Atte, who at this point had been talking to a trooper next to him, now perks up, turning to look at one of them before quickly looking down at me and placing one hand on my shoulder. He grinds to a stop, and so do I and everyone else. “CT-990,” he calls out to the approaching trooper. “Don’t come any closer.”

990 does indeed stop, as Atte urged, but he does so more out of confusion than anything. Just going about the way his grip on his gun seems to tighten it’s clear that he’s more bewildered than anything.

“What’s with the grouping, troopers? I don’t see any important officer for you to esco-,” 990’s words draw short when his searching eyes fall on me. In a single moment, his body language tenses up like one of those space bugs seeing prey, like a possum sniffing blood, like an ape noticing something to kill. The mark of a predator. Even then, after so long, when his rifle shoots up, the nuzzle gaping before my eyes like a black hole, I’m not able to react in the least, not until the trigger is pulled and my world explodes in blinding light and my ears ring with the sound of whatever the fuck just happened.

F-, fUck!!

Damn it, that burns! Again! Why do these people all just feel the need to shoot me in the head?! It’s not pleasant in the least, really, it just hurts! Would they like it if I bit their heads off in turn!?

Fucking heck, shit, no choice, no choice.

My ears are still ringing and my eyes are both gone and most of my face is burnt off. I can faintly hear people clamouring around me. Alright, sure. Better heal this damn wound quick.

While the troopers around me shout about this and that beneath the ringing in my ears, I’m able to somehow expose my other mouth and my other eyes, the ones on my chest, giving me a neat view of every trooper in my near vicinity freezing at the sight of it. Oh, and some seem to be trying to restrain 990. Neat.

Before anyone can react any harsher, I rip off my head and chew it up. The quickest way of doing things.

And once my head has healed back in a few seconds, my hearing being restored as well, I’m able to speak again. Though, I’m not the first one to say a word.

“Mort, you alright there?...” Atte asks, and going by where his voice is coming from, it seems he was able to throw himself over to restrain 990 in a matter of seconds. Impressive!

“I am fine, thank you.” A few more moments pass as the troopers glance at each other. “But, please, do not shoot my face again. Very unpleasant.”

Atte nods. “You hear that, CT-990? He’s not a Jedi, don’t go brandishing your blaster wherever it’s not needed!”

“S-, sorry, I’m not sure what came over me. It won’t happen again.”

...Hm. Atte isn’t releasing 990. That’s kind of weird, what’s he waiting fo-,

Stolen novel; please report.

Oh. His eyes are on me. Erm. “It’s alright, release him.” And-, believe it! He does! 990 stumbles out of his grip, adjusts his helmet, gives me a remorseful look, and then scurries away with his comrade. Leaving the rest of us sort of half-scattered. But, somehow, we’re able to continue walking. Conversation kinda died though. I hope I didn’t do anything too wro-,

“Say, Mort, what manner of creature are you really?” Atte asks.

“I’m a man! I said so before!” I repeat sternly. Hey, someday they’ve gotta listen to me, right?

“No, I mean… What exactly did you just do?” You can almost see how everybody turns their ears our way. “You ripped off your own head. Ate it. Nothing can do that without a cost.”

Uhuh. “Anything but me,” I say right back, and just to prove it to him, I stick my hand in my mouth and bite it off. Of course, it grows back in a blink of an eye, but it still clearly shakes the troopers a bit. “I can heal from much. But I don’t like the zappy things. They hurt.” So don’t shoot me, is the message I aim to convey. I kind of hope it got through, and I think it did, since Atte turns away from me a fair bit.

The scenery shifts. We exit from the corridor into a semi-large storage area that seems to be filled with all manner of things.

It’s not immensely big or anything, but there are plenty of shelves holding little nuts and bolts and books and things I can barely explain. Metallic creatures stand still and statue-like around the edges while half-destroyed pieces of what seems like futuristic motorcycles lean against the walls. In one part of the area, there’s a large basket, which seems to be our goal, since we’re heading straight for it.

The first trooper to arrive by it doesn’t hesitate to hand his gun over to a fellow trooper while he digs his arm into the basket. After a moment of groping, he pulls out what seems like a pink-ish dress. He holds it towards me, judging its size compared to me. Nope, too big. He digs back inside the basket. Pulls out a weird helmet. Puts it back in. Pulls out a larger suit. Nope. Cape. Nope.

And then, he pulls out a small, almost fully white outfit, alongside a helmet. He evaluates me for a second, weighing the helmet in his hand. “You won’t need a helmet.”

Yeah, true. Still, the trooper seems happy with the outfit he found, since he hands it to me. It’s certainly my size, that's for sure!

It’s got black boots and black gloves like the ones Typhin wears, but the rest is mostly white, and, more importantly, the perfect size for a child. Like me. Damn it.

“Guess we should be happy we seized this cadet uniform from that small rebel ship we took out. Are you aware of how to put on clothes, creature?” the trooper asks, walking up to tower over me on a closer level. I look right back up at him. Weighing the clothes in my hand.

Of course I know how to wear clothes! I’m not some animal, heh.

I easily step out of my robe. The troops around me panic slightly.

“Hey, kid, put that back on! You’re being indece-,” and at that point, he must’ve realized that I have nothing to cover. “...Alright. Sure. You’ve yet to answer my question.”

Just to prove him wrong, I quickly attempt to pull on the pants, only to realize that, damn it; I have a tail. This was never a problem before. The trooper in front of me chuckles and offers to help me out, but I ignore him. I’ll be able to do this just fine, I know it!

I pull the pants back off of me, but instead of doing anything stupid, I hold up the back of the pants to my face and pierce the back with one of my sharp teeth. And now when I put them on, my tail has somewhere to go through! See, I can put on pants! And now for the jacket, hehehe. One arm in one hole, the other in the other, and now, for the-,

Wait. There’s no zipper. The hell is-, no buttons, either?!

What is-, how do I-,

“Need some help there, ‘cadet’?”

Damn it. I can tell he’s grinning! I can do this, I swear!

...Fuck. I can’t do it.

“...Please, if you will.”

“Anytime,” the trooper says, and after going down on one knee and with a little fiddling, the jacket is fully sealed up. Then, a pair of boots, and-, oh, wait, no gloves, my hands only have three fingers. Shoot. But, but! I’m dressed! I can’t exactly see myself, but I’m sure I look snazzy as heck! Clothes, clothes! Oh, the joy of clothes! I-, honestly? I know I said I didn’t miss being a human way back when, but these clothes are really comfortable. Maybe a little tight but damn if I care. I missed clothes.

The trooper stands back up, dusts off his knees, and is startled by something unseen and unheard. He brings one hand to his helmet. “Yessir, will do, sir.” Turns back down to me. “The captain and Commander want you in the cockpit.”

Oh? Uhhh… Yeah, sounds neat!

“We have no time to waste, it is a matter of great importance.”

Oh! Shoot! Okay, let’s go!