Co-written with Krad1213, RavenSongLullaby and BootsandShorts from DA!
Deep within the Massive, an alien mother ship feared among the galaxy it called home, a male voice echoed through it's inner core, "Alright smeets..." the voice ricocheted off the walls of a towering round metal room; the ceiling a home of endless wires over the dark pit. A spotlight flashed in the middle of the facility to illuminate an oval like open area before a booming voice came from the darkness.
"SHOW ME WHAT YOU GOT!"
A young, green-eyed alien being jumped into the light, her face determined as she proceeded to demonstrate what she learnt from her past training. She flung around the room at multiple robot dummies that sprung from the ground, kicking and punching; using her PAK legs as blades for the ones that tried to sneak up behind her. One flying blade managed to slice against her shoulder and tear into her blue uniform, ripping from her sleeves down to her cape and into her dark green skin. But still she soldiered on unaffected.
She finished by snapping the neck of her last victim, it's now decapitated head vibrating with electricity on the ground. Looking to her shoulder wound, she squinted her emerald orbs shut and the wound began to heal rapidly as she seemed to concentrate harder on it. Opening her eyes to see it now fully healed, she proudly stood there with her hands behind her back wearing an innocent smile over her freckled face.
Tallest Anax, ruler of the greatest extraterrestrial empire, the Irken Empire, hovered into the light. The light radiated his intimidatingly large stature and long, spindly claws protruding from round hunks of armor that entrapped his forearms. The rest of his yellowish green body was covered in an almost ruby like metal that enhanced his size.
Cooing evilly at the energetic smeet, he beamed with satisfaction, "A fine display, Koot! Eh? What do ya think, Paradigm?"
A female Tallest, co-ruler same in size and cloaked in a similar metal yet purple toned outfit, hovered close to him after descending one of the two stairs that led to the entrance up on a platform. Showing her approval as well with a warm smile she nodded, to her tall partner, "Well done." she said.
The Male ruler then turned his attention to where the first female smeet had come from. His double tipped antennas twitched to locate the next Irken, "WHO'S NEXT?"
As Irken worker drones filed into the room to clear out the mess that Koot had just left behind, another Irken entered the same. Their footsteps echoing throughout the almost empty space. It was a male smeet this time, visibly taller than the last. His antenna less curvy in attitude and more dagger-like in appearance compared to the last trainee, along with his outfit sharper in tone. He didn't pay his leaders any mind, instead his main focus was on the new robots that were brought into the room from trap doors. Each robot equipped with a powerful arsenal of weapons. Despite how intimidating they were this didn't seem to waver his confidence.
Giving the robots a moment or two to power up, he only waited long enough for them to notice his presence. As soon as their guns were fixated on the alien, he was moving erratically, dodging the violent onslaught of rounds; a blue force flickering into existence around him keeping him perfectly unharmed as he decimated those that were in his way. Once he was done, the robots were reduced to indistinguishable pieces of scrap.
"Nice one, Pestir!" hollered Tallest Anax with great pride, "You're getting so much better at deflecting... but just how much can you really take?"
Paradigm grinned at the tiny male soldier and turned to see Anax now holding a remote device. Its current setting on its LED display set on 'Basic bot battle', changed to other settings such as 'This space intentionally left blank', until eventually settling on 'BEAM ME UP' mode with a twist of the dial.
Around Pestir and all around the room came an abundance of weaponry. All aiming at him menacingly, covering his entire body with red laser beams. The glow of the giant guns grew warm and Paradigm's grin grew wide with anticipation; the lights making her eyes glow as she observed the display before her.
Pestir remained silent, his crimson gaze only flickering up towards the towering figures before glancing down at the dangerous red lasers that danced across his already ruby attire. Once again he didn't seem phased by them. In fact judging by the smirk that was gradually settling on his face he indicated he was rather calm about the whole ordeal.
Seeming to be one for theatrics, the Irken didn't move a muscle let alone make any attempt to produce a force field as he had before. Instead he waited for the guns to warm up before the training room was filled with chaos. Lasers firing from all sides, the deadly beams all aimed at the alien before impacting him as the light blinded others from seeing beyond the destruction.
The gleam on Paradigm's face did not flicker any change through the entire spectacle; her lavender eyes never once blinking. When everything had cleared and the lasers had finally stopped, they revealed Pestir. