#zolt'chk

[olietus]

Edit: I've noticed that none of my work shows up in the 'space orcs' tag anymore, so please go and take a look at my blog if you find this interesting. It'd help me out tremendously.

Aaand... Zolt'chk. Sorry for the terrible, cropped screencap, but I didn't have this pic on my phone, and my computer takes years to boot up, so... And no, I didn't crop out my deviantart username. Gotta be smart. Gonna promote myself, ya know?

[olietus]

Humans are space orcs - Devin

This story is semi-related to 'Resentment' that I wrote earlier, but I'm not yet sure to what capacity. I feel quite excited to write and experiment a little with these characters and concepts, and I'd be delighted if anyone has any feedback, advice or even writing prompts. I hope you enjoy. (:

Edit: I've noticed that none of my work shows up in the 'space orcs' tag anymore, so please go and take a look at my blog if you find this interesting. It'd help me out tremendously.

------

Zolt'chk, or Zolt for short, was bored out of his mind. Or at least as bored as an Arachi could be. He'd been left with the more janitorial duties on board the small space station, and it was as far from exciting as it could get. They were a tiny outpost in the middle of nowhere, along one of the longer routes through dark space. They were, essentially, an interstellar gas stop... And it sucked. Nothing interesting ever happened here, and if it did he was bound to miss it while he was forced to vacuum debris from the many hangars, corridors and living areas.

Or, that was what he'd assumed would be the case, anyway. But this day turned out to be quite extraordinarily horrifying. Somewhere around noon absolute hell seemed to break loose, as the alarm suddenly sounded, drowning out almost all other sounds on the station, and then an alert message was broadcasted through the transmission system.

"ATTENTION PLEASE. THIS IS AN EMERGENCY. A HOSTILE A-1 CLASS PREDATOR, A HUMAN, HAS ESCAPED CONFINEMENT AND IS LOOSE ON THE STATION. CIVILIANS AND WORK PERSONNEL ARE ADVISED TO STAY WHERE THEY ARE. SECURITY PERSONNEL PLEASE REPORT TO CONTROL. I REPEAT, THIS IS AN EMERGENCY."

His chitinous body suddenly felt incredibly cold and stiff, more so than normal. He'd never seen a human, but he'd heard the stories. They were a fearsome predator species, massive and strong, faster than most other races, and nearly unkillable. A race of monsters. His four spindly legs quivered and he sank down to the floor, his bulbous abdomen pressed against the wall. He felt horribly exposed like this. Anyone who entered the hangar would be able to see him right away, and if the human saw him... He'd undoubtedly become its dinner. He let out a low whine of despair and desperately started too look around for a hiding spot, but he was much too big to fit into the nearest storage crates, and the ships in the hangar were locked down and secured, aside from a maintenence shuttle or two on the far end... He motioned to get back up on his feet to look more closely at those small ships, when he suddenly heard extremely loud noises coming from the other side of the hangar doors, followed by shots that echoed through the air, bouncing off the metal walls to create an unbearably loud and terrifying cacaphony that left his head spinning and aching. He clicked with his mandibles in fear, and felt the panic engulf him. The shots and screams were getting closer, they'd be through the door at any moment...

That's when he spotted the air vent. Its protective grid was slightly ajar after a screw had loosened, and the metal glimmered in the sharp, white light. He was frozen for a fraction of a second, and then something crashed against the closed door with a loud thud. He was up and gone into the vent before the creature came barging through the door, narrowly missing Zolt's escape.

The insectoid didn't have much issue with crawling through the vent, as they were fairly generous in size due to the need for easy access for maintenence. Still, it felt like the walls of the air duct were closing in on him, suffocating him. Yet he crawled further, feverishly trying to escape from the loud noises and deadly bullets. It was so dark in here, his eyes were more or less useless, and the trembling of the many mechanical systems that kept the station in working condition caused a constant low vibration that interfered with his other senses. His world in here was a dark and foggy mess, filled with static. Even so, it was safer than out there, with that thing...

------

He wasn't sure when he'd fallen asleep, or if he'd perhaps fainted. The air duct was cool and quiet, the ever present low hum of the station embracing him like a calming blanket. No screams, no shots... Just him, alone in the dark. He dared to let out a relieved chirp, feeling like he could finally relax and make his way back to where he came from. He turned around and started to scuttle his way down the air duct, passing a few cross sections before he took a sharp right and froze in place.

