We Need a Deathworlder!

“What button I press?” Nodrin asks as they stare down at their hardlight controller. The first person view of their section of screen continuously runs at knee high ledge.

“Green trigger.” Troy informs as he intentionally spared the struggling Gratt in his lines of sight.

Nodrin’s perspective leaps stiffly but successfully over the ledge. Then to only see their character splatter on the floor from the great unseen height.

Calmly, the Gratt places their controller down and excuses themselves from the game.

“Game not for me. I watch.” they inform.

Trying his best to stifle a laugh Troy nods.

“Don’t worry about it, we’ll try something more your speed after I crush lil’ miss grenade spammer here…” he teases the female Gratt who is currently hyper focused on the combat game.

Although Meeki has obviously spent the vast majority of her life being completely ignorant to what a ‘vid-game’ is, she has taken to it like a Cali to kul dew gravy. Her skills however… are still developing as she leans heavily on the simple but effective tactics. Though she also spared her bondmate from being easy pickings to increase her score, her loyalty to them still overwrites the growing need to claim victory over her Terran friend. She knows that Troy is going easy on her, as his direct confrontations have almost always been in his favor. While her kills were basically nuking an entire room with tossed explosives as he’d enter.

Running through the digital halls, Troy keeps an eye on the radius radar tracker, almost regretting telling Meeki that crouching made her all but invisible to him. But that meant she moved slowly, so all he had to do was blitz through the map he knew all too well and hound her down-

His character’s head erupts into a red mist explosion as a grenade meets it seemingly out of nowhere.

“Wait- what?” he says aloud in a moment of shock before Meeki chiters sharply in giddy glee.

“Bounced it off walls to you!” she reveals.

“Ooohh… Nice! That’s hard to do!” Troy complements, realizing it must have been a stroke of luck.

Getting back into it he respawns and continues on with his previous plan, only to have his guts spill out in a concussive blast as a grenade bounced off a interior tree limb from the plaza next door, rebounded off the doorway to the floor, which it then sailed right up into his character’s abdomen.

Baffled, the Terran shakes himself loose and leans forward before he respawns again.

“Okay… no more mister nice guy…” he chuckles.

He prioritizes trying to track where his foe currently camped out, he is ahead by quite a few points so he can spare a couple reckless deaths to help triangulate.

Again and again he found himself being obliterated by absurdly trick-shot explosives. Concern grows as the match gradually becomes more even in score, but he figures that the Gratt must have perched herself up high with a vantage point to where she can- nope, nothing.

Troy’s legs blow out from underneath him as a grenade rolls right in front of his path as if expertly predicted.

Very much starting to question if this industrial revolution era Gratt figured out how to find and utilize illegal cheat software, he presses his head against the controller while the score comes to a tie. He racks his brain for any sensible explanation. Is he actually just bad at this game? Or is Meeki some sort of progeny with throwing timed explosives?

Finally, while being ultra stealthy on his part, Troy on a whim glanced downward in an exposed and accessible sewer grate.

Blasting his rifle in a blazing fury of vengeance he guns at the revealed opponent.

Meeki squeals in laughter while physically jumping in her seat as she panics to run away from the Terran deeper in the narrow tunnels.

Troy mentally kicks himself for not realizing that this entire time she was sneaking around under him and tossing grenades up in the various floor openings on the map. The trick shots are all still stupidly impressive, but not quite the impossible mastery as he started to previously assume. It also explains where she keeps getting all these grenades, as each entrance had a respawning pair ready to be scooped up.

“Got you!” He laughs as he gives chase into the tunnel network, only for the Gratt’s earlier method of engagement to return.

As soon as he drops down, the Terran recognizes his grave error just before the whole narrow tunnel is nothing but fire, shockwaves and shrapnel.

Shaking his head he readies himself to counter Meeki’s uncovered plan of attack in a much smarter approach, but his view is obstructed by a ‘MATCH OVER’ text and revealing the female Gratt as victorious by a single point.

Troy is caught off guard by this because the scores are not at the final end-match goal, but he leans back in a drawn sigh noticing the match timer has come to an end. Unable to hold frustration for more than a few seconds, it drains from the man as he looks over at the celebrating Meeki practically wrestling with Nodrin in her excitement. Who in turn is hyped up by some Gratt emotional osmosis. Well, that or Nodrin simply loved seeing their bondmate so thrilled.

