11y 9m AV
HMS Sharman, Folctha, Cimbrean Mission Planning Cell
The Gaoian Brothers had no sooner completed their “run” phase and were preparing to enter Advanced Training, then an urgent message was dispatched to Regaari from Clan Whitecrest. Alarmed, he quickly briefed Powell, who in turn informed his command, which quickly brought a shocking amount of resources to bear on what Regaari hoped would be a fairly small, local affair.
“While I am not ungrateful, and nor would be Gao, I hope this amount of force doesn’t prove necessary.” They walked toward the MPC to meet with the other members of SOR and the Admiral’s command staff.
“Aye, lad, neither do I. But things tend to go tits up quickly, I’ve learned. Best be prepared.”
A fair point. They continued on, arrived, sat down and greeted as the team poured in and sat. Powell waited for everyone to settle in and get comfortable.
“Settle down lads, we’ve got summat of a developing situation we need to think through.” He motioned to Regaari, who stood up to brief. Dozens of pairs of eyes followed him, Gaoian and Deathworlder alike.
“We’ve detected a sudden and very worrisome uptick in piracy along this spacelane near Kwmbwrw territory.” He gestured to the projected map. “It has apparently been ongoing for some time at a low level but the Kwmbwrw have been extremely reluctant to talk about it.”
“Why?” As ever, Burgess asked the direct and immediate question.
“Several reasons. First and foremost, we know from our intelligence sources that the ships in question are carrying critical supplies for ongoing military development, and given their history they are very protective about that type of information.”
“Makes sense.” Blaczynski queried, “Do we know what kinda stuff we’re dealin’ with?”
“The general theme is heavy system defense weaponry.”
“Meaning we can’t let it escape onto the black market.” Blaczynski nodded in understanding.
“Correct,” said Regaari. “Whitecrest would like this handled discreetly, if at all possible. We have a high-priority intelligence source on-board and he is one of our most effective recruiters amongst Gaoian pirates and other Clanless, so if we—”
“Wait,” interjected Baseball. ”Gaoian pirates? You have those?”
“Yes. Don’t you?”
“Well, yes, but—”
“Well then. They’re embarrassing, but they exist.” Blunt and to the point, as ever.
“Moving along,” interjected Powell, “This happens to perfectly align with some mutual political goals as well. The Kwmbwrw are, officially, opposed to us and the Gaoians and virtually everything we stand for. But the Capitol rescue has caused that official line to waver a bit, which is why I suspect they approached Gao for help in the first place. Hopefully this can keep some horrible technology off the market and improve relations.”
“Why do they hate us, sir?”
“We’re meat eaters. And their homeworld is near Hunter space.”
There was a long silence as the men reflected on that.
“Yeah…” Arés seemed lost in thought. “I mean, if I remember my xenobiology correctly, they’re actually omnivores.”
“Obligate omnivores, too,” added Burgess as Arés nodded, “Pretty much like us. So how do they square that circle?”
Regaari paused for a moment and nodded at the odd analogy. “I like that, good phrase. Describes an absurdity quite well.” He continued, “They use artificial supplementation and insist they’re pure herbivores. As you may imagine they have an absolute cultural taboo on animal exploitation of any kind. This makes them unfavorably disposed toward your species and not far from enemies of mine. That made the contact surprising to us.”
“Why do they hate your kind more than ours?” Arés gave his quintessential ‘puppydog’ head tilt, “And why not approach us directly? Why go through Gao if they hate you?”
“To answer the latter first, they fear your kind so much they they would rather communicate with mine, whom they view as little better than Hunters on their morality scale.”
There were grumblings about that. “Seems silly to me,” noted Akiyama. “Everything’s gotta eat and you can’t really help what you need. It’s all how you handle it, really. Also, why fear us? As I recall we actually saved their Most Revered that day and we lost three damn good men doing so.” Darker, quieter growls from most everyone.