Before him was a creature he'd never seen before with his own six eyes. Illuminated by the light of the room below, filtered through the grid underneath its front appendages he saw two big, bright eyes stare back at him. Its face was pale, its skin splotched with red and orange dots, as if sprinkled with a paintbrush. Messy tufts of red hair fell around the oval face, a small protruding snout in the middle, and below it a surprisingly small mouth, open in shock. He could see its predatory teeth glistening in the light.

They were both stunned silent for one breathless second... and then the human screamed. He had never heard such a sound in his life, and he reeled back in agony as the screech sent violent vibrations throughout his body. He screamed in pain and tried to drag himself away. "P-please don't kill me, please!", he wailed, feeling how his body started to freeze up in panic. He could see the light from the hangar, the grid still gone, but he couldn't move. He couldn't even call for help. All he could do was to whimper helplessly, feeling how his booklungs were slowly cut off from the air as he rested his heavy body against the cool metal of the air duct. He felt like he was about to pass out again, but then he heard it. The unmistakeable sound and vibration of something creeping up behind him, closer and closer... He keened  feebly, his whole body shaking. This was it, this was the end. He was going to die, he...

"Are you okay?"

The voice was thin and shaky, dripping in fear. Still, the tone of concern was undeniable. Zolt didn't answer. His head was still reeling.

"I won't hurt you.", the human insisted, and he felt an unfamiliar warmth on his abdomen. He managed to slowly lift his head, staring back at the creature. She had placed her hand on him, and if he hadn't been terrified he might've found it strangely comforting. He clicked with his mandibles, his legs twitching as he slowly began to regain control of his body. "W-what do you want?", he asked, surprised at the tone of defiance in his voice. The human quickly retracted her hand. She was quiet for a moment, her head dropping slightly. He now noticed that she was shivering. She sniffled.

"I just want to go home. They took me from my family... I don't know where I am... I... I don't know what to do...", her voice trailed off and she made a series of sharp inhalations, followed by a low keening sound in despair.

Zolt'chk was stunned. Was this truly a human? Now when he had started to calm down he felt less and less intimidated by her. In fact, he pitied her. If she were human, she was clearly a weak one, probably feeling helpless on her own. She wasn't necessarily harmless, but...

The human suddenly looked up at him again, her eyes wide and pleading. He'd never seen such an expression before.

"Will you help me? I have to go home... Please... They'll kill me. Th-they want t-to harvest my... They want to...", she put both her hands over her mouth, suffocating a low wail. Zolt wasn't stupid. He knew what she meant. They'd had customers come through here who spoke of or even used human hormones to get the craziest of highs. He'd heard that it had to be... harvested, as it were, from live humans but... He hadn't known it'd kill them. Weren't humans nearly unkillable?

He wasn't entirely sure what possessed him to do so, but no matter how he looked at it, he couldn't let someone kill this poor creature. He thought for a moment, searching his memory for a solution. He then looked back at her and gave a weak affirmative chirp. "I'll help you.", he said, and the surprise in the human's eyes was palpable. He pushed forward, not allowing himself to pause and think, knowing that his resolve would shrivel away. He motioned for her to follow him as they both quietly scooted along the vent until they could peek out into the hangar, which was thankfully empty. After waiting a minute to make sure the coast was clear, they both climbed out and landed with low thuds on the hard floor below.

As they stood there, Zolt was startled to find just how small the human was. He was easily at least three heads taller than her, and when it came to their respective bulk he was surely three times her size. If she curled up a bit she'd probably fit rather snugly in his abdomen. Not that he'd ever eat her. His race wasn't carnivorous, at least not in the same sense as humans. The young woman seemed equally surprised at their compared sizes, but got over it much quicker than her alien accomplice. "Now what?", she asked as she looked around, her face more neutral and curious than before. The big insectoid turned around and swiftly moved accross the hangar, the human following him close behind. He stopped in front of one of the small vessels which were used for outer hull maintenance or short distance transports of small crew teams. It was quite fortunate that he'd thought of them earlier. The massive forcefield that separated the ship bay from the cold space buzzed assuringly. Ships could easily slip in and out of it, but debris would promptly be destroyed upon impact. He put his claws againt the red metal of the vessel. "Take this. It's small, but newly refueled and should be able to--", he said but was abruptly cut off as the entire security force on the station came barging through the door, weapons raised and trained towards them.

Zolt defensively raised his front legs, about to explain the situation, when he saw movement to his side and then felt his neck twist and his exoskeleton strain under an unbearable pressure. He was pushed in front of the human, who had locked him in an iron grip with her elbow, using him as a shield between the soldiers and herself. His hearts staggered in terror. He had completely underestimated her. The girl raised her voice, steely and confident; the quivering vulnerability from before completely erased. "Lower your weapons, or the shrimp dies."

