The only universal language
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11
It felt like forever since you've seen your other colleagues. You'd just been so busy around the human but they all seem rather caught up on your activities.
You sat across from an Atraxi, a creature with a face covered in leathery skin rolls. His pointed ears dropped to the sides, one flicking towards the noise of children in the halls. Flaps of skin hung down from his chin, creating frills around his neck.
You always wondered how he could see as the rolls seemed to obscure his eyes. From the relaxed posture and how the skin rolls flexed, you could see the beginnings of amusement.
"I hear you've adopted another one." He said.
You looked up from your food to send him a flat look, not sure if he's able to read your face in the same way as your own species would. His chuckle suggested he could.
"How has introductions gone with the other kids?"
"Like introducing a bunch of Vari to a Titr." You answered, "the children sit outside their room, just so eager to meet them, I wonder if I should be sticking a see-through gate in the doorway."
The Atraxi laughed again, "and how is the human finding them?"
"There was some initial interest but the human seems happy to just sit in company rather than meet them at the door." You shrugged, "they're more interested in painting more sea creatures on their feature wall."
"I'm sure Yinsin is happy to get another artist on the station."
"Heard anything more from the authorities?" You changed the subject and it immediately soured the Atraxi's mood but you needed to know. It's not like you could just take this human child, there were processes to go through.
"Not since we twisted their arm for those poacher files." He huffed.
You grimaced, "sorry to say, Hex, but I don't think they're actually going to come back for this one."
"Nope," he agreed, "think they just dumped them off at the nearest station. Do you think they knew it was a child?"
"I mean, we are known for taking on children here," you tilted your head, "but they couldn't have gotten much of a look at the human. They transported it in the crate taken from the poacher ship." You absently remembered you still had that crate. You'd need to burn that along with every other thing that came from that place. Your tail lashed out at the thought of a child being treated like an aggressive pet.
Hex seemed to pick up on your anger, "well, I heard back from one of the ships with humans on it. They're en route to help. I think they're all assuming it's a child too what with our resident xenobiologist's tendencies." He raised a skin fold on one side of his face, you'd seen it enough times to know its meaning.
You huffed a laugh, "Yinsin is just as bad, I'll have you know. And don't tell me you don't like having them all around."
"I mean, we got a security officer out of it," Hex shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe the human will follow in Et-han's footsteps, I hear humans can be scary strong and resourceful."
"We do not support child labour in this station," you shook your head, a smile pulling at your lips.
"Suuuure... mostly," Hex chuckled.
You opened your mouth to chastise him more when the lights suddenly switched off. Your stomach dropped and when the lights came back on, they were red. An alert sounded, loud and droning.
"Aesif boarders inbound. Everyone shelter in place."
You did not shelter in place. You jumped up and ran down the halls towards the human's room where you knew all the children to be standing around. While you had taught them what to do in situations like this, you weren't sure if they would freeze or panic now that it actually was happening.
Outside the human's door, Alyr was reaching a hand in while Thistle was desperately trying to wave the human out. You picked Toctin up off the floor, knowing they were slower to move than the rest.
As you entered the doorway, the human was walking towards the group, fidgeting and tense. On seeing you with the group, they took a step and took Alyr's hand as you used a wing to gesture and lead the children to their hideout for these specific situations.
You wouldn't fit into the doorway, it was designed to be small enough that only the children could fit in it to add that extra security. They crawled into the entrance, the human pausing at the door before looking up at you, clearly understanding that you weren't going to fit.
"Go on," you nodded to them, "I will be fine." They followed the other children in and you closed a shutter over the doorway.
Shutters were coming down on multiple doorways by now, one of the few defences this station had. You were still in the hallway and had to run to find a room that was still open. Whilst you did, you bumped into Et-han who had fully kitted up with energy blades and a phaser on his hip.
"What are you doing here? Go to your lab and stick the shutter down," he hissed.
"I had to hide the others first," you said back.
"Go," Et-han all but scolded you as if you weren't his mother too. He was pointing down the hall.
From down the hall, you heard the predatory trill from your invaders. The Aesif were reptilian in nature, covered in frills and stood upright on two legs with long tactile tails able to break bone if you're hit by them.
You also heard Yinsin. Her voice came over the invaders' radios as she broadcasted your SOS. "Transmitting on all frequencies, station Li-N is under attack from Aesif invaders. I repeat, the daycare is under attack."
