know full well that nobody needs a sensor specialist until they do. As far as the course I plotted, I admit I am more cautious than other captains. Some may be willing to put their herds at more risk for a little extra profit, but I am not. I have seen all too well what can happen and I don’t ever want to expose you to that if I can possibly avoid it. The main lanes are not as safe as they were in our grandsires’ time. You are my herd, and that is a bond as close as family.”
Almost nobody viewed the herd-bond that way anymore, but Va’roo prided himself on being a traditionalist. In the old days, such arrangements carried with them a complex system of mutual obligations. In modern times, it served as little more than a contract of employment in most cases.
As he walked over to take his place in the Captain’s Chair, the bridge went quiet. Everyone took a few moments and ruminated over his words. They all knew what danger lurked out here that he put his efforts into avoiding, but nobody dared say it out loud.
Moh’ree walked over to stand next to him and quietly said below the hearing of the others, “I know it is safer, but it cuts into our profits to take these longer paths to our trade partners.”
Waving his hand dismissively, he retorted, “We have already done very well this circuit. If we went back now we would see an impressive profit for the little bit we have done. Nobody is losing anything by taking more time, especially on this run. In fact, I am sure our passengers would appreciate as much time as possible away from their planet.”
She glanced down at him and replied, “I still don’t understand it. Those little creatures gave us half a cargo bay full of exotic, high quality foodstuffs as payment for what? All we could offer them was an empty corner and passage to boring, out of the way worlds. It makes no sense. Who would pay so much to just ride around our on ship and see the various planets and outposts we trade with?”
“They are new to the galaxy at large, and quite curious. They want to learn what is out here. What would you have done? I couldn’t just walk past that much food. The herdmothers back home have gained a huge craving for these seeds they call, ‘Wheat, ‘Maize,’ and ‘Barley.’ It is one of the best suited dietary additives we have ever found for our people, and it tastes wonderful. I almost felt bad accepting their offer, but we are here to make a profit.”
Turning his head to look up at her he observed, “You almost speak as if you don’t like their company.”
The speed of her reply seemed to surprise her as she said, “What? No, not at all! I like them very much. They are extremely, uh, cute. They are also wonderful conversationalists. I certainly enjoy spending time with them, I just don’t understand them. Are you quite sure these two are fully grown?”
He let out an amused thrum before saying, “Yes, even fully grown they never get larger than one of our calves. I believe it has to do with the high gravity of their world. As far as their company is concerned, I also find them pleasantly diverting. I have been considering offering our transportation services to their world on a regular basis because of it.”
“I would like that,” Moh’ree said, “They seem to put me at ease somehow, but I don’t know why. One thing though, I am still not used to how fast they move.”
“Yes, they are speedy little things, aren’t they?”
Scratching her side in contemplation, Moh’ree considered, “I suppose they would have to be fast to stay away from the predators on their world. They have no claws, teeth, or horns to protect themselves. They do have predators on their world, don’t they?”
“I am not sure. It would be a rare world indeed if it had none at all. I am more impressed that their technology advanced as far as it had when the first trade ship found them three months ago.”
“What do you mean? They are primitive by galactic standards.”
“Yes, but their system is completely devoid of many materials we consider essential for advanced technologies. They have had to innovate all their tools and systems without those resources. I think the initial assessment of, ‘Curious, tool making, primitive, non-predator, and low threat,’ by our assessors may have been a disservice to them. I believe their curiosity and tool making are highly advanced given what they had to work with. They are not primitive at all. I am beginning to think they have relied on their speed, yes, but also their cunning intelligence to stay safe from any predators their world contains.”
Moh’ree thought about that for a moment and then suggested, “Or, maybe their speed was simply a byproduct of the physical strength needed to overcome the high gravity and violent climate.”
The conversation was cut off as the navigation panel indicated the FTL drive was charged and ready.
Helmsman Bum’doh spoke up and said, “The capacitor is fully energized. We are ready to jump.”
Va’roo gestured a hand at him and said, “Go ahead”
Pale blue light filled the view screen for a moment before being replaced by a new sky seconds later.
“Anything Coo’ma?”
“You know full well that the sensors on this old ship take time to reinitialize after a jump. Are you ever going to get that upgrade I keep requesting?”
“Maybe after this run.”
“That’s what you’ve said for the past three runs.”
“Yes, and I meant it then just as much as I mean it now.”
She turned around in her chair to give him a disapproving look before spinning back to resume her duties.
Just before the sensors came back online, a heavy impact threw everyone to starboard. A sound like distant low thunder reverberated through superstructure of the ship.
Va’roo knew that sound. It meant all his efforts had been in vain. His worst nightmares had found him, again.
Alarm claxons began dutifully blaring to life. The noise sounded like the death cries of their species. All the Broda immediately knew it for what it was: danger, Krador! With luck, they would only lose half the crew. To this predator the Broda, Va’roo’s species, were considered a delicacy.
Murmuring and panic noises began churning across the bridge. The ancient primal desire to form a group and flee was barely contained.
Looking around with jerky movements, Va’roo turned to Bum’doh and shouted a half command, half question, “Run!?!”
Immediately the word was repeated by all the crew forming a low rumbling sound. Everyone was shifting nervously at their stations, instinctively glancing around for a place to hide.
Bum’Doh’s eyes flicked nervously over his panel and with barely contained panic reported, “They crippled the engines. We cannot run!”