“Indeed, and that sacrifice is precisely the reason this is an opportunity. They saw that as a deeply honorable act by the most horrifying menace the galaxy has ever seen and it’s causing serious internal political disruption. I believe the term is ‘cognitive dissonance.’ Given the centuries of raids and exploitation by the Hunters I am inclined to offer some leeway, myself.” There seemed to be grudging acceptance of this point.
“As for the former, we have a greater need of animal protein than you do and we digest most plant matter less than optimally. We are obligate carnivores with strong omnivorous leanings. That is apparently enough to earn their enmity.” A shrug of acceptance, “Since our diet is heavily based on our equivalent of insects, fish, and certain prey animals, the Kwmbwrw express their displeasure quite vocally whenever we meet.”
“So…space vegans, then,” chimed in Murray with a friendly smile. It was the first thing he’d said all day in front of Regaari. “They demean people they know won’t punch back.”
“I believe I have heard this joke! Yes. ‘Space vegans’ works well.” He chittered briefly in amusement. “Anyway, the situation is this: they came to Mother-Supreme Yulna asking for assistance and it was her observation that this may benefit our species mutually. Also, we do not have quite the same transportation resources as your kind, at least none as well positioned. If we were to move and provide assistance it would cause fleet disruption and would be noticed.”
“And of course the pirates and this intelligence source of yours are Gaoian,” observed Vandenberg. He had that calculating look about him, the one Regaari had learned to read.
“…yes.” He deliberately sighed a very human sigh, “I assume you’ve already jumped ahead in the story a good deal.”
“Does the source know we’re going to be extracting him?”
Regaari blinked. He hadn’t guessed Vandenberg would jump ahead quite that far.
“Perceptive, as always. Our communication channel has certain limitations we shall not get into. Informing him in time will prove difficult.” He saw no need to elaborate.
Several questions at once from around the table: “Then why trust us?” “And why SOR instead of Navy?” “If you only need transport…”
“Calm down, lads. Let Regaari speak. But so far this sounds like summat your Brothers can handle. What’s the catch? Why do you need SOR and not just the Navy? And how sensitive is this source of yours that you cannot afford to burn him? Not to be crass…”
And now Regaari felt as if they were reading his mind. “How do you do that?! I mean—” He paused, collected himself, and continued. “Right, apologies. There are two parts. The first is that he…” Regaari head-ducked uncomfortably, “There are some unusual things about this agent we would have rather kept confidential but the timeline doesn’t allow it. I must ask your men hold this with the strictest secrecy, Major.”
Major Powell glanced at Admiral Knight’s XO, who had up to now been uninvolved. He pondered for a bit, and then nodded.
“We can promise the utmost discretion for this, unless it drastically affects human interests.”
Regaari considered this. “Very well. Our agent is a member of Clan Stoneback. They are a small and very old Clan who have seen their role change drastically over the millennia. They began as laborers and later became warriors as well, since from very early on their sires were large and powerfully-bodied Gaoians. At some point that became their essential quality, and over the thousands of years they have slowly grown bigger, stronger and hardier. Even as industrialization progressed and the requirement for ditch diggers and longshoreman and warriors decreased, the need for very, ah, commanding individuals has never gone away.”
There were chuckles from around the room. Arés quite naturally queried, “So, basically, these Stonebacks are the muscle of the Gaoian people. I mean, that seems an odd choice for a spy, but what’s the hangup?”
“You do not appreciate the physical difference. A small Stoneback male is at least half again as massive as the biggest fully-grown males from any other Clan and is far, far stronger. Large specimens may be twice as large, or even larger. This one in particular is their biggest and strongest. When last I encountered him it was just before the Capitol Station incident.”
Regaari paused, considering his words. “Now, I am not a small male, nor was I last we met. But at that time he was well over thrice my mass and strong beyond reason, even for a Stoneback that large. He is awesomely gifted. And he’s about Murray’s height. Fast on his paws, too. Incredibly so.”
“That’s…significant. You were, what, ninety pounds when we met?”