This was not the first time this station had come under attack. It had happened once when Et-han had still been a shoat in your arms. You had a whole host of other alien children and help had come quick when they registered your station as being under siege. Using the station's nickname was the quickest way to get help.
While in the hall, a small part of you felt aggression rising. It was unavoidable what with this station essentially being your nest with multiple of your children working and living here. These Aesif were nothing but nest raiders to that maternal part of your brain. But you were able to ignore that part of your brain to find your own safety, as long as-
"Mama!" You heard a scream from the hall you'd just come from.
They found the hideout. How the intruders had managed to fit to pull out one of the children, you weren't sure but you knew now that nothing was going to stop you from taking your child back.
Your tail lashed, the feathers at the end of it spread wide in a threat display. You moved to walk on all fours, not something you did normally, the walk was too predatory for interacting with multiple species that included prey species. Your tail straightened for balance as you approached down the corridor.
You reached the hideout only to find the shutter had been ripped off and the edges of the doorway had been cut with some thermal cutting tool to widen the entrance, the edges were singed. These invaders seemed to know exactly what they were doing.
In the common room up ahead, you heard Et-han's protective grumble. He was speaking, not fighting, which meant he didn't have the option.
Stalking into the common room, you found your children backed up into a corner. Et-han stood between them and the invaders however Alyr was not with them. Alyr was in the arms of an Aesif.
Alyr was the protective sort, similar to Et-han in that way. He was most likely to put himself in the way for the others to run. Now though, he was trembling. The Aesif was holding him by one of his horns, the other hand held a blade that was currently pointed at the ground, the invader confident that Et-han would not try to approach him as long as he held Alyr. And he'd be right.
"I'm telling you, this is a very big mistake," Et-han said calmly, "put the kid down before you get seriously hurt."
"You won't do anything to me," the invader said, "we know of this place. The daycare, they call it. You care so much about these little ones and you are not related. Weak. We find you easy and we come for what's ours." The invader nodded to the human child currently hiding behind Et-han.
On seeing attention on them, the human let out a growl but it was shaky. The fear was only riling you up more but you knew you couldn't rush in. Even without the blade, Aesif had talons almost as sharp as yours, strong tails and armour plating on their back and the top of their head.
Your head tilted as you looked for the best place to sink your teeth and talons in. Your eyes landed on their shoulders and neck where their species had sacrificed some protection for manoeuvrability. Similarly, their tail had no protection aside from the hulking muscle it was made from. It would need quite the large blood supply to move as strong as it does. Anatomy flashed through your mind as you stalked further behind the intruder.
Et-han would see you by now, so would the children but the only one to really react was the human. They had never seen you look like this and they just hugged Et-han's leg briefly before remembering he would probably need his legs to move and protect them.
"Yeah, about that," Et-han said, "I think you'll find they're not yours anymore. You're gonna have to take that up with Ma."
"Oh, I was not asking." The intruder shook the hand holding Alyr, making the kid bleat and grab for his horn, wincing in pain.
"Neither is she."
You pounced. The talons on your back feet sunk into the base of its tail, one of your hands sunk talons into its shoulder while your teeth clamped around its neck. The other hand dragged talons down its inner arm, slitting the skin and making it drop its blade.
As it screamed in surprise and pain, Et-han swooped in to grab Alyr, twisting the Aesif's hand that still held him. The Aesif lashed out, clamping its jaws on Et-han's arm while Alyr rushed back to the other children.
As soon as you heard Et-han's pain, your hand reached into the intruder's mouth, not caring if you get bit and dug your talon's into its soft pallet. It yelled again, this time, mouth wide open as it tried to dislodge your hand. It let go of Et-han who also went back to the children, weapon ready to defend.
The intruder threw you over its shoulder and quickly spun to hit you with its tail.
"Yarrow!" Et-han warned but you grabbed on to the Aesif's heel, pulling yourself closer to its body. The tail still hit you and it hurt but it was nowhere near the body shattering hit that the end of its tail could produce.
Your talons attacked the base of the tail again, ripping through flesh and drawing more blood. The Aesif kicked your chest and stumbled away.