Coo’ma interjected, Sensors are online. They are close and nearly upon us. There is no time to spin up the Light Drive!”
Va’roo’s eyes went wide and he could feel the beginnings of the Death Trance, that merciful numbness that overtakes you when a predator has you and your life is about to end. Looking around, he could see it beginning to spread through the bridge crew. Huge brown eyes started glossing over as they all waited for the inevitable. There was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, no defense against the savagery of the Krador, no hope.
Some kind of high pitched noise called Va’roo back out of his stupor. As his eyes focused again and feeling crept back into his limbs, he swept his head back and forth wondering what had jolted him awake.
“Captain, down here!”
Following the sound, his eyes fell on the two aliens that had recently taken passage on their ship.
Va’roo blinked and took in his surroundings in earnest as some semblance of clarity resolved itself in his brain. Both of the passengers held their hands over their ears. One of them, the female with lighter pigmented skin, had what he understood to be an expression of concern and confusion on her face.
She yelled over the alarm claxons, “What is that noise? It sounds like a baritone donkey giving birth!”
Clearly, their species, “Humans,” had much more sensitive hearing than most. He reached over and pressed a button on his console, and the noise abruptly stopped. Considering his new little friends, Va’roo felt a great sense of regret and guilt over unintentionally leading them into such danger.
In a deep, troubled tone he said, “I am so sorry my little friends. It is unfortunate that you had to take passage with our herd. We thought it too far out in the periphery for them, but the Krador, an insect predator species, has found us. Perhaps they will consider your small bodies of little nutritional value and leave you alone. After they have had their fill, they will leave. If you can, you should try to find a place to hide and wait for it all to be over. It is all we can do now.”
The little creatures paused for a moment then the smaller one asked, “Wait, they are here to eat you?”
Seeing her fragile form, Va’roo wished he could do something to protect these Humans. They had, he thought, less ability to defend themselves than even a young calf of the Broda.
He responded stoically, “Yes. If we are fortunate, we will only lose half the herd. It depends on how hungry they are and how low their food supply has gotten since they last caught one of our ships.”
Va’roo eyed the entranced Broda around the bridge and leaned down toward the humans and whispered, “Few among my kind choose to speak of it or even acknowledge it, but the Krador are hunting my people to extinction. They have consumed whole worlds full of our Herds. We estimate they will reach our home system within twenty years at their current rate of expansion. There is nothing to be done. Against such savage predators the Broda have no defense.”
The female began to shake, her face turning a strange shade of pink. Va’roo had never seen this kind of physical response in a Human before. She must have been terrified.
Through clenched teeth she hissed out, “How can they justify that? You are sentient! You can make ships. You have advanced technology. You are highly social! Plus,” a long pause entering as she took two long breaths before continuing, “Plus, you guys are just adorable! You are gentle giants with huge floppy ears and giant brown eyes!”
The translator had trouble with the word “adorable,” but based on the tone and context, the captain took it to be some kind of compliment. He looked at them with his large orange-brown eyes, and felt another wave of sympathy and guilt.
Collecting himself he said, “It is our way to help those smaller than ourselves. Please, do whatever you can to survive. For me and my crew, we endure the worst of such times by entering our Death Trance so the end may come with little pain. It is my responsibility to try to protect my herd which you are now a part. I will try to hold back the Trance so that I can help you. I am very sorry you will not be able to continue your oceanic occupation.”
Her expression quickly changed to one he recognized as confusion.
Quirking her head to one side the female asked, “What are you talking about?”
He explained, “It was difficult for the translator to render into our language, but your occupations we understand have something to do with the large aquatic zones of your world.”
“Oh,” she said. Her mouth turned up at the edges in what Va’roo understood to be what they referred to as a “smile.”
The exchange was cut short when there was another jolt of the ship, this one smaller. Soon after, it was accompanied by a sharp clanging sound that echoed through the halls.
A wave of lethargy and blackness threatened to overtake him as Va’roo explained, “They have attached themselves to our docking port now. I need to help you hide.”
The Captain began to stand up out of his chair when the male, a much darker pigmented human, said in a loud and intense voice, “Aw hells naw!”
Startled by the outburst and still struggling to overcome the Death Trance, the captain of the doomed transport sat down again and looked at them. The female, usually a kind of light tan color, was still slightly pinkish in her face and was shaking. Yes, he was sure, she was terrified. Seeing that, fresh waves of guilt washed over him.
The female said in a quiet, trembling voice, “The Kitchen, maybe?” while casting a side glance at the male.
He bobbed his head forward and started for the door. The hunters screech tore through the halls and despite his attempts to resist, Va’roo knew he would soon be overtaken by the Death Trance. There was not much time left. They would board the ship within minutes.
“Hurry,” he said with a slight slur in his voice, “The Kitchen is a good place to hide.”
The female stopped and turned to Va’roo and placed her tiny hand on his knee.
He could feel the slight trembling in her hand as she said, “You stay here big guy. We’ll take care of this.”
After another pause, she looked around the room still red faced but now no longer trembling. The humans looked at one another and made a small gesture of their head in unison that apparently had some meaning to their species. At that, the two little humans ran out of the room stunningly fast.
His last thoughts before the blackness took him were, “Good, they are very fast. Perhaps they can stay away from…the…Kra…dor.”