“One hundred twenty-seven, definitely on the large end for a normal Gaoian male. But he was still growing, so I have no doubt he’s probably bigger now.”
“…so he’s comparable to a human. A giant human male, too.” Arés glanced at Burgess, who nodded. “Yeah. Major? We’ve never heard of a Gaoian that big. All our medical training assumes they’d be much smaller.” He glanced back at Regaari, “Is that the secret? That you have Gaoians that big? And I assume he has human-like strength, too?”
“Yes to both. Clan Stoneback is a vital asset and is something we don’t publicize on the Galactic stage. It seemed prudent when we made first contact and it became obvious the Corti had never learned of the Clan’s existence through their ‘wildlife program’.” He said that last bit with unmistakable hatred. “And given the arrival of humans on the scene it seemed wise to remain quiet about them, and about certain other Clans too. This is so important to Gao, even the Clanless obey the taboo. It is uncomfortable telling you about this even now.”
He paused, letting that sink in for effect. “Stoneback are so rare that most Gaoians will never meet a full Brother in person, though their cubs in other Clans are surprisingly common. Their breeding program is very selective.”
He head-ducked and deftly bull-rushed through that last statement, pre-empting the onslaught of questions he suspected were coming.
“And yes, he is in many ways human-like in physical ability. He is very quick and very strong. But that doesn’t mean he can recover from injury as quickly, or that his skeleton is quite as durable, or that his immune system compares, or anything like that. He is not a Deathworlder. My people are pretty tough compared to the Galactic average and Stonebacks are much tougher still. But that doesn’t mean he can eat this ‘Tabasco sauce’ of yours without digestive distress, or contract your ‘common cold’ without potentially worrisome consequence.”
He raised his eyebrows, “Or easily withstand the kind of rough handling you regularly demonstrate in your training scenarios. After all, if a human would have a difficult time of it…”
“Aye, there it is,” said Murray. “He’s too big for your Clan t’go toe-to-toe with and he’s maybe a wee bit too delicate for our usual smash-and-grab.”
“Yes. Exactly. A non-lethal extraction would be difficult for us. We simply don’t have the time and advantage to do it properly. We were hoping you had a less…violent alternative.”
Murray pondered this. “I’ll see it done. He’ll be unharmed.” There was a humble yet absolutely certain finality to his tone. Nobody questioned it; When it came to that type of precision, Murray was good. The best, maybe.
“Many thanks. Also,” Regaari added, “It would be unwise if he were to see me because he would almost certainly reveal to all present that we’ve met. He is…uncomplicated, in all the best ways. But that simplicity does not lend itself to our purpose here.”
Firth grinned in mild disbelief. “Okay, so, lemme get this straight. You wanted a spy out here amongst the pirates.”
“The Clanless diaspora on the Galactic stage, but yes.”
“So you picked the biggest, toughest, dumbest motherfucker you could find.”
“He is not stupid. He is uncomplicated. I would say he is more like Arés than anything.”
Chuckles all around. Adam grinned and grumbled good-naturedly but held his peace.
“Okay, fine. He’s a big, tough, really obvious Gaoian, out alone in the Galactic stage. And he is, by your own admission, not a very good spy.”
“Those are all true. And Stonebacks have a very distinctive fur pattern as well.”
“So, the biggest, toughest, most straightforward, unsubtle, obvious, easily identifiable spy.”
“Yes.”
“So then, and I ain’t meanin’ t’be crass, but why the fuck!?”
Regaari chuckled. “Is it not obvious?”
There was a round of head-shaking and a slightly mischievous twinkle in Powell’s eyes.
Regaari chittered, “You do not know how satisfying it is to outsmart a human, let alone a group of extremely intelligent ones such as yourself. Let me enjoy this moment.”
Good-natured groans and jeers came forth from around the room.
“Careful with that ego, lad, or Arés may need to motivate you on the exercise field.” A rare smile from Powell made Regaari’s victory sweeter, despite the good-natured threat.