For a moment, Troy’s mind wanders to a place it almost never indepthly ventures to because it was always second nature without thinking. It’s a good place, close to his core as a person. Making people smile and laugh brought him immeasurable self-value and comfort. It brings him back to a place that was hazy in detail, but clear in feeling. Him and his mom spending time together watching comedy shows, movies, vids…

That woman could make the most sullen heart laugh, as she often did in the area Troy had to grow up. Not having much to their name, questionable neighbors, dubiously cheap vendors, being too close to a life-ending occurrence on a too frequent basis… through it all she’d make a light in any darkness.

Suddenly he’s ripped free from his zoning out by two Gratt tackling him from the side.

In his laughing resistance he pushed himself up and back to maintain a height advantage, but Nodrin moved around and yanked, causing all three to fall back over the circular couch and down to the floor in a tumbling pile.

“Aren’t you two supposed to be taking it easy?” Brandy cautions the Gratt like an overprotective parent.

“We careful and drugs hide pain.” Nodrin assured truthfully as this really is the duo being careful by their standards. Full-on Gratt social wrestling is usually far more chaotic.

“Uh-huh… you doing alright there Troy?’ Brandy redirects to the Terran now under the two mischievous space-goblins.

“Oh yeah, this ain’t nothin’!” he reports with a thumbs up.

“Okay… well, I’m heading out to meet up with Devin and Thorn. Might be out all night, can I trust you three nut-cases being here unsupervised?” she teases as she adjusts her clothes.

“Yeah, where are ya going out to do?” Troy inquires for clarification.

“There’s some stuff going on with a few politicians that seems pretty suspect. Has nothing to do with us, but it may garner vital support for our local Princess if we involve ourselves. Devin will be on standby if anything happens while we’re out.” Brandy answers.

“Ah… no way I can help then… gotcha.” Troy replies with a vertical nod.

“Actually… Thorn asked if you were available… but I said you weren't.” Brandy reveals.

“Huh? Why?” the man questions in surprise.

Brandy looks over the three with an unreadable yet knowing expression.

“Because you aren’t. Have fun, your pizza should be here soon so keep an ear out.” the woman rolled her amused eyes as she headed towards the exit.

“Aright… Good luck!” Troy responds as he combats the duo from completely pinning him to the floor.

“Bye!” Meeki called out in a grunt as the woman fully left.

At the sound of the door fully sealing the Gratts manage to overwhelm the Terran jock in a pin while atop of him. Their tails each coil around his legs to render them unmovable and both of their pairs of arms are more of a match for Troy’s by himself.

“One day we beat Simone like this!” Nodrin snickers as they let off pressure with Meeki.

“Doubt it…” Troy chuckles as he stretches his freed arms up past his head, “That lady is a football team’s wet dream. Crazy she only really played baseball.”

“Aw… wish we brought ball…’ Nodrin mentions, their voice trailing off a bit.

“Yeah me too… though the others are probably relieved.” Troy points out, “Not like I have the best reputation with collateral damage.”

“You destroy things by mistake much?” Meeki asks.

“Well sure, everyone does. I just happen to do it a bit more… openly.” Troy says.

“Much like us, we act openly. Though Gratt are… uhm… what is word… ‘hyper’? And we have learned that is seen as aggression-trait. Dangerous to be near. We are careful and have not harm anyone we do not intend, but suppressing ‘Gratt’ expression is… difficult. We bond with social physical manners, like wrestle. We of course not do without permission, especially from other peoples… but…” Nodrin replies in a gradually saddening tone, “I worry Gratt will not be accepted by stars much. That no matter of what we explain or show we are not harmful Gratt will just be dismissed as a ‘Deathworlder’ to much avoid. Future of Gratt… more uncertain with more I see of the stars.”

Troy listens and nods along to the Gratt’s dower venting.

“Is it cool if I give some advice? You know, from a Terran -well, really ‘Troy’- perspective?” he inquires.

“Yes.” Nodrin nods.

