Chapter Text
“The medical bay has been secured. Two lifeforms recovered.”
“The crew quarters have been secured. Six crew members have been arrested.”
“The cargo hold has been secured. No lifeforms or crew present.”
A’zawa listened to the ‘wrrr’ of the mechanics and the occasional chirping of his communicator as he waited for the door to open. Once it did, he stepped through with his team. Snipe, N’muri, Sero, and Shioz’ki followed close behind, all of them observing the standard cells and smaller, stacked cages lining the walls. A mix of Xenos, or higher lifeforms, and baser lifeforms.
There were guards to be dealt with. It didn’t take them long, only keeping them conscious so that they could glean more information about their captives from them.
“The prisoner deck has been secured. Fourteen crew members arrested. Preparing to catalog the captives, the number currently unknown,” Snipe informed the rest of their organization.
They each took a section of the deck to inventory. The Xenos identified themselves and even a few of the creatures that came from the same planet as them. All were stolen by a poaching and trafficking ring that his organization had been tracking for a long time now. The ring sold Xenos as slaves or fighters and the baser lifeforms as pets or attack creatures.
Every lifeform contained here was their current “stock.” But now they would be freed.
“What are these?” A’zawa demanded, gesturing to a line of reinforced cages that seemed to be separated from everything else. The crew members he was asking laughed.
“Have you heard of the Deathworld, Terra?” one asked, her lip bleeding from a hit she had taken earlier.
“Terra has a no-contact order. Their lifeforms wouldn’t be out here,” N’muri pointed out.
“Unless you go there and bring some back yourself,” she laughed. “Do you know how much a Deathworlder goes for? How good they are as mindless fighters? Throw them in a ring with anything and they’ll rip them to shreds. Instant entertainment!”
A’zawa turned back to the cages, filled with a variety of unfamiliar creatures. With a sigh, he pulled out his communicator. “Get Nezu. We have a problem.”
“We’re not really going to kill them, are we?” Shioz’ki asked, her prehensile hair twisting to show her nervousness.
“Unfortunately, they are simply too aggressive,” Nezu replied solemnly. “They can not be released anywhere and there is a no-contact order on Terra. We can not return them. The safest and kindest option is to put them down.”
Shioz’ki looked back into the cage that had been brought to their organization’s lab. Two quadrupedal creatures with some sort of spotted fur occupied it. One laying in a corner and the other pacing and occasionally hissing, baring large, sharp teeth fit for a carnivore.
“This one too,” Snipe spoke up, eyeing a long, skinny, and limbless creature that kept attacking the reinforced glass of its container. It seemed like it would hurt itself before it let up.
Most of them were violent, attacking the walls of their cages while they were moved or making aggressive sounds or displays. That was expected from anything on Terra. Even their flora were toxic and their climate inhospitable. The poachers took a huge risk just going to the surface of that planet, let alone capturing anything on it. They weren’t cowards, he’d give them that.
The environmental danger of that planet and its total lack of Xenos species got it classified as a no-contact planet. A Deathworld. It was illegal to even enter its orbit. Occasionally, poachers took the risk, finding the money they could make worth it. Anyone found owning a creature from that planet was arrested while the creature was typically put down by the planet’s government.
The ship they raided was under Nezu’s jurisdiction. He wanted to give them a chance.
“What about these?” H’zashi questioned, observing three bipedal creatures held in separate cages. All three had different coloring but looked similar enough that they were probably the same species. A green-furred one watched them without blinking often. A pink-furred one lay curled in a ball, not sleeping. And a brown-furred one seemed to be grooming itself, tugging dull claws through its longer fur. “They seem docile.”
“They’re wearing garments of some kind. Are we sure they aren’t Xenos?” Its’ka asked.
“Terra doesn’t have any Xenos,” Momo reminded her. “Nothing has left their planet, without being stolen from it, or attempted to reach out. The first expeditions to go there reported that none of the creatures used any form of higher communication. They just attacked, typically without provocation, and relied on body language and baser sounds. Just growls and calls.”
