In hushed tones barely over a whisper, Amy leaned in toward Mike conspiratorially and said, “They are always watching out of the corners of their eyes, always listening with one ear just casually pointed at you.”

Mike discretely glanced around and saw it was true. Every Broda in the room was focusing their attention on them.

He gave her a flat look, and through a mouthful of mashed potatoes said, “Sho?”

Amy’s face broke out into a big grin and her eyes twinkled with delight as she said in a much higher pitched voice, “It’s adorable! They are so shy!”

Mike rolled his eyes and shook his head as he swallowed his reconstituted potatoes.

He leaned back on the mess hall bench that was comically oversized for a human and said, “You were one of those girls in High School that just loved the social awkwardness of dances, weren’t you?”

She shot him a wry look, “Come on, nobody liked that part. For a girl it was worse I think. Your body is changing physically and your hormones, not the fun ones, are making you neurotically self conscious. Any time you look in a mirror you immediately see anything and everything wrong with a body that takes no effort to maintain. Then, only a handful of years later that same body takes hours a day of PT to get anywhere close to. What sucks is that you only realize how amazing it was after it’s gone.”

With a look of annoyance she stabbed her vegetable based protein supplement with her fork and left it standing straight up in the middle of her plate. She muttered, “Not that I’m bitter about it or anything.”

Mike chuckled a little at that and made a much more obvious look around the room. Many of the huge Broda quickly turned their heads away and found some apparently fascinating spot on the wall or ceiling to stare at. Returning his eyes to Amy, her mirthful demeanor returning as she noticed it too, he couldn’t help but smile.

He leaned back in toward her and said, “Yeah, ok, it is pretty great. Coming from anyone else it would be totally creepy, but creepy and Broda just don’t mix. Ooh, look, one’s coming over.”

One of the giant Broda had stood up and began walking toward the table. Mike and Amy both turned their heads toward it and gave it welcoming, friendly smiles. On seeing this, it froze in its tracks. Some of the color left its ears as it glanced around.

It started to turn away and Amy reached out a hand and said, “Wait! Don’t be scared. Come on over and sit down here next to us.”

Mike seconded the invitation with an exaggerated friendly greeting that was intentionally very calm. The fifteen foot tall giant slowly turned back and cautiously sat with them at the long table, but only at the farthest edge from them.

Hesitantly, it looked at the fork, then at Amy, and asked in its deep voice, “Is your food not to your liking? Is it not satisfying your cravings? If you wish I could speak to the food preparers and try to find something different for you to eat. Please do not become angry with us.”

Mike looked confused, and Amy’s eyebrows shot up in surprise.

She leaned toward the Broda and said, “Angry? What makes you think we could possibly be angry with you? You have been wonderful hosts.”

When she leaned toward him the Broda had flinched slightly and froze as if ready to run. Hearing what she said it visibly relaxed and a little color returned to its ears.

It ventured to respond, “You stabbed your food angrily and he looked around the room at us. We thought you may be looking for alternative nourishment.”

Amy’s mouth dropped open once she comprehended what was going on. This crew had no real basis for understanding human interactions. All they knew was that she and Mike were representatives from a predator species. Predators ate beings like the Broda. After they saw how violently she behaved toward her food, they must have all been waiting for her to snap and start butchering one of them for her next meal.

She said calmly and softly, “I’m sorry. Sometimes we do things that must look very aggressive to you, but we really don’t mean them to be.”

She looked down at the offending utensil and slowly reached out and grabbed it. She tried to pull it free of the dark brown brick but the fork was quite stuck. With a small sucking sound of gravy the whole loaf lifted up off the tray.

Looking up, she discovered every eye in the room was watching. She glanced at the Broda sitting near her who was now studying what she was doing. She nervously shook the fork a little to dislodge it from the mass of food it was attached to. The fake meat fell off with a small splat. She straightened her back a little as she placed the fork flat on the tray before turning to the Broda. She had no idea what do say or do at this point.

Mike was being no help at all. He was leaning forward with his chin in one hand beaming a stupid grin at her. That jerk was completely amused just sitting there waiting to see what happened next.

The Broda at the table with them just stared at her with huge inscrutable brown eyes.

It then suddenly closed them and bleated out a series of deep bellows, “Haaaw! Haaaw! Haaaw!”