“I think I’ve worked through your bottleneck, too. I can’t wait to try this new routine out on one of you!” Arés had a toothy grin that could frighten a gricka to death.
“…Understood.” He returned the gesture with a toothy growl-grin he’d developed just for human interaction, one they seemed to appreciate in in the snarly-playful spirit it was offered. After all, Gaoians and humans shared more than a few aggressively cheerful social cues.
“Anyway, the fact he is an obvious spy was precisely the point. Because it is only obvious to other Gaoians.” He waited to see if they could fill in the details. Sure enough…
“…cultural thing, the Clanless would know he wasn’t there without purpose…”
“…just see him as a big dock worker or engineer…”
“…may assume he was dull and not ask too many questions…”
“You have the idea. He could quite openly recruit amongst the Clanless and possibly offer some of them a path to Clan adoption, and outsiders are unaware of the subtext. All they see is a very strong and sociable engineer on their crew. In return, the Clanless keep his secret, because they jeopardize their prospects by spreading rumors. And we Gaoians are not very trusting of outsiders these days.”
Regaari chuckled, “And, of course, our agent has his Clan’s well-deserved reputation to draw on. ‘A Stoneback is only good for lifting things and mating contracts’.” The Gaoians all chittered in amusement as the humans cat-called and jeered exuberantly. “Unfair, I feel,” added Regaari, “As they also make superb draft animals.”
More raucous jeering. “Calm down, lads,” Powell grinned, “Please continue, Regaari.”
“Right. Stoneback males are very popular with the females but most males do not see much use for them. Jealousy, I suppose…Stonebacks are far from useless, though it is difficult for less fortunate or, less, ah, gifted males to admit that.” More chuckles. Regaari waggled his eyebrows and left his statement open to interpretation. “That in turn means he can play to type without much effort. The stereotype lets him pass as a simple, non-threatening recruiter, one who is only really interested in one thing. That means the Clanless don’t question it much. After all,” he chittered, “It’s mostly true. Clan Stoneback earned that stereotype for a reason.”
Another round of chuckles and good-natured insults followed. But Sikes was unhappy.
“Like you said, stereotypes exist for a reason. He’s part of a very important breeding program, isn’t he?” Sikes made the observation coldly, breaking the jovial mood. “And that implies the Clanless know. And that in turn says interesting things about Gaoian culture.”
The room immediately fell dead silent. Regaari had been worried about this moment.
“Things we do not talk about with outsiders, but yes, he is a prized stud and we want him back safe, intact, and able to sire cubs.” He shrugged, “Breeding pressure is a natural consequence of our reproductive imbalance. We have significantly more males than females, after all. This has been a part of our culture since time immemorial, since before our written history began over fifteen thousand years ago. It is a situation that is unlikely to change. And, of course, the social and genetic benefits of the Clan breeding programs are too great to ignore.”
Sikes was not mollified. “So Stoneback is a stable. The whole purpose of their Clan is to breed studs. Literal studs.”
“Yes. Clan Stoneback appears in our written histories from the very beginning. Even in ancient times they were known for the quality of their cubs. But that is ultimately the purpose of every Clan, including mine, and it is the essential reason most of the Clans are selective about who they admit to their studbooks and who they will advocate to the Clan of Females. Does that bother you?” Regaari said it in a tone that conveyed both a willingness to discuss the issue and a wish that he need not.
Which Sikes detected. “It does. But I’ll maybe ask again later, if you’re okay with that.”
Regaari nodded, and that seemed to satisfy Sikes. I should prepare for that discussion.
“Calmly, lads. We’re different cultures, we must remember that. I am certain there are things about us that Gaoians find uncomfortable.” Powell waited a moment for the point to get across.
He continued, “So to summarize: you have an agent on board who is extremely valuable and you see the situation as rapidly deteriorating. You likely cannot notify him ahead of time of his impending extraction. He is a formidable specimen and that means a non-lethal takedown by Gaoian forces is problematic. And he’s intelligent, but he’s not a good enough spy to risk simply exposing you directly.”