The air was tense with fear and apprehension, and Zolt cursed himself. He'd been so stupid. He should have known not to trust her. The guards slowly lowered their weapons, but only half way, hoping for an opening. He then felt her breath close to his head, and he stiffened. "You have long legs. Open the ship for me, will you?", she said, but it wasn't really a question, but a demand. They stood just next to the airlock of the small ship, and he could easily maneuver the door open despite the position he was in. As soon as it opened, the human pushed them both through and closed it quickly as the shots started to hail towards them. He was pushed down into a corner where he remained, stunned and terrified, as the girl ran up into the cockpit and started the engines with surprising proficiency. The small ship raised off its supports, hovering in the air for a few seconds as the bullets outside klinked feebly against the sturdy hull, and then suddenly...

Blast off. He was pushed back hard against the wall, and the engines screamed like banshees as they shot the little ship violently forward, bursting through the forcefield barrier and into space at breakneck speed. Within a minute they were enough of a distance away from the station and the redhaired human engaged the FTL drive. Never in his life had he ever seen such reckless driving.

The disoriented Arachi sat numb for he didn't know how long, until the human suddenly plopped down in front of him and he flinched violently. "That was quite awesome. You did great." He looked up at her in stunned silence. The girl stood tall over him, her lips parted baring her white teeth. "W-what...?", he whimpered. She gave him a sturdy pat on the arm. "I made it out thanks to you.", she said and crouched down in front of him, once again appearing small. "Sorry for scaring you, but I did what I had to do. I'm free now, I have a ship, and once the worst of the buzz dies down, I'll drop you off at a planet, station or ship of your choosing." He motioned to speak, but was cut off. "Unless it's a police or military ship... Or station, or... Well, yeah. I just don't feel like going back to jail, you know?", she chuckled. He didn't know what to say. She grinned widely at him.

"What's your name, by the way?"

"Uh... Zolt'chk."

"Nice to meet you, Zolt'chk. I'm Devin."

[olietus]

A sketch I'll probably never finish. 😅 I feel bad for Zolt, but he'll be ok.

I've been unable to write for a few days, but I'm working on something small and silly atm. I also wanted to thank all of you who decided to start following me because of my recent writing; it truly means a lot to me. ❤

[olietus]

Humans are space orcs - Paradise

More Devin and Zolt'chk. This is a bit of a long one, and since I'm on mobile I can't add a "read more" atm. Sorry! This is mostly to practice on world building and description, but I hope you enjoy it anyway.

As always, any advice, constructive criticism and writing prompts/suggestions are more than welcome! (:

------

It had been a little over three days since Zolt'chk had been kidnapped by the human called Devin. At first he had been terrified of her, and while he was still extremely wary of her, the fear had slowly started to be replaced by confusion and frustration. Since their departure had been rather tumultuous, they hadn't been able to procure any rations, and there was nothing to drink either. This meant that the human grew increasingly "hangry", in her own words, which apparently meant that she was so hungry that she got increasingly furious. Zolt wasn't entirely sure how that worked, but it wasn't all too surprising since humans were a very violent predator species, after all. Secretly he had hoped that she'd starve to death (as her incessant complaining was getting rather old), but apparently humans were able to stay alive for quite a long time without food. Not so much without water, though, and due to dehydration the human had now suffered from a rather severe headache and disorientation for the past day. Still, she remained in her seat in the cockpit, furiously searching for the nearest port. Due to the risk of them being caught if they landed in more commercial ports, they'd already passed a couple of stations and planets, and each time they did, Devin got more and more desperate.

Zolt had decided to not bother her, as he really didn't want to end up being eaten. Instead he'd made himself a bit of a nest in the back of the little ship, using a couple of space suits and oxygen tubes to make it soft and cozy; the vessel wasn't equipped with any proper sleeping quarters, as it was only meant for short transport and maintenence runs.  He'd been trying to finally get some sleep, as the first 30-something hours had been nerve wracking and had rendered him unable to relax at all. Exhaustion had started to get the better of him now, though, and as he curled up in his nest he was already falling asleep.

He was abruptly woken up by a loud rumble and a tremble that went through the ship, and he raised his head to look around in confusion. The ship creaked again and then, with a final loud 'thunk', the ship went still and quiet. Had they landed? The big arachi stubled to his feet, but instantly fell back down as a raging roar reached him, and Devin shot out from the cockpit, rushing past him to unlock the doors. She pressed the airlock button at least six times, clearly incredibly impatient. Zolt slowly moved over towards her, cowering slightly.