When Va’roo came out of the Death Trance, he looked around, expecting the worst. He had survived two harvestings in the time he had been in Space and each time had woken up in little more than a slaughterhouse of vivisected bodies and gore. He looked groggily at the chronometer and it showed the attack happened six hours ago. That was plenty of time for the Krador to finish their gruesome task. As his eyes focused on the bridge, confusion welled up inside him. Everyone was still there. No blood. Nothing was out of place. How could they have missed the bridge?
He got up and walked over to the instruments and saw that the Krador ship was still attached. By the Great Herd, was it still happening? He pushed Sensors Officer Coo’ma out of her chair. She landed with a grunt and a huff of expelled air. Something was odd. There was no activity in the Krador ship. Its energy readings were showing stable with no surges indicating activity of any kind. It was just dormant.
With confusion and lethargy still slowing his reasoning, he stumbled over to the Captain’s chair. Keying the ship wide com he bellowed, “Everyone to your stations!”
With a start, many of the bridge officers jerked into sedated activity.
Turning to them, he asked with a raised but still somewhat shaky voice, “I need a report. How many did we lose to the predators?”
It took several minutes for the various departments on the ship to do their counts and get back to them.
As soon as the reports came in, First Officer Moh’ree looked over the data and said, “I do not understand Captain, all present and accounted for.”
The captain could scarcely believe his ears as he next asked, “What of the Humans? Did they survive as well?”
She hit a few buttons on the console and deciphered the readings.
Looking up again, she slowly reported, “We have no reports of their whereabouts at this time, and sensors do not detect them on the ship.”
Just then one of the bridge officers called out, “Captain, technician Goo’va requests your presence at the docking port.”
“On my way.” He said, hefting himself out of the chair and making his way toward the door.
A few minutes later Va’roo reached the docking collar and saw Goo’va examining the door mechanism. He was scratching his side in confusion when as Va’roo approached.
Goo’va gestured at the panel and said, “It was unlocked when I woke up. I know I locked it myself per protocol. There is no activity in the docking tunnel and the atmosphere is stable.”
Itching at his own side for a moment the Captain said hesitantly, “Open it up.”
As the pressure doors released and started to slide apart, the air pressure increased noticeably. Unverified reports claimed the Krador were from a high pressure world. This would seem to corroborate those rumors.
The blast of air brought the coppery stench with it. Blue liquid and viscera sloshed into the room through the opening doors. The as the smell filled the hallway, Va’roo’s eyes went wide as he realized what he was seeing. The vile blue liquid and chunks were blood and viscera. What he was smelling was blood and death. Va’roo and Goo’va stared at the gore and mess on the floor.
After a few moments Goo’va said in a small, distant voice, “Captain, look.”
With some effort, he tore his eyes from the blue masses of viscera. What he saw next would both haunt his dreams and give him hope for years to come.
The scene in the docking tunnel was absolute carnage. Hundreds of Krador soldiers and workers lay in pieces. An occasional twitch of a leg or a pulsing of a slashed thorax indicated the freshness of the gore. So complete was the carnage that none of what lay before him could even be classified as a body. It was all just parts.
At the end of the tunnel the Krador ship’s airlock was whining and straining against something, trying in vain to close.
Va’roo was not quite able to believe his eyes and sputtered, “Wh…what happened here?”
Goo’va tapped at the panel by the door and the small screen flickered and resolved into an image.
“I have the visual record queued here, Captain.”
The view was from the external camera above the door on the left side. It showed the two humans enter the docking tunnel and close the door behind them. They had kitchen knives in their right hands. It would be comical in a different context. The knives were as long as their arms. The male also had a ladle hanging from his belt. In their left hands they had, he could scarcely believe, cooking pot lids. They were larger around than the entire upper portion of their bodies. They crouched low against the floor behind the lids standing very near one another. A sound of a pressure door hissed from somewhere offscreen and they shook their heads. Curiously, they both put their hands to their noses and did something.
“Dang, how high is the pressure on that ship? You good?” the male asked.
The female responded, “Yup, here they come. Ugly bugs. What a way to go.”
The male glanced over at the female and said, “It’s kinda’ ironic though.”
She turned her head toward him just enough for the camera to pick up the annoyance barely visible on her face, “What do you mean?”
“Well,” he began, “They are coming here to eat the Broda right?”
“Yeah…so?”
He shrugged a shoulder and explained, “Well, I just think it’s a little ironic we find stuff to defend them in the kitchen.”
At this, the female’s shoulders slumped a little and her head dropped down.
Shaking it a little, she looked over at him and asked, “Are you always this weird before combat? I may be about to die, and now I have that stupid thought in my head.”
The male let out a noise Va’roo understood to be a chuckle, “Yeah, I have a gift.”
They both looked up and braced themselves toward the hallway again.
The female said, “Here they come.”
From the edge of the screen the two mesmerized Broda saw a Krador soldier approach the crouched Humans. It thrust razor sharp fangs at the smaller one and with seemingly little effort she blocked it with the pot lid. As soon as it had committed to the attack, the male Human lunged forward with blinding speed and stabbed the Krador in the side of its head with the kitchen knife. What happened next surprised Human and Broda alike. As soon as its shell was pierced by the kitchen knife, the Krador’s exoskeleton cracked and exploded. Blue blood and viscera splattered everywhere.
The humans stood there for a moment, stunned, before the female said, “Eew gross! It tastes like salty pennies!”