“That sums it nicely.”
There was a pause. “Very well. I think we can manage all of that. What is the second item? You said there was another catch?”
“Ah, yes. The second part is that they have a Qinis on their crew.”
Arés and Burgess both scoffed. “Ha!” Adam laughed, “I’ve taken shits more durable than a Qinis! What exactly are we afraid of here?” Chuckles from the humans and chittering amusement from the Gaoians. Humans could be inventively, horribly descriptive.
“Drones,” said Sikes after a moment. “Lots of them. The best drones in the galaxy.”
“…”
“Not all of us can outmuscle every problem we run into like you two meatheads.” With a grin, “Some of us have gotta think now and then, all careful-like!” A round of chuckles.
“Yeah yeah,” Arés grinned ruefully, “Yuk it up. But still, I mean, Gaoian gravity is enough to practically kill ‘em. No offense—”
“None taken. And for the record, they’re not quite that fragile.”
“—fair. But even then, it’s heavy for them and they can’t really move in it. Also don’t they prefer hands-on control of their drones? Ain’t that somethin’ you briefed, like, two years ago? One of our cross-training days?” He looked at Akiyama.
“Yes. It was one of the more surprising intel bits, actually. Their drones are very advanced and can be programmed for repetitive tasks on the fly, but they deliberately limit the types of problems the drones can process in AI. The intel guys speculated it may be a cultural taboo but I don’t buy it. I think they just don’t have good AI. Which, to be fair, nobody really does.”
“Well, okay,” Adam pressed his point, “But that’s what I mean. There’s only gonna be so much he can really do, right? I mean, even if aliens don’t have cool AI like we dreamed, how much can one Qinis do, even if he’s, like, the best drone operator ever?”
“‘Cool’ artificial intelligence strikes me as an exceptionally unwise idea, ‘Horse. But to answer your question, he is ‘like, the best ever’ and was decorated for it.” He keyed in something and brought up a file.
“Nisi Val, wanted by the Celzi Alliance for deserting his post and stealing an interplanetary shuttle. Got the hell out of the war and went rogue. While he was still in the war, however, he was decorated several times for his performance as a demolitions expert. He’s shown himself to be extremely adept in much the same manner as your Defenders.”
There was a pregnant pause.
“Fuck, man. This is gonna suck balls.”
“Aye, Burgess. That it likely will. Drop the other shoe, Dexter.”
All eyes were on Regaari.
“We suspect one of the pirates had previous contact with Adrian Saunders and Jen Delaney, two infamous criminals I suspect you are familiar with. This is troubling because, amongst other things, that pirate would have been exposed to some very, ah, ‘creative’—” he curled his fingers in an exaggerated fashion, “—anti-human defenses. Things I am quite certain my Brothers would be fatally challenged by.”
There was a round of quite vocal grousing.
“I’m gonna get broken ribs, I can tell already.” Adam was clearly not pleased. “I bet he has three blender hallways.”
“And electrical traps,” grunted Akiyama unhappily.
“That he might. And we have no idea what we’re in for until we get there.” Powell prompted Regaari, “What is your mission plan?”
“Two-pronged. We utilize HEAT as both a distraction and a major assault force. This keeps Nisi Val occupied while myself and my Brothers neutralize the Gaoian engineering stations and crew. Our theory is that we wouldn’t be as worrisome or well-noticed.”
There was a round of nodding at that. “That may have some merit. Continue.”
“We also hope to capture the ship unharmed if possible, or at least somewhat spaceworthy. Our secondary goal is intelligence exploitation. Since weapon shipments normally come with tooling and documentation—”
“—improvements and such. I like it.” Regaari had expected that one and managed to contain his annoyance.
“Indeed. And we do not have long; we expect the next shipment will occur in less than a week. We were hoping to get planning and staging accomplished before then. Questions?”