“Only give a shit to what matters. That is to say… It doesn’t matter worrying about how much someone is going to judge you, because they’re gonna do it anyway. You know? Don’t sacrifice your energy on folks that aren't going to give you a chance in the first place that could be spent more on yourself and giving back to the universe in the ways that matter. Let dumbass-jerks avoid you, both of your lives are better for it. You can keep up a facade of who people want you to be all you want, but it’s only going to give them a reason to call you disingenuous or something like that later when they find out the ‘truth’. Just be yourselves and who you are. That way you’re only surrounded and supported by people who you know like you. Like me, I think you two are freak’n awesome! Like, I know politics have their own rules and shit, but on the day-to-day as people interact with you and your people is how social acceptance or whatever it’s called is done. Just keep being your amazing hyper big-hearted selves and things will probably work out. And hey, if the don’t you’ll always at least have me in your corner!” the Terran says with both confidence and a bit of a struggle to find the right words to pull from his head.

“You guys good?” he then asks as he notices that Nodrin’s expression seems confused, and Meeki… had been staring at him nonstop with her own four vibrant yellow eyes since halfway through his ‘advice’. Which at this point he starts to feel like his words were not all that helpful for their situation. He deems such as ‘far enough’ since half the time whenever he opens his mouth that tends to be the case.

The female blinks as if snapped out of something, but instead of answering she turns to her bondmate in an identical confused look to theirs.

Still not fully freed from the Gratt pile, Troy looks back and forth at the couple sitting on top of him with their surprisingly strong tails still tightly gripping his legs. He lays there allowing the two to engage in what sounds like a very serious chittering conversation. Wanting to test his knowledge of the Gratt language he deactivates his translator though unfortunately he’s absolutely clueless as to what the topic between the two can possibly be.

After a while of this otherwise unbothered, Troy rests his head on his crossed arms and simply waits.

“Troy…” Nodrin finally speaks up, although there seems to be no resolution in their expression.

Finally happy to be clued in on whatever’s going on the Terran nods.

“Yeah?” he casually asks.

“May we ask you questions? Personal questions? We do not want to be rude.” Meeki then asks.

“Uhhh…. Yeah sure! I’m an open book!” he concedes with a wide smile.

“You have family? Is other Terrans family?” Nodrin inquires.

“Ah… well… I suppose they’re like family. Thorn being the grumpy-ass dad. Devin, Simone and Brandy are like my siblings in a way. Jamie was…” the man hesitates, his smile faltering while on that specific part, ”-a bit more than that to me. Uhm… yeah… We definitely count.”

“Jamie is person Chak and Simone’s child is named after?” Meeki says gently for clarification.

“Uhm… yeah that’s right… they were our pilot for a long while and… um… yeah we uh… we had just started kinda dating before… they uhm… died.” Troy’s smile is completely gone from his face, “I took it pretty hard. But… that’s just how things are, we all can’t live to our gray-days. I wasn’t doing anyone any favors by being resentful about it, and I wasn’t the only one hurting, you know.”

A flash of sorrowful regret comes across the Gratt duo’s faces.

“Sorry, Troy.” Meeki apologizes.

“Much.” Nodrin agrees.

“It’s alright, really. It’s just weird talking about it outside the crew. The scar’s been healing for a bit too, although it still hurts. Which I think is a good thing, you know… that there is a lot of worth to miss, and a lot still around to hold on to.” Troy smirks with a shrug, “I still have a lotta life to hopefully live, and the best thing I can do is live it with everything it brings.”

“Not meant as insult…” Nodrin says with a bit of hesitancy, “But you hide much wisdom in you…”

“Wise? Ha! Naaah… thanks but Brandy’s right, I’m just a big nut-case.” Troy counters with a revived chuckle.

“Not sure what tree seeds in a container mean as teaseful insult… Do seeds not grow into big, mighty, beautiful trees?” Nodrin points out, “There’s more than one way to be wise, and more than one way to express wisdom. You are wise, Troy.”

The man’s face flushes from the assured compliment.

“Dang, uhm.. I guess… I mean… yeah thanks. Simone and I used to be the two meatheads but… even she has made me feel like a clueless dumbass by comparison sometimes. She picks up on things I don’t… like… apparently Jamie liked me for the longest time and laid the flirting on hard, and it all went over my head till Simone pointed it out. But you know what, that isn’t gonna happen again. Next time someone hits me up and stares me down trying to tell me something like that, I ain’t gonna miss it!” he vows.