The male paused to wipe his mouth then responded, “Yeah. Oily too. Gross.”
Three more soldiers came forward and in three barely visible flashes of cutlery met similarly explosive ends. After that, the Krador resorted to numbers. They reached the humans in a flood and there was a nearly constant stream of mandibles and slashing claws attempting to push into, slice, or otherwise eviscerate the two tiny aliens.
The humans moved with grace and extreme violence. They did have the occasional cut or slash appear on one of them, but Va’roo realized that it was from the exploding Krador and not intentional strikes. All of the Krador Va’roo had seen on video feeds moved with a speed far greater than that of a Broda. The humans by comparison were unreasonably, impossibly fast. Va’roo realized that they must have been moving around the ship for the past few weeks intentionally slow for the benefit of the crew.
Eventually, the carnage near the door subsided. The Krador pulled back to the middle of the docking tunnel, chattering and clicking rapidly to each other. Clearly, they were reevaluating this new threat.
The humans stood up out of their crouches and the female said to the male, “These things are, um, really easy to kill.”
The male, gore dripping off of him, said, “Yeah, seriously. It’s like popping high pressure Jell-o balloons with a shell.”
There was a momentary look shared between them, and then back to the hallway to the Krador.
The male said, “Real nice ship they have there.”
The female stared ahead and replied, “Arr, matey.”
They looked at one another again and nodded. Then they ran off the screen toward the hesitating Krador.
Goo’va tapped some keys and the camera switched angles to get a long view of the docking tunnel. It showed the backs of the humans as they waded through exploding insects. When they got on the Krador half of the tunnel, an alarm claxon of the hunting ship blared out and the doors started to close.
“Go!” the female shouted.
Va’roo barely caught the movements of what happened next. The male, as if responding to some complex set of instructions, dropped the pot lid, took the ladle off his belt, and ran through the ranks of the Krador. He nimbly dodged and wove through the insects with such grace and speed that none of the chitinous horrors even laid a claw or mandible on him. As he darted through their hoard, the Krador turned their full attention on him.
As if on cue, the female human began running behind him slashing freely into the backs of the completely distracted opponents. When he reached the end of the docking tunnel, the male jammed the ladle between closing doors. They stopped, straining against it.
Va’roo realized with disbelief what they were doing. The ladle had barred the door open. They were actually going to invade the Krador hunting ship.
Looking back, the male reviewed the ruinous aftermath of their efforts. He leaned his head into the Krador ship looking first to the right then the left and nodded. He then walked back and retrieved the pot lid. The female casually waited for him at the Krador airlock, and when he reached her, she led the way into the ship with the male walking backward behind to defend her flank.
Goo’va advanced the record to when they were observing six hours later and they both saw nothing had happened since.
Va’roo was shocked. He has never seen anything so savage and violent in his whole life. Even waking up after a Krador culling was less gruesome.
It then dawned on him what he had just seen the Humans do.
“Did you see that?” he asked Goo’va, “They changed everything about their tactics with just one word. They just casually shifted as if it was planned the whole time. Other races would have to prepare explicitly for a change like that. Are they telepathic?”
Goo’va thought about this for a moment and said, “I have no idea. I know their gestures and movements can communicate things beyond what we perceive currently, but that was just one word. Just one. The male was not even looking at the female. Maybe they are.”
The nightmare tunnel of death loomed before Va’roo who was now joined by two other officers. He had to know what happened, but he was so afraid.
He said in a slightly shaky voice, “Goo’va, stay here in case we need to lock down the door again. You two, come with me.”
With more courage than most of his species had any right to, Va’roo ventured into the tunnel trailed by his two officers. As they got closer to the Krador airlock, he saw that the doors at the end were still jammed open by the soup ladle. A servo was whining in protestation at the blockage. A few seconds passed and there was a noise of movement from inside the Krador ship. Instincts flared to vivid hues and the captain and the two officers broke and ran.
They huffed loud breaths as they ran back toward their ship with the speed of terror. Chitin crackled under their hooves and they struggled to keep their footing in the grisly slop.
They had just about made it back to their ship when Goo’va said, “Captain, look! it’s the Humans!”
He slowed to a stop almost slipping on the unmentionable filth under his feet. He turned to see the two humans making their way back down the corridor toward them. The female had an arm wrapped around the male helping him walk. They were both still carrying the kitchen knives. It took him a moment to recognize them. Blue and red blood completely covered them. Human and Krador blood apparently did not mix, and the lacerations oozed red that ran in rivulets across the oily Krador cruor. Their eyes and mouths stood out alarmingly with this gruesome backdrop. They looked like something out of the nightmares of a hundred species.
The male had his hand over what was clearly a lethal puncture wound in his side. Besides that, the blood loss alone was sure to kill them. He felt he had to say something even though he was having trouble processing any of what he was seeing.
“Wh-what happened?” Va’roo stammered, barely able to put the words together.
The female smiled and her white teeth became framed by the surreal blue and red backdrop of her face in a truly unnerving way, “We took care of it.”
The facial expression of bearing teeth, smiling, always troubled him. It was so much worse now. No matter how many times the humans told him it was an indicator of pleasure, he had not yet been able to get past the ferocity it seemed to convey.
She grunted with exertion lifting the male up a little more. Letting the kitchen knife fall to the floor, she looked at the male and then back to Va’roo.
She asked, “Can we talk later? He needs some medical attention.”