Soon it was joined by every one of the giants in the room, all making the same deep sound.

Amy and Mike had no idea what was happening. With wide eyes they looked around the room completely unsure of what to do. They exchanged a look that conveyed deep confusion and nervousness. Had she offended them somehow? After a moment, a flash of surprise showed across Mike’s face and he began to smile.

Shouting to get above the noise, he said, “Their laughing! You made them laugh!”

It was contagious. Mike couldn’t help but join them in what ended up being the best laugh he had in a long time.

Amy was equal parts relieved, amused, and mortified. She started with unsure laughter that soon morphed into full belly laughing.

The room was pure mirth for the next few minutes. When the Broda laugh, when they really laugh, they drool uncontrollably. A room with twenty giant, uncontrollably drooling Broda with shoelaces of spittle hanging from their mouths struck a humorous chord with Amy and Mike that made it so much funnier to them. The Broda were equally amused by the fact that humans shed tears and turn different colors when they laugh that hard. It was one of those rare moments of unrestrained joy.

Later Amy and Mike discovered the thing that tickled the humors of the Broda so much was that to them, the vegetarian meat substitute and gravy dropping to her tray looked like poop. Apparently they have fairly juvenile humor regarding excrement by human standards.

When the laughter died down and everything was mopped up, the Broda stood huddled around the table where the humans sat. The previous tension in the room was completely gone.

From somewhere in the crowd of giants one of them asked, “Is it true that Humans can climb on walls? Can you show us?”

Mike looked up to see who had asked the question but was met only with a crowd of interested stares. He spoke to no particular Broda in his response, “Well, yes and no. If you are asking if we can climb a smooth wall with no hand or footholds, then the answer is no. If the wall has places we can grab or step onto then yes.”

“Do humans feel fear?” came another deep voice from the back of the crowd somewhere.

“We certainly feel fear,” Amy responded quickly. “We have to learn what to actually be afraid of just like everyone else. Those things are just less common for us than other species it seems. When fear is justified and we choose to disregard it for a greater good or goal, we usually call that bravery. If we disregard it out of ignorance or arrogance we call that foolishness.”

“Can we see your bladed weapons?” a Broda in front asked.

Amy and Mike exchanged a glance and a smile and carefully drew their swords from the scabbards slung across their backs. Amy said in a tone more suited to a Kindergarten teacher than a Space Corps Marine, “You can look but don’t touch. They are very dangerous.”

A low murmur of interest rippled through the Broda. There were some mild nudges and pushing to get a view of the weapons.

The questions went on for hours. It was exactly what Amy and Mike were hoping for. In addition to their orders to provide security for the Broda in any and all circumstances, they had specific instructions from command to integrate and ingratiate themselves. By the next week they were being referred to by name, and they were learning the names of the crew.

A few weeks later while she was in the hall, Amy recognized one of the females, Vee’loo she thought, paying a little more attention to her than usual. Amy had learned by now how slow she needed to move around the Broda to avoid spooking them. She carefully approached the giant and asked, “It’s Vee’loo, right? Is there something I can do for you, or a question I can answer for you?”

Vee’loo’s eyes got a little larger in surprise. “How did you know?” she asked. “Are the rumors that Humans are telepathic really true?”

Amy stifled a smile knowing it would not have the desired effect and said, “We are not telepathic, no. I suppose that it’s possible we are a bit more observant than most species. What can I do for you?”

Vee’loo shifted her weight on her hooves a few times and then said hesitantly, “My calf was on Oom Three when the Krador attacked. She was traveling with my herd.”

Amy’s eyes started to tear up and her eyebrows furrowed with concern at the implications of what Vee’loo had just said. “Oh no, I’m so sorry,” was all she could get out.

Oom Three was a heavily populated Broda colony world. The Krador attacked it not long after the first Broda-Human trade agreement had been signed. The treaty made no promise of military or logistical support, but that didn’t matter. Their closest interstellar allies and friends who had opened the door to the stars were being slaughtered. When word of the invasion and the news feeds came back showing the unmitigated carnage and genocide of the Broda, the planet seethed in unified rage.