Meeki looks back at Nodrin and shares more chittering between them. The only words that Troy catches in the exchange are ‘Unsure’ and ‘ask’.

“Do you flirt with people you like?” Meeki questions.

“Oh, hell no. Nope. No thanks.” Troy immediately replies in a laugh.

The confused Gratt look between each other again before addressing the man.

“You feel no immediate attraction?” Nodrin guesses.

“Not exactly. Brandy’s like that though. No… I’m just clueless and don’t want to be misunderstood because I don’t really pick up on things and say things that I worry would be misconstrued… you know… so I’ll just hang until it happens my way I guess. I’m in no rush either. Sure, companionship to me is something I feel like I need, but there’s a lotta things I need as a person. I’m always myself, so whoever it may be would have to see that and think ‘yeah, I can put up with that’, you know.”

“I think I understand.” Meeki nods, “Nodrin and me… we’re experiencing something… and want to see if it’s something to… look into. We don’t know for certain, if it is what it could be. We are curious… if you…” Meeki struggles making sure she explains correctly in galactic standard, “...have interest. We don’t want to misread signs.”

Raising an eye tuft Troy opens his mouth to respond, but the universe has other plans. The notification of their food delivery comes up following with a gentle ring.

“Oh hell yeah! Pizza’s here!” he cheers, “Sorry guys I gotta go get it, mind letting my legs go for a sec?”

The Gratt slide off the Terran and uncoil their tails, allowing him to get up and jog to the door.

“I suppose not…” Meeki says in Gratt to her bondmate.

“Perhaps we should be more direct?” Nodrin replies, “Though… it’s admittedly terrifying… and maybe it’s for the best if we ignore it for the time being.”

“But… what if it becomes something more without speaking of it? We see him rather often and will presumably continue to do so. It may not… but… Dearest…” Meeki trails off.

“I know, love. I know. You’re right.” Nodrin grants, “I just… I wasn’t expecting this. Neither of us were. Perhaps we're overreacting because it has never happened before and I don’t think Terran minds bond the same as ours does. Regardless of how we handle this, we must keep that in consideration. Troy has become a good friend, no need to spoil that because of something that might occur. So… after we eat, let’s at least educate him on what it means and see how he responds. Sounds like a fair, measured start?”

Meeki releases air through her neck vents in a drawn sigh.

“Yes, I agree.”

Back at the entrance, Troy opens the door without the screening feature. Which catches him off guard to see an unknown tall and thin Terran woman in a business uniform standing at attention. No pizza is sight.

“Oh uhhh… sorry, can I help you?” Troy mutters as he quickly brushes his head fur with his hand, while the other rests on his hip where a concealed weapon awaits use.

The woman narrows her eyes in confusion and is also caught off guard, having not expected this frat-boy looking man to have answered.

“I don’t know… maybe? Is… is there a Simone Thatch here?” she asks.

“Uh… nope. No one here by that name.” Troy answers in technical truth before shrugging “Sorry.”

Raising an eye tuft the woman crosses her arms.

“Ah… well she’s a redhead and pretty muscular. Okay she’s very muscular. Like… very. Does she sound familiar to you?” she questions.

“Lookin’ for some friend or ex of yours or something?” Troy asks to dodge.

“Something like that I suppose… It's been so long that I’m not sure what we’d call ourselves, but when I caught wind of someone matching her description to a tee I had to come and try my chances.” she explains before looking around and leaning in closer to the man, “Look, I know she has hefty charges against her, I promise this isn’t about that. I also know that she has at the very least been here, so if you could just tell her that her old friend from the academy would lIke to talk with her, that would be great. She can contact me at my private office.” the woman informs in a whisper as she holds out a small card with contact info.

“No promises…” Troy replies with a shrug as he casually accepts it, with his Lens he runs one of Devin’ scanning programs to check for anything off about the info-rectangle.

“That’s fine. Thank you.” the woman says before turning around and leaving without another word.

Finding nothing odd about the card Troy watches her leave, nearly running into a small driven hover cart. The woman apologizes but continues on off until she’s out of sight. The hover cart on the other hand recovers and glides right up to the man.

“Perfect. You order the Terran Pizza and drinks?” the Hallo delivery driver assumes.

Troy looked to the seated two and a half foot tall round insectoid holding the steering apparatus with their elephant-like trunk.

