Flagship Ixaru- Hexat Prime.

Fleet Admiral Xiixa, an older female Hexat with yellow-brown fur starting to turn grey with age, had been surprised when she received the command from the Primus to deploy her fleet to a backwater planet outside their territory. As far as anyone knew, there was nothing there but a yellow dwarf star and some floating rocks, they hadn't really explored that far yet after all. When she received the data file pertaining to the system, however, the Hexat Admiral nearly collapsed right then and there. A new species! One from a class 4 death world of all places, and close enough to be practically galactic neighbors!

The data on their basic physiology was remarkable, as well as accounts of first contact with their ambassador. Xiixa wasn't much of an egghead but the bullet points in the info helped fill in the blanks. Extremely dense muscle, and bone as strong as industrial metals, evolved first from prey and then into omnivorous predators, and so on. And they seemed to somewhat resemble a bixil, which was cute.

Their orders were to muster around the third planet and assist with building an orbital defense system for it, as it was their cradle world and there was a suspicion they would be targeted by the less savory of the sentients in the galaxy, though no real reason was provided. Still, she was paid for commanding her fleet, not wondering about a new race, so she gave her orders to set course for YE13374-ET, now known as Sol, with their destination as the third planet named Earth, or Terra.

Aboard the Flagship Ixaru, there was a massive cacophony of activity as communications officers relayed her orders, navigation officers plotted the most efficient courses, engineers prepped for moving out, and the ship itself began spooling up, along with its contingent of 59 other battlecruisers and destroyers. Their ships were so massive it took a good half cycle to charge up the drives before entering hyperspace, the estimation putting them arriving in 10 revolution's time. With nothing more to do, she retired from the bridge and moved to her office, calling in her chief science officer and best friend Axcizz.

As she was reading the holo pad, there was a knock on the door and Axcizz entered the wood-furnished office, looking at Xiixa who sat across the rather old desk with a twinkle in her eye.

"Dammit Xiixa, this better be important. The medical synthesizer is down again and I'm having to use that ancient chem lab to restock our supplies, which, by the way, I told you to get replaced when we were in dry dock!" She started on a rant as Xiixa smiled at her.

Axcizz and Xiixa were around the same age and even had the same fur color, though the Admiral's was greying a bit faster than hers. They had been mistaken for sisters many times, and it had led to an intense rivalry that gave way to a lasting friendship back in the academy. And they had served together since.

"Calm yourself, Axcizz. Trust me, I think you'll want to see this." Xiixa motioned for the science officer to take a seat on the other side of her desk, to which the grumbling woman complied hesitantly.

"Fine, but I have a limited time I can stay. Can't have you calling me every five minutes when there are 1500 crew members that need seeing to." She responded as she sat, then looked curiously as the Admiral slid her holopad across to the seasoned doctor. She took a look at it casually at first, before suddenly gluing in on it, devouring the words written on the device with a hungry expression only a science officer could understand.

"Is...is this...what I think it is. A new species?!"

"Yup."

"Calcium-based endoskeleton, Strength is...wow. Their muscles are how strong?! Fascinating. What horrific living conditions did their planet have to make them evolve to be so resilient?"

"A class 4 Deathworld so.. you name it I suppose," Xiixa said nonchalantly.

"A WHAT?!"

"Yup. Class 4. The first sapient species that was discovered from one. First contact was made 4 months ago."

"And WHY am I just now finding out?!"

"Government secrecy I'm afraid, they may be being targeted. I do have some good news, however."

"You have more data on them?" Axcizz asked excitedly. Like this, she easily seemed thirty cycles younger.

Xixa shook her head then, taking the holo pad, opened up the data about the Sol system.

"Even better. We are getting stationed to provide defense for their cradle world until the orbital defense is online. According to our Ambassador, they are agreeable people, and since I know your thesis was on sapients living in harsh living conditions, I thought you might like to know. Perhaps you could even get a few to give you more information about them and their home."" Oh, but we won't be going planetside, their gravity is too strong. We'll be stopping by their base on their moon, called Luna." She explained.

