There's one universal truth. Never get between a set of parents and their children. -- Anon Guest
The Universe has ways of answering the wrong questions. Those who know this never put voice to questions like, "How bad can it get?" or, "What could possibly go wrong?" It also responds to the terminally daft when they say, "It can't possibly get any worse," because the first law of the Universe is that it was NOT made to be kind.
Some Vorax, like H'gaak, have yet to learn this. So when ze returned to the raider vessel, ze had no idea of the trouble it was about to cause. H'gaak had a small clutch of Havenworlder young.
The raid leader saw it and said, "What the flakk[1]?" She demanded. "Why are you keeping ignoble-survivors?"
"I shall fatten them up for feasting. They are weak and easily tractable. They weren't even guarded. What trouble could they cause?"
That, for those of you who know the patterns of reality, was where everything went wrong. At that moment, a mother discovered the absence of her chicks, and though she was little, she became fierce.
At the same time as Raid Leader H'vaaq asked, "Did you kill the parentals?" that one parental was donning her livesuit. Readying some of the more interesting weaponry as supplied by Humans[2]. Technician Jair tried a few experimental blows with it. This one was a light little thing. Made to cause the most damage in the least amount of time, with a minimum of force necessary to do so.
Ominously silent, a mother set off towards the Voraxian breach at speed. She did not scream, she did not purposely make any noise at all. Her mind was on giving them the least possible warning of her approach.
Sensible, given the circumstances.
After all, one never tells an enemy one is coming to kill them.
She made it onto the 'beak' of the Raider ship just as it was starting to withdraw from the ruptured hull. Worked her way inside just as it was beginning to close off. Technician Jair didn't waste a second, plugging into some panels and hacking the Vorax's airlock system.
Deathworlders. They always assumed their might and muscle could win the day, and therefore tended to leave electronic security to minimal possible measures[3].
She rendered their ship dead in the water in less than a minute.
With that advantage, she made her way inside and found Raider H'gaak counting HER babies into a large and uncomfortable cage.
Even now, she did not scream as she attacked. The Vorax's first warning was a face full of angry Havenworlder and a thorax full of sharp.
The chicks cheered, "Get 'em, Mama!"
Jair kept stabbing until H'gaak stopped moving. Then moved on to the next-most-daft Vorax because they were attempting to intercept.
They learned quickly, which was good for them.
Jair freed her young, moving them into a survival pod. At no point did she lower her guard or assume that the rest of the Vorax were now harmless. In that way, she was far more sensible than the Raiders.
She returned to her people with her livesuit spattered with Vorax pieces and ichor. A hero of a moment, safe with her children under her wing. The only mark of disapointment was that there wasn't any footage of the event. Therefore she could not sell it to the Humans for entertainment.
[1] Translated from G'g'kaalysh, the Vorax lingua franca, on the best-fit basis.
[2] Humanity - when you want something dead, suffering, or both, they have a weapon for that.
[3] Unless you're the Humans.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / StephanieFrey]
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