“Guilty as charged!” Troy nods with a big smile, “What gave it away?”

“Heh! Funny guy. Alright just a moment, I’ll get your order ready.” the Hallo replies as they turn around in place via a swivel seat and open an accessible rear compartment.

“Sure thing. Boss keep’n ya busy?” Troy says as he leans against the doorframe.

“Don’tcha know it… apparently some thorax-brain accidentally dropped their shuttle down an entire core and there’s talk about those…. Whatcha call ‘em… the newcomers? Not the Squilla folk… the… Gratt! Right! Seems like some even bigger thorax-brains thought it would be smart to shoot up their embassy. I know they’re the new Deathworlders on the block, but come on ya whackos we live in a civilized society. At least tryin’ to, ya know?. Anyways people are overreacting and ordering in their meals in mass right now as if the Gratt are gonna seek out vengeful justice or something. Garbage. But hey, means I work more to feed the larva waiting back home.” the delivery person rants as they pull out Troy’s order and hands it over.

“Incidentally the Gratt waiting to enjoy this appreciates you and your work. Thanks!” the Terran replies as he starts to part.

“No joke? Well how ‘bout that, be sure to tell ‘em that our service is a proud attender to all kinds across the stars. We may not have the best grub, but we got a bit of everything for anyone. Anywho, I got a lot more orders- oh! Hey, I know it can be seen as rude but can I ask ya a Terran biology question? It’d help me settle a bet with a coworker.” the Hallo ventures.

“Uh, sure.” Troy shugs.

“Are your larvaes really born without teeth?”

“Not usually, no teeth.” the man answers, now wondering if there are genetic exceptions.

“So the Net was right on that one? Huh… Well thanks bud, I may be out a few dozen credits but.. Ehh…”

“Sure thing. Good luck with the rest of your night!” Troy chuckles as he turns around to hand over the pizza and inform everyone of the surprise Terran visitor.

-

Panting with her whole body twitching, Chak sat mounted on Simone’s lap after another spark of impromptu intense sessions of intimacy.

The Terran places a hand on the back of the fur covered Cali neck as she breathes in euphoria.

“Damn… we’re really going at it tonight…” Simone chuckles, though she knows the reason all too well, “Not complaining… but we’re gonna have to sleep at some point hun.”

“I don’t want this night to end… I really don’t…” Chak admits softly, “Tomorrow we’re going to wake up and maybe never have a chance like this again. I know it’s foolish, but I keep imagining that life we want and if today at all resembles it… I want to relish this for as long as possible.”

Simone nods in understanding and shifts her body against Chak’s as she embraces the princess in a secure hug.

“We’ll get there. I promise.” she says as she holds the love of her life, “Nothing's gonna stop us from getting there. Right?”

“Right…” the Cali eventually replies as she pulls back to then fond over her Terran, “It’s just… I’ve noticed Terran stories like ours often end in tragedy. I know it’s childish… but I can’t help but to keep worrying.”

“You know we’re both too stubborn to let that happen.” Simone jests as she returns the fond-ing with her own hands, “You told me in a tub like this one… that your favorite stories were the ones where despite the odds, the heroes pull through. We’re gonna pull through. It’s not going to be easy, but we will. I’m choosing to believe that with every fiber of my being. I promise you… That’s going to be our story.”

Chak’s eyes narrow, combatting the crying gray with bright hopeful loving red flickers.

“Do you think it would be possible for us to be married sooner rather than later? After we make contact with the Union President? I don’t think I can wait until this is all over. I know it would be a perfect occasion to celebrate our well earned lives together… and the good ending Terran stories usually end with such an event… but I desperately want to be your wife, and you to be mine. I know it functionally won’t change our day to day… but… why wait?” the Cali says as she plants her forehead to Simone’s.

“That’s not going to be our ‘ending’ regardless Chak…” Simone reassures, “After this business with galactic-scale nightmares is all over, we’ll still have a whole other perilously taxing adventure to navigate; Raising a family and living our lives. As I said, we’ll get there. As for marriage… if we don’t find ourselves in deep shit to dig ourselves out of first, nothing would make me happier than to marry you at the very next opportunity… screw it…”

Leaning in, the two deeply kiss with reserved, lovingly tired passion for a few minutes. After they separate, Chak considers keeping the night going a bit longer, but she admits to herself how low her own stamina is at this moment. In addition Simone is right, they need to sleep.