There were many, all at once.
“Oi, lads! One at a time!” Powell’s rebuke rendered his men instantly sheepish. It never ceased to amaze Regaari just how much respect he commanded with these men, given how powerfully dominant (especially Adam and John) they all smelled. Powell was a rare leader; he commanded their loyalty at a deep, primal level. It was more than a little intimidating.
Gently, now with a smile, “They’re all good questions, but let’s do this properly. First, ingress…”
Planning continued through the night.
After that it was a matter of waiting on appropriate intel. To that end advanced human and Gaoian probes were deployed, discreetly searching the spacelane for their target. Five days later they found it, lurking about a degaussing station. Perhaps it was merely awaiting its turn. Perhaps it had its target in mind from the outset. In either case there was no mistaking the craft; it had a suspicious amount of surface damage, some unique customizations that were uncommon in the ships of the Dominion, and more importantly it had a bogus transponder. The code was valid, sure enough. But it didn’t match the vessel.
Both human and Gaoian were dismayed at the apparent lack of diligence at the station.
Shortly thereafter the order was given and the Brothers found themselves piling aboard the shuttle with the HEAT. Gaoian and human alike donned their environmental encounter suits, though naturally the Gaoian suit was much lighter owing to extremely advanced composites and design methods. Sadly, it didn’t offer nearly the same protection or capabilities as the human equipment, but nor did it crush with lethal force or burden with incredible weight. There was only so much the Gaoian body could do. Best optimize for that and move forward.
Shipboarding “the SOR way” was an interesting contrast to the latest Whitecrest game theory on such actions. The humans approached the pirate ship in the cloaked Caledonia and waited until the pirate ship had degaussed and was preparing to debark. At the perfect, most mundane moment, the Aggressors flew off on their boarding launch and quietly ingressed to the target. It was a laughably single-purpose craft and frighteningly exposed, but the advantage was in stealth. And it must have worked, as there was no reaction to their presence.
Until the moment they boarded. That was as violent and unmistakable an action could be: they blew a hole in the hull, entered, snap-beacon’d in the rest of their men and in less than ten seconds Humans and Gaoians were boiling forth and causing mayhem. Shortly thereafter, Regaari and his Brothers had the necessary opportunity to fade into the crew spaces and they did so, their suit camouflage pattern closely matching their fur. To a casual glance on a display screen it should look pretty unremarkable. They advanced calmly, not drawing attention to themselves as they made their way to engineering.
And then, from the general direction of the humans, the screams began.
The mission brief was to minimize casualties if at all possible, but the first group the SOR encountered didn’t really allow that option. This group aggressively responded to SOR’s loud and violent ingress and were already positioned opposite the doorway when SOR made their entry. The pirates did the (normally) sensible thing and fired their weapons from improvised cover. Tactically speaking, their quick deployment and engagement was both simple and sound, and in most any other circumstance would have been highly effective.
But today they faced the SOR.
The humans wore such effective armor they could barely even feel most pulse weaponry. Even the pirate’s heavy rifle shots were little more than a rough shove, like a large human male might deliver in rough play. As planned and briefed, the humans simply bull-rushed the pirate’s fire and disarmed them—literally, in the first unfortunate encounter. Regrettably, SOR’s time with the Brothers may have given the men an overestimation of what an untrained Gaoian could handle. The pirates didn’t react calmly to this, as one may suspect, and panic-fire and horrified yowls ensued. This required the Aggressors to use a bit more force than they would have preferred. And this in turn left a big mess for the Protectors to attend to.
This was not an auspicious start to a mission, though in mere seconds the deed was done and the pirates were safely subdued and restrained, suffering in varying degrees of injury.