Va’roo looked at him, and the guilt slowly crept back into the mix of emotions he was feeling. He then realized what was going on. The Female was trying to comfort the male, even though she knew he would die.
“Of course,” he replied.
Turning to his officers with a grave tone he ordered, “Take them to the infirmary and give them whatever they ask for.”
Giant hands gently lifted the little humans and carried them away.
Va’roo then turned and looked down the docking tunnel. It was like reality itself had broken in front of him. Trying to process what happened occupied the entire reasoning portion of his brain.
He muttered to himself, “Kitchen knives? They did all this with kitchen knives? Why would they sacrifice themselves for us like this? Why would they do this for beings they just met?”
Overhearing this, Technician Groo’va asked in an uneasy voice barely above a whisper, “Captain, do…do we have predators on the ship?”
Realization closely followed by anxiety and fear displaced everything else in his mind. Va’roo stiffened at the thought. Almost all the blood drained from his ears.
He turned to the technician and said, “By the Great Herd, I think we do.”
Still reeling at this disquieting thought he made his way to the medical bay. He was unsure of the death rites of humans and did not want to disrupt or disrespect them. When he arrived, he and his officers waited outside the infirmary in silence. His mind was raced trying to work through all the possibilities. Eventually, a sickening thought occurred to him.
He had taken under his protection these two humans and they would soon be dead. Would the other humans blame him for that? How could he explain himself to their people? Would this start a conflict between the Humans and the Broda? If only two of them could kill all the Krador on a hunting vessel, what chance did their race have against billions of them? What had he done?
His unnerving train of thought got interrupted by a strange new sound in the room. It was not the low murmuring through the door of their talking but something sharper, louder. It took a moment for him to recognize it. It was laughter.
He opened the door just enough to peer in with one eye and saw the strangest thing. They had used the infirmary clean room to shower off the blood and were now wearing the fresh clothes the crew had brought in for them earlier. They were back to normal. They looked much less terrifying like this. He began to relax a little until he saw what they were doing.
They were piercing one another with a needle and thread like fabric! This may have been more disturbing than what he saw in the docking tunnel. They were literally sewing themselves back together! This was the strangest preparation for the afterlife Va’roo had ever seen or heard of. He decided to be bold.
Stepping into the room he asked, “Is there anything I or my crew can do to assist you in your death rites?”
The two humans stopped what they were doing. They looked at one another in another of those human expressions he did not yet understand. This was the one where the fur patches above their eyes lifted.
The darker one asked, “The hell you talkin’ about cap? We’ll be fine.”
The Captain chided himself internally. They must not talk about death when it is so close. Clearly it must be a taboo.
In a sad tone with slumping shoulders and a bowed head, he murmured, “Oh, I see.”
The humans then looked at one another again. He did not see the looks on their faces as he had diverted his eyes to the floor out of respect.
The female leaned over to move her head into his line of sight and said, “No, really, we’re fine. These are all minor injuries. Give us a few weeks and we will be all healed up.”
Deep confusion immersed Va’roo. It was a state he was beginning to think would never end. Of all the species he had ever heard of, none could survive this level of blood loss or injury these strange creatures had sustained.
His thoughts were interrupted by the male, “This is nothing compared to the time I broke my collar bone mountain biking. That took me a couple months to heal up, and a couple more to get my full strength back.”
Shocked disbelief clear in his voice, Va’roo asked, “Your species can heal broken bones with no permanent side effects?”
The female responded in a chipper tone, “Oh sure! I grew up with four brothers. I was second to the last. We were a rowdy bunch. I think the last count was up to 18 broken bones amongst us all, but I hold the record at six. Mostly they are just arms, wrists, ankles and the like. John broke a leg skiing when the idiot hit a stump by going off the trail to find some deep powder. Jake fractured his skull after a pogo-stick accident when he was trying to show off to a girl he liked. It hurts, a lot, but as long as you set it properly and give it time it will usually heal up just fine.”
Oh hearing this, the Captain rocked back and said, “If a Broda lost as much blood as you just did compared to your body mass, there would be no chance of survival.”
The conversation abruptly halted. The air circulation system was suddenly conspicuous in the silence.
The male human interjected after a few moments, “Wait, are you saying we are extra tough or something? Like, we aren’t normal?”
“Yes,” Va’roo responded. “You are certainly not normal.”
He hesitated, scratching his side nervously as he tried to put together the best way to ask what he had to next.
Deciding to be direct, he said, “I must ask you something now that I fear to know the answer to. Are you...a predator species?”
With a mildly perplexed tone in her voice, the female tilted her head to the side and asked, “What, like a bear, or a lion or something? No, not really. We farm plants and raise animals for consumption, but hunting is more of a luxury activity these days. It is certainly not a survival necessity for the majority of our species.”
“So, you do, in fact, eat other beings,” the Captain clarified hesitantly.
She recognized the growing tension in the captain and responded carefully and with a significantly softer tone, “Well, yes, but nothing sentient. I mean, most of us won’t even eat what we consider something with a significant amount of personality, or if we find it cute. You certainly don’t have anything to worry about from us. We don’t see you as food. You have sentience, and you have been kind to us. We are friends. The very idea of eating you makes me want to puke.”
“What is, ‘Puke?’” the captain asked, quizzically.