“They have not attempted to communicate since we recovered them or responded to communication,” Nezu added. “The garments are likely to keep them warm. They only have fur on their heads. Plenty of people put their pets in clothes.”
“It's a silly practice if you ask me,” Snipe grumbled.
“Regardless, yes, H’zashi’s assessment is correct,” Nezu said, moving on. “These lifeforms have been docile thus far. I believe it would be safe to keep them. A’zawa, H’zashi, you two and your third have helped to rehabilitate injured creatures before. Would you be willing to again, keeping in mind that it may be permanent since they can’t be released to the wild?”
“Not for a Deathworlder,” A’zawa replied at the same time H’zashi chirped out an, “Of course!”
They froze and stared at each other for a moment. “Oh my, well… Do discuss it. You have time to decide,” Nezu assured them before dismissing everyone.
The green-furred creature was still watching them and the brown-furred one had joined in. A’zawa avoided their gazes while they waited for their third, Oboro, to arrive. They arrived pretty quickly though. “How’d the raid go?”
“Fine,” A’zawa replied before steamrolling onto the issue. “Nezu wants us to let Deathworlders into our home. Around our kids.”
“They’re docile,” H’zashi added. “They were found in the raid. Supposedly from Terra.”
“They’re docile for now . We have no idea how they’ll behave once they get out of those cages or if they’re the kind of creatures that stalk their prey before attacking them. Or they might only be docile now because we’re bigger than them. Eri is closer to their size. What if they hurt her?”
“What if they don’t?” H’zashi countered, feathers flaring slightly. “Why should they be put down without being given a chance? As long as we keep an eye on them, it should be fine, right?”
“What if we let them out in one of the testing rooms? We could see how they behave uncaged that way,” Oboro suggested, interrupting their arguing.
“You’re actually considering this?” A’zawa asked incredulously.
“H’zashi’s right. Even if they’re from a Deathworld, if they can be rehabilitated, they should be.” Oboro glanced at the cages. “Terra is largely unexplored. It’s possible that there are peaceful creatures on it. I mean, the predators have to be eating something.”
A’zawa groaned at his bleeding heart partners but helped them move the cages nonetheless. The pink one jolted out of the little ball they had curled themselves into when they were moved and the brown one whined quietly. Then the trio armed themselves with tranquilizers, just in case, before releasing the creatures into the sealed room.
The creatures didn’t leap from the cages the second they were open like he’d expected them to, so he and the others backed up to give them space to come out on their own. The pink one moved first, crawling forward and then standing once they were out. They were just a little taller than the cage, meaning it had been restricting their range of movement.
In the next cage over, the green one crawled out, albeit a little more cautiously than the pink one had. The wide, green eyes that had barely left them finally drifted over to the pink one, before both headed toward the brown one’s cage together. Together, with quiet coos, they coaxed the brown one out of their cage. Then all three huddled together in some sort of cuddle pile.
“Oh, do you think they’re pack-bonded?” H’zashi questioned, quietly so he wouldn’t startle them.
“It’s possible,” A’zawa replied. He was just happy that the green one stopped staring at them.
He spoke too soon. The green one’s head poked out of the cuddle pile and turned back toward the side of the room they were on. Green eyes, green fur. The brown one’s eyes and fur matched too. If it weren’t for the pink one having yellow eyes, he would have thought that was just a trait of their species. Or maybe it was and the pink one had a mutation.
They had no way of knowing. This species didn’t even have a name. ‘Terrans’ encompassed all the unknown, unnamed species on that planet. There wasn’t anything specific to just this one.
After a few rels, all three creatures stood from their cuddle pile. Their stances seemed defensive. A’zawa was sure they were gearing up to fight but instead, they bolted in the opposite direction, finding an equipment cart to hide behind. It was rather anticlimactic.
What kind of Deathworlders were these?
Oboro and their goth husbands!