Excepting one crazed and terrified Gaoian warrior. He was by far the largest Gaoian the humans had ever encountered, as tall as Murray and obviously quite heavy; the decking trembled under his quick and pounding feet. He even looked strong with an extremely muscular, athletic, and distinctly Gaoian anatomy prominently visible under his short, sleek fur. And none of it was for show. He moved quickly and precisely and with a desperate grace only the truly skilled and fearful possessed. And with the characteristic white ruff on his chest, it was obvious he was the Stoneback they had planned for. Murray approached cautiously, weapon holstered and hands outstretched.
Sadly, what the Stoneback had in strength and fighting skill he seemed to lack in calm and collected wits, firing ceaselessly at Murray while dodging and weaving, staring wide-eyed and yowling in terror and defiance. Murray approved of the brute’s spirit but they had no time for shenanigans. He approached quickly, lunged—and missed! He was caught flat-footed at the surprising speed of this impressive specimen. The Stoneback dodged nimbly and flowed gracefully through both bipedal and quadrupedal motion like the finely-tuned predator he was. Hell, few humans could move so quick or with such practiced grace!
But while the big brute’s physicality was impressively human-like, it was not nearly enough to counter a SOR Aggressor. Murray grinned beneath his mask and smartly side-stepped, then almost instantly closed the distance between the two, now showing the big Stoneback what real speed looked like. The brute stood no chance against such awesome ability and before he even knew what was happening he was smashed against the wall, both heavy wrists swallowed up in one of Murray’s enormous hands, the pulse rifle held in his other, and their legs entangled, totally pinning the Gaoian in place.
And the brute kept struggling, showing so much power he very nearly broke free! Murray’s smile grew broader. Who didn’t like a good fight? And how could he not appreciate the spirit on display? But they were lacking time so he needed to end this. He pushed forward firmly, just enough to press the struggling Stoneback into the wall and wind him. Even then, Murray was inwardly impressed with how much force it took. This was a seriously strong being; it was much like tussling with Sikes or even Blaczynski. This Stoneback would put virtually any man to shame—even one well-trained.
But Murray was trained well past civilians. “Easy there laddie. You’re in a diff’rent league now.”
He said it without malice. With good humor, even. His friendly tone (and probably his strongly dominant scent) seemed to penetrate the awareness of the frightened Stoneback, who was seemingly trapped between instinctual submission and abject terror. The big Gaoian paused and considered his predicament for a moment and looked up at the enormous human, studying his expression intently. While the brute couldn’t see Murray’s face, the twinkle in his bright, intelligent eyes was an expression that crossed all boundaries. There was no murder or rage to be found. Only the joy one might get from a good fight and vigorous exercise.
I’m not even a challenge, the Stoneback realized suddenly and bitterly. This is play for him.
That thought must have decided things for the struggling Gaoian. Realizing that this day was (maybe) not his to die, he inwardly whimpered and laid his ears back against his head in total surrender, hoping for mercy. The human chuckled and the fatal strike did not come. Slightly reassured, the Stoneback relaxed a bit and the human did so in turn, though he didn’t break the pin.
Meanwhile, Murray found himself growing quickly and oddly fond of the brave and terrified Stoneback beneath him. He couldn’t help his sympathy for the poor being’s plight and relented enough to alleviate some of the discomfort of being smashed into a wall. As soothingly as he could manage, “Atta boy laddie, you did good. Now let’s get you taken care of.”
He backed off and the Stoneback conveyed his agreement as only two warriors can. He remained docile while Murray gently secured the Gaoian’s paws behind him with a clever double-loop of wide and soft zip-tie, and led him towards the group where Warhorse and Baseball were triaging the casualties. The almost gentle manner (after the engagement, anyway) in which the humans were handling the Gaoian pirates was, to say the least, very disorientating for the Stoneback and his fellows. They had expected to die horrible and glorious deaths but that was not the case. The humans here were so far beyond their combat capability it almost wasn’t even a fight at all. It was more akin to crowd control. And once the Stoneback recognized this, his curiosity got the better of him.
“Wh—what will you do with us?” There was a certain brave trepidation to the big Gaoian’s voice, obvious even through the translator. The pirates all perked up and listened.