You stood up on four legs, all feathers puffed up and wings spread wide in threat, tail lashing and displaying your darkest patterns. You let out a hiss, "leave my nest or bleed." It was getting harder for you to actually think. Your anger was only getting worse now that a child of yours had been injured and they were all vulnerable.
The hits you'd taken were harsh but you couldn't think to even assess your own injuries. They were blunt force, that's all you could even remember.
"Aaand rational brain has left the station," Et-han said behind you. You wouldn't disagree. It was a huge task to even speak to the invader and not cause more harm.
However, your hits were precise. The intruder's neck and tail were bleeding profusely and the long slit down its arm also became slick with blood. It was stumbling away from you, collapsing in shock. It opened its mouth and let out a call before you could lunge and hold its mouth shut.
Two more Aesif invaders entered the room, seeing you standing over one of their own as it bled on the floor. Et-han held his sword up while you went down on all fours again, wings spread wide and pupils dilating.
The Aesif at your feet was still alive, bleeding out fast. You shoved it towards them. "Take it, and get out."
They looked at each other. One grabbed the injured one, pulling it out the door while the other stepped towards you. Your tail lifted above your head, caudal fan stretched to show off the navy and blue feathers. You hissed as the intruder paused on you.
It turned, swiping at you with its tail. You jumped back and immediately rushed it as it finished its swipe. It didn't have much time to react. You ducked under its arm, your feet digging talons into its tail again as you chomped down on its neck, similar to the first. Unlike the first, you didn't hang on. You sliced through the flesh then jumped off its back, jumping over another tail swipe.
A thud brought your attention back to Et-han. He'd fallen to his knees, shaking his head as if clearing a haze. As soon as you saw the bite wound again, you became aware of the Aesif's worst weapon and why they were so hated as raiders.
A mouth clamped down on your shoulder as you were distracted. The second Aesif had finished dragging the injured one out of the room and had come up behind you. You squawked, a hand reaching back to claw at the head until it let you go. You dropped to the ground, turning to the other who was holding its face over its eye where blood was pouring.
"Hold it," it hissed to the other and you were shoved into the wall, colours blurring together in the whirr of motion.
You finally stopped fighting, if only to give yourself time to reevaluate. The one holding you was starting to bleed but you were also growing weak. You had to close one eye to gain a clear picture, sacrificing depth perception just to make the image stop spinning as much.
"Now, human." The other turned to your children and you hissed again, earning a hand on your throat, choking the noise from you. "We have tracked you through multiple solar systems."
Et-han stood again, trying to defend but his head was tilting to the side, already off balance and the Aesif slashed its blade at him, making him stumble back onto the ground again.
The chicks were completely undefended.
Your head turned to a scream as the human was grabbed. Both eyes opened, your pupils constricted into slits, your breathing slowed.
"Oh shit." The Aesif holding you managed before your hand shot out, stabbing its throat. It dropped you and you darted at the predator holding the human, tackling it to the ground.
The noises coming from you were nothing normal, still struggling with the breath you'd lost. Your mouth clamped down on its face, gripping and shaking.
The Aesif screamed, claws slashing at you but you wouldn't let go until it stopped moving. Once it stopped, you jumped off it, stumbling and swaying on your feet.
The human was on the ground, sinking back to be as small as possible. You twittered sweetly at them, nudging them with the back of your hand, deliberately keeping your talons away from them. You nodded back to the group of children, Thistle reaching out to take the human back. The human crawled across the ground towards them.
You looked at Et-han but he was also struggling to stand and crawled closer to the children. You were standing for now so you turned back to the doorway. You sent a glare at the Aesif still on its feet. It held its throat where you'd stabbed.
Before it could move, a pair of armed guards rushed towards them, yelling for the Aesif to get down. It dropped, more from its injuries than from any order given, it bled out by the time they'd dragged it away.
You stayed standing, instinct still high to protect your children. One of the armed guards walked up to you and your tail flared, a warning to stay back. The guard put their phaser on the ground in front of you, pulling their helmet off. It was a human.
"Everyone alright here?" They asked, "we're from the R9-tanker. We were just passing through when we heard your distress call."
The words were reaching you but barely and it was taking everything in you to not threaten any more.
"She's in mama mode," Et-han helpfully added, "give her some space."
You took another step before the venom and blood loss knocked the last of the strength from you and you fell to the ground.
"MAMA!!" The last thing you saw were the faces of your children staring up at you.