Axcizz practically squealed as she rushed off with the holo pad in tow, likely to get ready for meeting these humans and preparing a dizzyingly long list of questions.

her rampant mood swings bothered many people, but never Xiixa. After all, if they had, then she'd have had more serious concerns when she married her.

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Lcht'ial Station

Amelia walked around the station with Viza, taking in the sights and enjoying the time spent off the ship. It did wonders to help her forget everything that was going on, and forget the nightmares she had been having. They were getting worse, more frequent since she left the Sol system. She figured it was because her subconscious finally had time to process them, either because she was so far away from everything or because Viza made her feel calm, safe even.

The station itself was kept at what felt like between a third and half gravity, making walking a bit difficult so Viza had directed them to a shop early on and bought a pair of mag boots for her. It wasn't the most elegant solution but it certainly helped since most of the station floor was made out of metals.Right now they were in the center of the station, where a greenhouse acted as a sort of park, filtering the atmosphere and also growing herbivorous food. Most of them smelled..okay, though Amelia did see a few plants that not only looked strange but smelled awful and she wondered how any sapient could think such a smell was pleasant and relaxing.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Viza had been talking about tidbits of knowledge at random to her, filling her in on miscellaneous info she probably wouldn't have learned otherwise such as that Phloraxians are banned from flying on stations after one accidentally pulled what Amelia called a "bug life" move and crashed into the central pillar where the grav generator was, knocking out gravity all over and crushing himself in the process. All because the artificial gravity messed up his sense of direction, which was why it was placed so high in the station in the first place, to prevent such things.

The Avi'shar, or moth people, could fly as well, but find it extremely tiring so rarely do, which is why they never had such a problem.

"And the Arkanan were banned entirely after an incident where they challenged a Phloraxian ambassador to ritual combat. Unfortunately, The Ambassador talking about flying on his homeworld was seen as an insult to the Arkanan, who lost the ability to fly millennia ago. Needless to say, it did not end well and almost resulted in war between the two but thankfully calmer minds prevailed." Viza continued as they walked, evidently having fun telling stories like this to Amelia.

"Honestly I didn't expect so many sapients to be flying species. On Earth flight is prohibitively energy intensive for larger creatures and there was some consensus that the energy required would be too intense for both a sapient brain and flight capability." Amelia said in response.

She wasn't sure when but somewhere along the way she and Viza had started holding hands. Paws? Well no, Viza's "hand" was definitely a hand-like structure, but also still had beans and claws so she wasn't sure how to classify them. Not that it mattered, it was just intrusive science thoughts.

"Ah, but you forget, Lady Amelia. Terra is a super-gravity world. a rarity for sapient cradle worlds. Most of the ones with flight evolved on worlds with half your gravity or less. There, it's much less energy intensive I would think." Viza said to her with a chuff.

"Well, we know that now, smartass. But up until first contact, we thought of Earth as the norm, not the exception. How were we supposed to know that Earth was a "Deathworld"?" She fired back, in a playfully annoyed way which drew another chuff from Viza.

"Fair enough. We still have another half-cycle(hour) before needing to reboard. Is there anything in particula-"" Ah. Wait, I know." Viza said, starting to ask her a question but immediately cutting himself off and practically pulling Amelia by her hand towards somewhere.

Gods he was fast.Amelia had trouble keeping up though thankfully, he slowed down quickly. Ambush predator speed was no joke.

When they finally reached their destination, Amelia was confused as to what it was supposed to be. It was a large rectangular building, painted white, with a symbol on it that looked like the overlay of a plus sign on an infinity sign. Viza however, was positively beaming as if he expected her to know what it was.

"Um, Viza? I appreciate you bringing me here, but what exactly is "here"? It just looks like a building to me." Amelia said hesitantly.

Viza looked a little down at first before realizing it. "By the claws, I forgot your people use a different symbol. This, Lady Amelia, is a scientific research building. I thought since you are a scientist, you would enjoy looking thro-" Viza's words were halted as he saw the expression on Amelia's face. Not joy like he had thought, it was like...like she was afraid.