"Where are we?", he asked cautiously, just as the airlock hissed and allowed them through.

"Arbor V.", she replied shortly.

Zolt turned to look at her. Her face was stern and she was biting her lip. He didn't know what that behaviour meant in itself, but it was clear that she felt tense. As she should. Arbor V was an infamous miniature planet where crime ran rampant and almost half the planet was under martial law. The rest was ruled by several different warlords and clans that constantly warred with each other over land and resources. Most of the planet's natural resources consisted of precious minerals and forests. Arbor V was, despite everything, a very beautiful planet in its own right. Its skies were a beautiful, warm tone of pink and lilac during the days, which then shifted into a velvety emerald green towards the evening, before the night sky grew black and dotted with trillions of bright stars. During the day the two brilliant twin suns shone brightly above, leaving the surface at a comfortable, balmy temperature. During the night the planet's neighbour became visible; the big red planet Kocari, that even though it was remote, took up a large portion of the night sky. The soil on Arbor V was as red as the planet above, its cliffs and rocks white as chalk, and the vast forests were a mix of stunning, brilliant purples and blues. During night the forests and its creatures turned bright with bioluminescence, and small flying insects set the night ablaze with their intricate lightshows. If one didn't know the truth about this planet, it would surely be named a paradise.

As the two aliens stepped out of the little ship, they looked around and found themselves in a rather elegant-looking port, filled with ships from many different planets, creeds and classifications. Devin could spot a human military ship a few rows down, but business around it seemed to go on as normal. The general agreement on Arbor V was that as long as outsiders didn't mess with the powers that be and they didn't stay longer than necessary, they'd be left alone. It was a rather remote area in civilized space, so those outsiders who came here usually did so out of outmost need, not will, and would thus agree to these terms. Much like Devin herself. She needed food, money and a new ship. She could probably acquire all of them here, though with rather varying difficulty.

As they walked down the ramp they were met by a small bat-like creature with large floppy ears, short reddish fur and six appendages; two arms, four legs. It had a short fluffy tail, and wore the dark green uniform that adorned all space port personnel. She was flanked by two massive guards with long, triple jointed arms and short, sturdy legs. Their singular eyes were trained on the newcomers, and each of them carried a massive rifle. Their red uniforms signaled military. The bat raised one of her clawed hands and motioned towards the two newcomers to approach. They did so without questioning it, and the litte port master stared up at them with her three beady eyes. In her other hand she held a tablet.

"Please state your name, species, sex, allegiance and the purpose of your visit."

The human sighed and crossed her arms as she was impatient to get going, but complied.

"Devin, human, female, no allegiance, and we're just here to stock up on rations, fuel and to upgrade our vehicle."

It was quiet for a moment as the Arborian filled in the information, and then she looked over at Zolt. He stared back for a second, before he realized that it was his turn. The two soldiers tightened their grip on their weapons.

"Oh, uh... Yes, Zolt'chk, arachi, male, uh...", he paused and looked over at his human captor. He had no idea what to respond to the allegiance part. The human raised her eyebrows at him and gave a weird jerk with her head. He had no idea what she was trying to say.

"Yes?", came the slightly annoyed prod from the port master.

"... Uh, no allegiance, and my reasons are the same.", he hurried to reply. In all honesty he would've loved to tell the Arborian the truth, but first of all he was scared that if he did, Devin would twist his head off, and secondly that the Arborians themselves would kidnap and sell him. An already kidnapped person was nothing more than a basic ware like any other on this planet.

The little creature in green uniform jotted down the last of the information, and then scanned the ship's code, giving it a slight look of surprise and then looked up at the two aliens in front of her.

"This ship was reported stolen a few days ago. Says here it belongs to the Delta Cluster trade coalition." She squinted a them. Her henchmen shuffled behind her, glaring at the two outsiders.

"As I said, we're here to upgrade our vehicle.", Devin repeated. Zolt was stunned at the fact that she didn't try to hide that she stole it. He'd heard that humans could be rather illogical, but this was straight up moronic. Still, the bat-like creature blinked at them and then nodded.

"Very well. Will you be altering, selling, dismantling or destroying it, then? We are willing to take care of the procedures needed to have it travel safe again, for a price of course."

"Selling."

"Ah, very well. Will you sell it as-is, or will you pay for the procedures required to sell it at full price, ready-to-use?"

"As it is, thank you."