Though there was some brief initial debate at home about taking action, globally it didn’t last more than a few hours. There was no question what had to be done. Humanity mobilized a massive, multinational assault force to repel the Krador. Every active military in the world sent all able bodied soldiers they had. Globally, ongoing conflicts between nations were left vacant of combatants and put on hold indefinitely by unanimous agreement. Earth had gone to war.

Over three billion Broda died at the claws of the Krador on Oom Three. Estimates were still coming in but the fairly stable tally was sitting at 92% of the population lost. The deaths stopped almost immediately when a Broda armada of trade ships arrived carrying a deadly, and pissed, cargo of human military. The following conflict planetside was apocalyptically one-sided against the Krador. It was from seeing what they did to the gentle Broda on Oom Three that our soldiers truly developed their hatred of the, “Poppers.”

Soon after, humanity began deploying security forces to every Broda world and ship they could. That was why Mike and Amy were on this transport in the first place.

“How old was she?” Amy asked, choking back a knot in her throat.

Vee’loo looked blankly at Amy, then pulled out her translator and studied it. “Oh, oh!” She exclaimed.

Vee’loo dropped to a crouch to look Amy more directly in the eyes.

Reaching one of her massive hands and placing it on Amy’s shoulder she said, “No, she is not dead! The herd was far to the south, being pursued by Krador. A ship of British soldiers arrived just in time and saved them.”

The knot in Amy’s throat changed from grief to relief and joy.

She reached out and hugged Vee’loo around the neck and in an unsteady whisper said, “Oh thank God she’s safe!”

Vee’loo stiffened at the contact and Amy immediately questioned her actions. She had always been a hugger, so she never paused to think how it would be received. She was about to let go and start apologizing profusely when she felt Vee’loo relax and the giant Broda’s arms embraced her.

They stayed like that a moment. Vee’loo made a deep humming noise that sent strangely soothing vibrations through Amy. She felt so small and loved in the giant arms.

After a few moments of this Vee’loo spoke in her deep voice, “I may never meet the soldiers that saved my calf and my herd. Our people still do not understand why you care for us so much. We do not understand why you protect us. All we know to do is to try and put aside our fear of you as predators, accept what you offer, and say ‘Thank you.’ Without your people and your terrifying abilities I would not have a calf. Thank you.”

They stayed like that a moment longer, and then let go. Amy took a step back and swiped a hand quickly at the tears on her face. She was certainly not expecting this today.

Vee’loo straightened up a little, but still stayed crouched to be more on Amy’s level and asked, “Can I request a favor of you?”

Amy was regaining some semblance of composure as she brushed a hand through her hair.

“Sure, what do you need?”

Vee’loo began, “Ever since she was rescued by your people, my calf has been enamored with all things human. Your styles, your culture, really anything she can find out about you and emulate. Would you take a holo with me so I can show her I have a human on my ship? I think it would make me, how did Mike put it, ‘cooler,’ in her eyes to know that.”

“Of course, I would love to!” Amy beamed.

The holo-imager was set up and Amy stood next to Vee’loo as she crouched down. Soon a small beep indicated the hologram was recorded.

After standing up again, Vee’loo asked Amy, “Would you like to see a holo of her?”

“I would love for nothing more!” Amy said enthusiastically.

Vee’loo pressed some buttons on the device and it projected a hologram into the room.

The image showed a young Broda surrounded by a group of rough looking British soldiers.

The soldiers’ battle uniforms were the standard camouflage though you could barely tell through all the blue Krador blood splattered across them. They had clearly been in the thick of things. Standing in sharp contrast to the blue blood covering them were proudly displayed bright red hackles on their hats.

The Broda herself was about 2 meters tall, and looked like something out of a fairytale. Her huge brown eyes and characteristically long Broda eyelashes combined with a shorter snout than an adult made her look all the more adorable. The thing that really caught Amy’s eye was that she had styled her long floppy ears up on top of her head like a ponytail. Holding them in place was a rich blue and green plaid cloth tied in a large bow.

Amy stood there unable to hide the smile on her face anymore and said, “Oh Vee’loo, she’s beautiful!”

The rest of the journey found Amy and Mike increasingly invited to conversations, meals, and recreational activities with their Broda hosts.

Amy and “Vee,” as Amy soon referred to Vee’loo, remained friends for life. They found a deep and rich friendship which revealed that among many other wonderful facets of life, a love for family and laughter are things we all share.