Chapter Text
“Oh no… You’ve got to be kriffing kidding me,” D’bi muttered as the guards carried in a small, fleshy being. It looked like a--
“D’bi!” N’muri hissed from her cell. “That’s an Obl'vatrro!”
“I can see that,” D’bi growled back, already putting distance between himself and the monster those spiteful guards just put in his cell.
“How did they get their hands on one?” Oboro questioned. “Their solar system is off-limits.”
“I don’t kriffing care how! It’s here now!” D’bi snapped.
The guard stopped on their way out to laugh condescending. “We dosed it with Verazide. It’s not waking up for a while. But you’ll save us the trouble of feeding it when it does.”
When his cell closed again and the guard’s laughter quieted with distance, D’bi turned his attention to the Obl'vatrro. He only recognized it as one because he didn’t recognize it as anything else. That and the dark blue clothing that covered everything but its hands, feet, and head. The few that had been spotted during routine checks to make sure they stayed in their solar system always wore blue, full-body suits according to reports.
Seeing one up close, it had no scales or feathers. There was long fur on the very top of their head but nowhere else as far as he could see. Fleshy. Just skin. No natural defenses.
It was curled into a ball sort of shape as it slept, but he could see its hands and feet. No claws. Frankly, its long, dull fingers looked useless. It was hard to see it as the species that single-handedly slaughtered an invading race. The Dresqill had been a planet of conquerors that plagued the solar system, colonizing planets and enslaving their inhabitants.
Until Oblivion. Or Terra, as it was later renamed by the Council. The Dresquill ventured into the distant solar system only to send back frenzied reports and distress signals. It's unclear if they were left to die on that planet or if they were simply exterminated before help could arrive, but the reports they sent were saved and served as a warning to avoid Oblivion.
Obl'vatrros had been described in those reports as sturdy creatures who could be found in any of the extreme climate zones on the planet’s surface. They were incredibly violent, supposedly wearing pieces of the Dresquills they killed. And the Dresquill reports had even claimed that their weapons barely slowed them down.
The scouts who had gone to the edge of the Oblivion solar system eventually reported that the Obl'vatrros had been seen in abominations of Dresquill ships, likely cannibalized and incorporated with whatever technology Oblivion might have. They were trying to venture out into space and the Council was terrified of what could happen if they left their solar system.
These tales did not fit the creature in front of him. Its pale blue fur and even paler skin made it seem soft. Harmless. It looked helpless. And if that was false, then it was a delg good lure. He would have fallen for it if he hadn’t been trained to be more cautious.
But observations would have to wait because now it was moving.
“That is not good,” N’muri gasped as the Obl'vatrro made a rumbling sound and shifted onto its hands and knees. It was awake and it was getting up. That should not be possible with Verazide. That sedative should have kept it out cold for at least a cycle.
“N’m, tell Sho’to I love him,” D’bi whispered.
Kats’ki scoffed next to N’muri. “It doesn’t even look capable of hurting you. What’s the big deal?”
“That’s a Terran,” Oboro clarified, using their Council-decided name. Obl'vatrro was just a name left over from legends. Many felt it was more befitting such a monstrous creature.
“The things that wiped out the Dresquill?” Kats’ki asked in disbelief.
D’bi tuned them out to watch the Obl'vatrro. He would fight it if he needed to but if he could avoid aggravating it, that’d be preferable. No one knew if they were mindlessly violent, triggered by something specific, or maybe even territorial. But if he was going to make it home to his little brother, he better figure it out fast.
The Obl'vatrro shook its head lightly, long fur swaying around its face. It was disoriented. That might be good for him. Then it was sitting up, contorting its legs underneath it in a way that couldn’t possibly be comfortable. Suddenly vibrant red eyes were on him.
He breathed a sigh of relief when the Obl'vatrro ignored him to scan its surroundings. Its eyes stopped for a moment on each of the other cells’ inhabitants, many shying away from its gaze. Then it let out a huff of air and stood. It was still small, but taller than expected. Apparently, it was capable of folding itself down to a third of its actual size. Deceptive.
It went straight for the cell wall. D’bi tensed, expecting the same intense electrocution anyone else here would experience. But the Obl'vatrro only shook slightly as it tried to squeeze itself through the bars. Rather than hurt, it just seemed annoyed when its torso proved too wide to fit. So the bit about weapons not affecting it was probably true. He was so dead.
Things were not looking good for H’zashi but he had to stay positive for the sake of his students. Granted one was missing but Kats’ki was their best fighter. It's possible that he was just isolated somewhere else because of his race’s ability to secrete explosive material from their skin.
It had been an exploratory flight for the school. These students were close to graduation and it was not their first mostly independent flight. H’zashi was only there to chaperone and grade them. It was well within their usual depth of training. Until they crossed paths with two rouge ships flown by traffickers. Criminals generally weren’t brave enough to get that close to the school.
The smaller pair of ships trapped them and shot them down on a smaller, unoccupied moon. Their ship was stormed while they were still recovering from the crash. The traffickers that took them had been well prepared to restrain and overpower each of them, leading him to believe that this was a targeted attack.
They were all injected with a sedative once on the smaller ships and they’d woken up here. Och’ko was in the same cell as him while E’jirou and Denki were in a nearby cell. He couldn’t see or even hear Kats’ki in the cell block so he was probably being held somewhere else. Or… he could be dead, in a worst-case scenario.
Och’ko had befriended the youngling that also occupied their cell. The three students he had eyes on didn’t seem to be too badly injured and he’d sent a distress signal to his mate. They just needed to wait for help at this point. They would be fine.
But he spoke too soon. A guard entered the empty cell that shared a wall with his, carrying something blue, green, and limp. The guard caught the curious stares of several of the prisoners and smirked, dropping it onto the floor in a heap. “Bet none of you have ever seen a Terran before.” Quiet gasps and hushed murmurs permeated the silence. “I suggest you all be on your best behavior. Otherwise, we’ll feed you to it.”
H’zashi swallowed nervously, looking over at the creature which had already curled into a ball. He could hardly make out any features but it didn’t look dangerous. Perhaps it was just a youngling? It was tiny . Younglings were always much safer than their grown counterparts.
The guard left laughing and the Terran didn’t move. Poor thing must have been sedated. H’zashi relaxed again, knowing it should be a while before it woke up. It had taken him a cycle and he was quite a bit bigger than that little creature. It might take a few cycles to wake.
Once again, he spoke too soon. It was only a quarter of a cycle later that the Terran started moving. It looked around first, appearing disoriented. Eventually, it spotted H’zashi and he froze, puffing up his feathers. Its eyes were green and huge. Och’ko shifted nervously next to him and those green eyes snapped over to her. Did it track movement?
It lost interest and looked around again, its face scrunching up the more it did. A quiet whine helped H’zashi realize that it was distressed. Before he could really worry if it being agitated would be a concern, it laid back down and curled into an even tighter ball than before.
It didn’t sleep, green eyes peering around every so often, but it seemed really sad. Though, if it was a youngling, that made sense. It may have been taken from its parent.
With that in mind, he realized they might be in more danger than he initially thought. He had no idea how big these things got. These traffickers took a youngling of one of the most restricted, dangerous species out there and now a parent could be hunting them down.
Hopefully, they’d be rescued before it could find its youngling.