She smiled and said, “It means to regurgitate your food. It’s a reaction caused by revulsion and disgust. It can be caused by an external or internal physical stimulus, or sometimes a strong emotional state. In this context, it refers to the emotional state.”
The captain chewed over this thought in his head, relaxing a little. “How many predators on your world hunt you?”
A slight clinical note entered her voice, and she continued on with soft and gentle words, “Well, some things will hunt us if we are all that is available, but it is almost always the other way around. We hunt predators on our planet for sport.”
Scratching his side the Captain asked, “What is sport?”
At this question she became somewhat hesitant, “Um, it means they do it for the enjoyment and challenge of it.”
Va’roo’s ears turned several shades lighter and his eyes started to shift around as he almost unconsciously considered avenues of escape.
Seeing this response, the female apparently realized the need to distract him and quickly said, “Let me ask you something Captain, do you consider all creatures that eat other creatures to be predators?”
The Captain, successfully distracted by this question, replied, “That is our definition of a predator, yes.”
Eyes slightly coming back into focus, he continued, “We have three major predators on our world. The Grooma live in the water, and are small. They are only a little larger than you. They once threatened our young and hunt in packs. The Vorne are a solitary land predator, and we build high walls to protect our herds against them. The last is the Grola. It is a small flying creature that does not hunt us. There is an instinctive fear of predators among our people. We do not understand them and their mindless, violent ways.”
“Oh, I see,” the female replied quietly as she shot a sidelong glance at the other human.
Focusing her attention back to the Captain, she began her next statements in a soothing, gentle voice, “You see on our planet there are thousands, if not millions, of predator species. Most of them are of little to no consequence to us. We even have predators that we have domesticated and keep as pets. We do understand them in many ways, but we are not mindless killing machines. We are your friends.”
The Captain, still slightly stiff, asked, “With so many predators eating other predators how do they all survive? Surely they would all eat each other until only one kind was left.”
She continued in the same tone, now with the gentle instruction almost akin to a mother talking to a calfling in her voice, “Well, in a region with many predators the one that is at the top of the food chain, that is to say it eats other creatures and nothing eats it, we call an Apex Predator. So in certain environments and geographic locations there are apex predators.”
The Captain thought about this a moment, then said, “What a terrifying place to live. Does your planet have a single apex predator that everything else fears?”
She spoke slowly and haltingly. Turning her eyes away from him she said meekly, “Well, yes, Humans.”
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
When Va’roo awoke from his Death Trance, he flinched at the bright lights burning into his eyes. He was lying on a bed in the infirmary with his medical officer and first officer Moh’ree standing near him.
Bleary from a third Death Trance in one day, he was barely able to grunt out, “Report, Where are the humans?”
Moh’ree spoke in a brisk clinical tone, “The Humans came out and said you needed our attention. So, we entered and saw to you.”
“And what happened after that? Where are they now?”
She continued, “They asked technician Goo’va for a mobile translation module which I authorized. Taking it, they went back into the Krador ship. Not long after, they came back and asked if they could have it. I told them that a translation module was of little consequence and that they could keep it. They thanked me for the module but informed me that they were referring to the Krador ship.”
“Wh…what? They wanted the ship?”
Squaring her shoulders in a slightly defensive posture she replied, “We have no protocols for such a thing and after technician Goo’va’s report, and a review of the visual records, I feared saying no to them.”
Va’roo raised a hand dismissing her nervousness and said, “You did well. Please continue.”
Relaxing a little, she continued, “They requested a little food and some navigational information to get home. I again gave it to them to protect our herd. They asked us how many more Krador ships there likely were in this space. I informed them that they were extremely rare in this area and it was pure chance to be discovered by one here at all. They then chuffed a sound like, ‘Huh,’ and exclaimed, ‘I guess it was just lucky then.’ I agreed with them that it was indeed very bad luck.”
Va’roo interjected, “I do not believe they meant it that way. I think they saw it as good luck Moh’ree. Please go on.”
A confused expression lingered on her face as she continued, “They smiled to one another and went to their sleeping pads, gathered their belongings, and loaded them into the Krador ship. They waited until our engines were repaired, and asked, ‘With the repairs completed, will you be safe now?’
I replied that the odds of two Krador ships in this area were astronomically low. Being found by just one was almost unheard of, which is why this rout was chosen in the first place. They then did something very strange.”
Moh’ree then paused for a moment in thought. She was clearly showing greater signs of confusion.
Va’roo waited a moment then prodded, “What was it?”
With an almost dreamlike tone to her voice she said, “They apologized. They told me that they were very sorry for scaring us so much, and were concerned their presence would cause us discomfort if they remained aboard.”
“It seems odd but it is consistent with what we know of them,” Va’roo said thoughtfully.
Moh’ree pressed on with a little more energy in her tone, “They told me they considered us friends and hoped they had not done anything to jeopardize the relationship between their people and the Great Herd. They then departed and jumped away in the Krador ship. I presume they are heading back to their home system.”
At this, Va’roo sighed in relief. It was over. He was still deeply confused about the Humans, but he and his herd were out of danger for the time being.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The remainder of their trade circuit took a little over six earth months. During the ponderous voyage, Va’roo had significant time to think about the ramifications of what he had learned. He kept his disturbing discoveries about the Humans to himself, Moh’ree, and Goo’va. It would do the crew no good to learn how close they had come to such a radically dangerous species.