"I see. Lovely. We will add it to our digital stock at a price equal to its current market value, and once it's sold the earnings will be forwarded to your credits account. 20% of the profits will go to us as a middle hand and handling fee. Please sign and enter your account ID here.", she said and held out her tablet towards Devin, who added her info without question. Zolt started to say something, but Devin gave him an annoyed shove with her foot, and he went quiet again. The port master looked approvingly at Devin's signature and gave them a short nod.

"Thank you very much for your service, and welcome to Arbor V."

The second the little port master and her menacing entourage left them Devin was off half-running towards the nearest exit. Zolt, who didn't know what else to do, followed her. She'd just sold off their ship, effectively stranding them on this hellhole of a planet, and he had no idea how to get back home on his own from here. He felt a cold knot of dread form in his abdomen, and he did his best to stay close to the human.

Devin didn't look back even for a second. Her stomach was growling loudly, startling people as she walked past them. Humans were rare out here, or at least civilian ones, and Devin wore no indicators of being part of any militia. People stared at her rather shamelessly, but she didn't care. She just blindly followed her nose and stumbled towards the sweet scent of food, and as soon as the first small food stall came into view she sprinted straight up to it. The owner of the stall looked perplexed at the sight of her, though he didn't show any of the fear that was the more common reaction to seeing humans. Instead, he handed the red-haired girl a menu with one of his many six-digit hands. She was already in the middle of her order when Zolt caught up with her. She turned around and grinned widely at him.

"Do you want something? My treat!", she said cheerily and pushed the menu into the arachi's talons. The insectoid hesitated but then read through the list of courses, and rather quickly settled on one that would agree with his digestive system. Thankfully most food establishments, big or small, carried options for all the most common digestive systems. Amazingly enough, humans could eat almost anything from any option, but what else could one expect from a creature that literally had a vat of acid as a part of its digestive system.

Once their orders were placed, they moved a bit to the side to wait for their food to be ready. They stood quietly next to each other, Devin swaying slightly from side to side, eventually opting on leaning against Zolt, who stiffened at the contact. She was as warm as always, and he wasn't sure if it was pleasant or uncomfortable. Mostly it just felt weird. He wondered if it was truly comfortable to have such a high body temperature.

"I'm sorry."

He looked down at her, confused.

"What?", he asked, trying to read her expression, but she was looking away from him. She sighed.

"I already apologized once, but I don't feel like it's enough. It was terrible of me to drag you with me the way I did."

Zolt was quiet. The human's voice was steady but low, and there was a certain hesitant quality to it that he hadn't heard earlier. Somehow, despite her not crying, it made him think back on the first time he'd seen her. Despite his better judgement he once again pitied her. Still, he said nothing. He knew that she spoke the truth. If her plan had truly been to kidnap him, she wouldn't have left him unbound, she wouldn't have tried to be nice to him, and she would have definitely made an effort to restrain him before they landed if she'd wished to sell him into slavery. But he couldn't quite trust her. She was human, she was unpredictable, and she was dangerous.

When he didn't respond, Devin spoke again.

"I realize that I've put you in a very scary and unfamiliar situation, but once I have my own ship that's safe to travel with, I'll drop you off at whichever planet or station that you want. You have my word, Zolt'chk."

Before he could answer, their order was called out and they went to collect it. They sat down at a bench a short distance away from the busy street and quietly ate their food. It felt incredibly awkward.

Then he broke the silence.

"Thank you."

***

Devin felt terrible. She was indebted to the poor arachi next to her, but instead of repaying his kindness she'd probably ended up scarring him for life. He had barely said a word to her in the past few days, and she could tell that he tensed up every time she got close to him. She hadn't planned on abducting him. In all honesty it hadn't been on her mind even as she'd dragged him into the ship. It wasn't really until after her adrenaline settled down that she had truly realized what she'd done... And now she had no idea how to make it right. She hoped to at least be able to make him less wary of her, if not for her own sake then for his. She had no idea how to do that, though, and she was too hungry and dehydrated to think of a proper solution at the moment.

She ate her food rather quickly, feeling absolutely famished. Her first drink was already consumed, and she greedily started to chug down her second one. She was in the middle of this when Zolt'chk finally spoke.

"Thank you."

She nearly spat out her drink. Somehow, that was the very last thing she'd expected him to say. She looked at him a bit bewildered.

"For the food, I mean.", Zolt continued. The human deflated slightly, feeling a bit disappointed, but swiftly reminded herself that this was an entirely positive thing and gave him a soft smile.

"My pleasure.", she said. Zolt'chk hesitated for a moment.

"Could I possibly have seconds?", he asked sheepishly. Devin's smile widened and she let out a chuckle.

"Of course."