"Nobody has to die today." -- Anon Guest
You can say a lot with small words. Wisdom comes in those with multiple uses. Five words can be a promise, a threat, a reassurance, or an absolute and utter lie. Humans use all of them at once, and pretend they knew what was the winner after the fact.
Unless the Ships' Human makes it very, very clear which one they're using, it's just better to play along. In the Case of the Valiant Whatsit and their Ships' Human Ey, it is almost always a threat.
Such as now, when Ey is facing off a novice band of Vorax raiders. It's easy to tell they're novices because one of them said, "There's twelve of us and one of them, how could we not win?" If they're lucky, they'll survive finding out.
Oddly, Human Ey's voice gentled as they repeated the words, "Nobody has to die today. I am giving you one chance. Check your data readers. Look up Humans. I will wait."
This caused some confusion among the crew, watching from a safe distance and behind a projectile-proof shield. Still, they took their lead from their pack-bonded Deathworlder and patiently waited. They did not have to wait long, as one of the faster readers startled at the text on their reader and nudged the squad leader, pointing out a relevant section of text.
There was a brief physical scuffle that read like kittens attempting to assert dominance to Human Ey, as evidenced by their whispered sigh of, "Babies..."
The fight petered to a halt as the Vorax raiders realised they were still under the watchful eye of someone with the explosive potential of a small star.
"When you're quite ready," said Human Ey.
The leader took up what had to be a submissive posture. "We do apologise, we had little awareness of your peoples' potential."
"Don't let it happen again," said Human Ey, "by the way, there's some pretty good asteroids in this solar system, so you won't go away empty-handed. Look for the amber-tagged beacons."
The Vorax left peacefully, but some were still shoving each other as they exited the airlock.
"Human Ey," said Companion Grux. "Why did you let them leave like that?"
"They're kids on their first day out without supervision, the poor little darlings."
"Wait. What?"
"Okay, let me break it down. One: They were way smaller than your average Vorax. The usual is about yae high," Ey gestured with a hand, "and this lot were hae high." A significantly lower gesture. "They're like tweenagers or something. Two: They fight amongst themselves like a box of kittens just learning that they have claws and teeth. It's almost adorable. Three: Their social standing kind'a depends on how much loot they drag home with them, so I pointed them to a free meal that's way less bother than attacking us, but still enough of a challenge so they can feel proud. Four: I just can't attack kids, my lads. I couldn't do it."
Captain Drio hazarded, "Not even if they attacked?"
Ey sighed. "Oh, if they tried to attack, I'd probably yeet them around for a while. Nothing fatal, but enough to make them think twice. They're kids, Drio. They'd get tired of trying before I wore out from throwing them, for sure. I mean, yeah, a fully-grown Vorax is a threat, but these were babies and Vorax are ambush-hunters. I have endurance and determination on my side."
Humans had the ability to adopt any small and seemingly helpless creature that crossed their paths. All things considered, the crew of the Valiant Whatsit were lucky that Human Ey didn't try to take them home.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / Kaspri]
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