"Viza, thank you, but no. Not here, please." Amelia said quietly. "Let's go somewhere else, no science stuff today, okay?"

Viza looked curiously at her for a moment, looking like he wanted to say something else, but shrugged, turning himself and her away from the building.

"Very well, Lady Amelia. I am sorry for causing you undue stress. I just thought it would be something you'd enjoy."

"Maybe once, a long time ago, but not anymore. Thank you for the sweet thought though, Viza." she replied, though her voice was still tinged with fear and a bit of sadness.

It was only later when they got back that Viza realized how that had been a poor choice.

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Axavon watched the Krultathan and Uman walk around the station with an intense glare that most would not expect a subterranean species to have. He had been specially outfitted for this assignment from the Axon Matriarchy. A full suit to block his scent, bio-scrubbers to prevent the pheromones from the species affecting him, and most importantly, optical camouflage units to stay hidden. They weren't perfect, of course. No technology was. If one were to look directly at him one would likely be able to see where the light bent around him, but one would have to look directly at him to do so, and that would be almost impossible without them knowing beforehand.

The mole that had placed the transmitter on the Hexat ship had been well worth the credits, the Axon got to learn delectable information from it. These Umans made scents compatible with Krultathans, and better yet, they didn't only make them periodically, they always did! It would be a huge boon for their pheromone farms to capture this new species and make them their subjects, but first, they needed to capture one to run tests on. Since the blockade around Earth was still in effect, however, the Axon Matriarchy couldn't make a move to gather one without it being overtly known, and they needed secrecy, at least for now.This Uman, however, was not on Earth. She would not fall under the blockade order, and even better, he could capture a Krultathan at the same time. The bonuses that would confer to him made his skin glisten with excitement.

He needed to pick and choose his time carefully though, the fewer people who saw the better, and right now they were in the garden house. He would have to wait until they moved to-Krazak!The Krultathan started running, was he noticed?

Axavon followed the two to the science building, catching up just as their conversation had ended, and a happy snarl formed across his face.

'Very few witnesses, easy access to the subsystems from here, and far enough away that they won't be immediately noticed to be gone. Perfect. You were a fool, Krultathan.'

Viza did not even realize what happened as the taze-bolt hit him, discharging and stunning the poor Krultathan.

The Uman however, while pained, didn't seem to be knocked out, and Axavon cursed under his breath. They were stronger than the intelligence suggested. Very well, he would just take the Krultathan and lure the Uman with him.

Axavon edged around the two, making his way cautiously to the downed Krultathan while keeping an eye on the Uman. Utilizing the suit he wore combined with the instincts honed as a burrowing species built to dash into the ground to escape predators, the Axon grabbed the Krultathan and darted into a nearby service panel while the Uman's back was turned. It wouldn't have even-

"Viza? Viza! What the hell are you doing with him!?"

That's..that's not possible, he shouldn't even be visible to the Uman. It shouldn't have been able to notice him so soon yet it was shouting something with guttural aggression. He needed to move quickly, he needed to avoid getting captured, and he wasn't leaving empty-handed.Dragging the Krultathan with him deeper into the service way, he could hear behind him the voice of the Uman getting closer, calling out for the Krultathan, apparently named Viza. But he was in the service areas, burrows. No predator could track him here, he just needed to get to his ship, and then lay a trap for the-

KAK-THOOM!

'That... That couldn't have been the service panel, no predator would willingly enter the area of the burrows with a dangerous burrowing species like the Axon, right?!'

"Give. Him. Back!"

'That was from in the service areas! It followed him in! What kind of predator does that? 'He had to run! he had to-

THOOMP

THOOMP

THOOMP

THOOMP

'Was...Was that the sound of it running?! What the hell is this?! What the hell is an Uman?! The reports didn't mention it being able to run with enough force to make that kind of sound!'

Axavon rushed even faster, running through the tunnels as quickly as he could.

If only he knew what kind of predator humans were, he might've given up right then and there.

Or he might have thrown the Krultathan down to try and buy some time.

In his foolishness, however, he would not do either.

And the poor Axon was about to learn, why you never run from Humans.