It was so confusing. How could they not hunt his kind? How could they call themselves predators, yet choose their pray so carefully, and based on non-biological, non-hunger criteria? Slowly, the idea of what the Humans represented became real to him.
When they were finished unloading at the trade station, his First Officer asked him what cargo he wanted to purchase for the trip out.
He responded almost absently while scratching his side, “Processing crystals, the best available. Load all our bays fully with them. Sell the Earth food to make more room.”
Moh’ree snorted slightly in disbelief, “What? But where will we find a market for such a common goods? Those are only useful for new colonies or backwater planets. Before you said you wanted exotic foodstuffs to bring back to satisfy the cravings of the Herdmothers. Now you want to abandon the finest foods our people have seen in cycles for commonplace goods we could find anywhere?”
The Captain still had an absent, distant look in his giant eyes, “Things have changed. Maybe everything has changed for our people. I see the past ruts our herd has traveled and they all lead to death at the claws of the Krador. I believe there are other futures to be had. There is a possibly new and bountiful pasture for us. One of safety and peace.”
She tilted her head to one side and asked, “I do not understand. Where is this place?”
The Captain turned toward her with clarity and determination resolving themselves into his features.
Focusing his eyes on her he ordered, “Load the crystals, and navigate the fastest path to Earth.”
The trip took a little over three earth weeks, passing through some dangerous portions of Krador infested space. It was a tense journey, and on their second to last jump, they encountered a Krador hive scout.
Their systems informed them they had been actively scanned. Within seconds, the insectoid ship turned and began accelerating toward them.
“What is the status of the capacitor?” Va’roo asked.
The helmsman looked back at him and responded, “Two minutes. I don’t know if we will have time to jump away!”
Looking at his panel and doing some quick calculations he ordered, “Divert all power to the jump capacitor!”
The small craft got closer with every passing second as Va’roo watched the energy levels of the FTL system. This was going to be close.
Just as the small craft was reaching their ship and about to attach itself, Va’roo yelled, “Jump!”
With a burst of light, they eluded the impact and short time later emerged into the Sol system. Another jump put them into a high Earth orbit.
“Captain! There is a Krador hunter in orbit of the Human planet! It seems to be in stealth mode, with minimal systems powered,” the sensors officer bellowed.
Va’roo’s world nearly shattered. His gamble had been for nothing if the Krador had invaded earth.
He shouted, “By the Herd! Evasive maneuvers!”
Almost panicking, he opened a opened a com to engineering, “What is the status of the drive? How soon can we jump?”
Goo’va’s voice crackled back through the com, “Five minutes, eighteen seconds!”
Just then Moh’ree interjected, “Captain, the humans are hailing us!”
With a visible effort to calm himself he straightened in his chair and said, “On Screen.”
A human face, female he thought, flickered on the screen and said, “Be calm, Broda guests, the Krador ship is not active and will not harm you. It is a captured vessel and is currently undergoing study. We offer to you the hospitality of Earth. What brings you to our system?”
A barely audible sigh of released tension swept through the bridge.
Relieved beyond words but still shaken, Va’roo said, “W…We bring processor crystals to trade for some of your exquisite foodstuffs for our homeworld. Are you sure it is safe?”
The face bared its teeth in one of those “smiles” the humans seemed so fond of, “Absolutely safe, Captain Va’roo. We will extend to you every courtesy and protection while you are in our space. I will transmit the coordinates of our new trading facility to you n…” She stopped mid-sentence and glanced at something to her right.
Her smile disappeared and she said in a calm but tense tone, “Captain, please make best speed to the coordinates we are sending you. It appears you have been tracked.”
An uneasy look passed around the bridge officers. A moment later, a giant spike flew by the front of the ship. Krador!
The bridge erupted with a flood of nervous noises and the Captain was barely able to get out, “Go to the Humans, full speed! RUN!”
The ship lurched as the engines strained to maximum thrust. The braying bellow of the warning claxons reverberated throughout the ship barely louder than the bone jarring rumble of the engines as they hurtled the ship forward.
Moh’ree looked at the Captain in a panic and said, “We must run and jump away as soon as possible! It will take longer for the jump drive to charge if we divert this much power to the engines!”
The Captain turned to his first officer fighting every impulse in his being to do as she suggested and responded, “This is the path to the bountiful grazing lands. We MUST keep going on it. It is too late to turn away now!”
Moh’ree looked at him with an expression of naked fear. Then, a moment later, resolve replaced the terror. Turning quickly to her station she resolutely replied, “Yes, Herdlord, as you lead.”
Va’roo was taken aback by the honorific. It was something only the leaders of great herds back home received, and then only after great service.
Gathering himself, Va’roo called out, “Give me a visual on the Krador ship!”
Without a response, the screen flickered up the image of the pursuing vessel. All the blood left the Captain’s ears as he saw it: a Krador Hiveship. No Broda had ever seen one and survived the encounter. When in Hives, the Krador left none alive when they fed. They were only known because a scant few visual archives had been found on ghost ships adrift in space. In every case these records catalogued the final moments of a doomed Broda crew.
The Humans were too far, the Krador too close.
A group bray went up as panic erupted on the bridge. Some officers were standing and twitching in any direction they could, instinctively searching for a place to hide. One crewman curled up in the corner and three other officers huddled under their consoles. Then, gradually, everyone started to slow down. Va’roo saw the signs immediately. They were all drifting into the Death Trance.