“Then it’s settled. Leave the arrangements to me then, but I’ll be sure to share everything that isn’t a surprise with you for mutual approval.” Chak says.

Simone smiles as she brushes the back of her fingers along the side of Chak’s face.

“Once were hitched I’ll finally be able to do that thing where I wake you up with breakfast while wearing nothing but an apron…” she teases.

Chak’s eyes flash brilliantly as she grasps the redhead on her shoulders.

“What Terran cultural practice is that and why hasn’t that happened yet!?” the Cali demands in astonishment, her mind clearly elsewhere.

Simone laughs aloud, shaking her head.

“I’m kidding that’s just a- Well it’s a thing but- uhmm… Anyways you’re a very light sleeper Chak, it’s not like I could easily surprise you with something like that.” the Terran points out.

“Simone. I will pretend to sleep if I must, but this must be done… please!” the princess bargains.

“You got it, you absolute horndog…” Simone chuckles sweetly before giving the Cali a brief kiss, “When I have the chance, I’ll see what I can do. Now before I rile you up again, it’s time I call it for the night. I’ll go change the bedsheets and we’ll hit the sack. Do you mind if you could…”

“Oh! Yes of course.” the princess agrees as she fully pulls herself free from her fiance. In all respects.

Simone stands up from the tub and slowly pulls herself free. Grabbing two towels she underhand tosses the spare over to Chak as she soon follows out.

“I’ll clean and pack away our new intimate additions.” Chak volunteers as she begins to fluff her fur dry,

“Permanent additions… for sure.” Simone replies while walking over to a dresser for spare bed sheets and blankets.

-

The Terran and Cali cuddle bare together under the warmest, softest, fluffiest blankets Simone has ever known. It’s like sleeping nude in a fantasy cloud of warm cozy bliss.

So of course she and Chak awaken not a few hours after falling asleep together.

Chak awakens easily enough from her natural light Cali slumber, but the normally heavy sleeping Simone wakes from a well trained ear. Something she’s instinctually immediately alert to from her days in the military.

Muffled weapon’s fire.

Thankfully, their room isn’t the one being accosted. However whoever is below them is encountering a horrifying late night visit.

Simone sits up with a protective arm over the Princess, still fearing that at any moment someone armed will barge in to give them the same treatment.

“Put your suit on. Contact the others.” Simone instructs as she hurries to put on some clothes. Having to resort to her dress with the new jacket on top.

“I will, but I’m coming with you, Simone.” Chak responds already halfway fitting on her power suit.

Simone wants to argue, but if they were the next target it makes sense for them to not stay put and stick together.

“I can’t be sure, but that sounded like a pulse rifle on a lower output.” the Terran says as she waits for her fiance to finish preparing.

Hooking their item bags to her hips, Chak nods.

“I believe you’re right.” she agrees.

“Which means they just tried to ‘silently’ kill a non-deathworlder, or knock a Deathworlder out.” Simone figures as she and Chak pace to the door.

“I’m not getting a response from anyone.” Chak reports, “I don’t think my signal is getting out at all.”

“Well at least we know they’re already on the way… If they’re not preoccupied with something else…” the redhead says before reaching a hand up to the indicator, but no hard light panel appears, “Power black out? Shit. Something big is happening.”

“Something that we’re not the priority of?” Chak replies a bit hopeful.

“With that bounty of yours? Yeah, I don’t think we’re the target.” the Terran notes as she begins to process the idea of locking themselves in and waiting it out.

“Then… we should stay?” the Cali says, though by her tone it’s clear she’s thinking quite the opposite.

“That might be the smarter thing to do. Barricade ourselves in, wait out and hope that whatever’s going on isn’t spreading to more patrons of this place.” Simone reasons to convince herself more than anything.

“But…” Chak says softly in expectation.

Simone looks back at her almost apologetically.

“Coming in there was a family with kids in the lobby… I have to make sure whoever’s getting hit either deserves it, or if it’s someone who really needs someone else like me to step in.” she says.

Chak nods.

“Then let’s step in. Do what you do best, and I’ll be right here with you.” she grants.

Waiting for just a moment, as if giving herself a final chance to back out, Simone finally reaches down for the emergency manual handle.