“For now, restrain and remove you from th’ ship. What happens afterward isn’t for me to decide.” Glum acceptance from some of the pirates, which the humans did not fail to note.
“What will happen to Chiilek?” He glanced at the unfortunate Gaoian and his missing limb, which Baseball was carefully wrapping in gauze and plastic.
“Surgery. I’m sure they’ll either re-attach the arm or get him a prosthetic. Now play nice.” He grinned a wolf-grin, “Warhorse and Baseball here? They’re much scarier than me.” Murray took his leave. He was a full minute behind the rest of the Aggressors and that was unacceptable.
Meanwhile the Stoneback fell into the loose group herded together by a pair of bigger humans. They had a different patch on their shoulders than the giant who had so easily bested him, and though they were shorter—a bit shorter than him, in fact—they were significantly broader and obviously much stronger, and moved with a heavier, solid thud he could feel through the floor. They served a very different combat function then the tall, terrifying warriors who so easily defeated he and his fellows, though their purpose wasn’t immediately clear to the Stoneback.
He waited with the group and silently observed the men, his wrists bound behind his back, until one of the third types of human approached. They were easily identified by the pair of green, human-shaped footprints on their mission patch. That, and their size. The Stoneback stared at them both and boggled; these were much bigger men than the other two groups. The one approaching was the shortest human present—slightly shorter than most Gaoian males, in fact—and was so hugely broad and thick and heavy the floor actually rippled and creaked under his incredible mass. He was so obviously big and strong the Stoneback wondered if he and this monstrous green-foot human served vaguely similar roles.
Warhorse grunted in a deep and very human grumble. “You hurt?” He gave the Stoneback a hard, professional glance. It was a deeply unsettling gaze, like he was visually dissecting the Gaoian. The Stoneback felt such a gaze could almost frighten a non-warrior to death.
“…no.” Truthfully, he was not. Murray had been rough but harmed nothing besides ego.
The human’s expression softened much as Murray’s had. “Alright bro, lead your fellows down there,” he gestured to a large portal machine down the hall, “And don’t cause trouble. You play nice, we’ll play nice, okay? You guys have any medical problems you let the medics on the ship know immediately.”
The human’s attention immediately turned to packing up his massive pile of equipment, ending the conversation. The big Defenders quickly ushered the pirates toward the portal.
The Stoneback glanced back at the taller of the green-foot medics, who was finishing up his medical care on the injured Gaoian and preparing to transport the poor pirate. While he was much taller than and maybe not quite as massive as his fellow, it was clear the green-foot humans required enormous strength and size to perform their role.
Which the Stoneback could well appreciate; strength and physical ability had always been his Clan’s specialty. But compared to any of these humans, and especially these green-foot hulks? The Stoneback felt like a tiny cub again, staring up in awe at his future Brothers during Evaluation Week. Worse, for he knew he was nearing his physical limits and stood no chance of ever closing such an enormous gap. The Stoneback, a champion of his people, consistently ranked the very strongest of the strong, quick and skilled and clever and deadly, handsome and a sire of many cubs, in many ways a living embodiment of the very best his people had to offer…never had he known such utter defeat in anything. He was so much smaller, so much slower, so much weaker, and so completely outclassed in body and skill that he could scarcely comprehend it.
He and his clan had thought him a rare and precious equal for human athletic ability; he was selected and trained almost from birth to further his Clan’s breeding program, and he and his young (and very small) generation of Brothers were certainly bigger and stronger and faster than most human males, according to Stoneback research and the few humans he had met. But this small demonstration of the human’s apparently limitless potential put even the Clan’s remarkable achievements to absolute shame. He trudged forlornly forward, brooding on how useless he was before such adversaries.
He stepped through the strange portal, was thoroughly searched, his paws (finally!) uncuffed and he was given a resting mat and some water. And a little packet of some dried, rich, spicy meat. He opened the tough plastic container and took a bite…
Maybe things weren’t so bad after all.