“No! Fight it! Fight the Trance!” he yelled, but it was too late.
They had each begun the soothing descent into their own personal abyss, waiting for the end. Va’roo struggled with every last bit of determination he had to keep it from overcoming him. All he could do is sit and stare at the image of the Hiveship on the screen. Stare at the spines being launched. They were ranging him. The spikes were getting closer. Then he saw it launch the shot he knew would skewer their ship.
There was something cruel about long range attacks by a Krador ship. Their spines traveled slowly through the black, as if they wanted you to know you were about to die. They caused significant damage with their mass and sharp tip to any craft unfortunate enough to get struck by one.
So, in the stupor of his slowing faculties Va’roo had time to watch his impending death approach.
Still struggling with the Death Trance trying to take hold of him, he barely forced out, “Computer, time to impact with the Krador spike at bearing 223 by 97.”
A moment later, a highlighting box appeared around the image of the Krador spike on the screen, accompanied by a countdown timer.
seconds. Even if he were at the helm station and fully capable, he would be unable to move the fully loaded trade ship in time.
. Beyond hope, he relaxed into the Death Trance. Perhaps if he stopped struggling against it there was still time for a peaceful end.
. Comforting blackness started closing in from the edges of his vision.
. Numbness washed all the anxiety and guilt away. There would be peace soon.
. Something fast started streaming toward the spike from the edge of the screen. It was…pretty.
. Now he could see were those lights were coming from. It was a Human ship.
. Dozens of human ships entered the view screen, all throwing lines of lights at the spike.
. The lights were doing nothing to the projectile, it was too big. Soon now…
. A familiar female human voice seethed over the communicator, “Not on my watch you damn poppers!” Who left that on, he wondered?
. The first Human ship to enter the screen maneuvered up and contacted the spike. Its thrusters flared to brilliant life as it pushed into the side of the projectile. Amazing. The kind of skill a maneuver like that would take…so… Impressive…
The timer near the trajectory box flickered off, indicating the spike was no longer on a collision course. The spike missed the ship, but came so close Va’roo saw something new. The spike had compartments full of Krador in it. Bodies of the creatures were flooding out of a breach in the spike caused by the impact with the Human ship. They would drift in space for just a moment then explode as the vacuum overcame the strength of their carapace.
“Bye…bye…bugs.” He slurred in his final moments of consciousness as the spike made its way off into the endless void of space.
Va’roo blinked, and saw the human ship right itself, and move toward his ship. He blinked again, longer this time, and all he could do was stare at the one ship nearing him, and the swarm of tiny human vessels approaching the Hiveship. With the next blink he was barely able to open his eyes again. The closer ship was off screen now. All he could do was watch as the Human breaching pods impacted the hull of the Krador nightmare ship. With no more willpower left, he succumbed to the Death Trance.
When he came to he was being lightly slapped on the face by a small, heavily armored human standing on his lap. She waved something that smelled of geothermal springs and sun dried urine in his face which caused him to start and turn violently away from it.
“Well, I’ll be, smelling salts do work on you guys!” she said, probably to herself.
Va’roo focused on the bridge and found it had a score of humans standing on chairs working the controls. Some even balanced on top of his still catatonic crew. They were bringing the ship to a landing field on Earth.
He recognized this Human. It was the female he knew. He was amazed, all the cuts on her face were completely healed. She put a tiny gentle hand on his cheek. It felt oddly comforting.
“We almost lost you guys there,” the female said gently as a small line of water streamed down her cheek.
Then one of those toothy, disconcerting smiles played across her face. “We just barely docked up in time to keep you from flying off to who knows where.”
Remembering herself, she took the foul smelling thing away and his senses came back to him.
He stammered “Wh…What of the Krador Hiveship?”
Her fierce expression showed even more teeth, the expression on her face changing from relief to something feral.
Emphasizing the “our” she said, “Oh, you mean our new Hiveship? They won’t bother you again. You are safe now, big guy.”
The rumble of atmospheric entry shook the ship and soon they were descending through Earth’s atmosphere. The Humans brought the ship down on the landing pad surprisingly smoothly and cleared off before the rest of the crew woke up.
Moh’ree was the next to come out of her trance.
“What happened captain?” she asked, blearily.
“The Humans saved us. They hunted the Krador and took their Hiveship,” he responded, an even tone to his voice. “I have something to tell you Moh’ree. This planet has possibly more than a million different kinds of predators on it.”
Her ears went pale and she began drifting off again.
Va’roo drew her back out of it and continued, “Wait, I see you panicking, don’t. The Humans will protect us. You see, the Humans are Predator Predators. They call them, ‘Apex Predators.’ This is by everything I know the most terrifying world yet discovered. These humans have not only survived on this planet but have mastered it. They have even bent other predators to their will. Yet despite this terrifying reality I came to understand something about them. From the moment they encountered us and in all our interactions up to now, they have treated us as part of their Herd. I do not understand completely, but it is clear from their actions and the way they speak that it is the case.”
“If we could get them to accept The Great Herd into their Human Herd, we would no longer have to fear the mandible and claw. It could change everything about the way we live. It is a new reality for us. We must do everything we can to stay in their Herd. We have been losing grazing planets to the Krador for cycles now. We have been on a steady path to extinction before the pincers and fangs of those terrors. Unless something changes, we will be an extinct people within a century. Likely less than half that time. These Humans may be our salvation .”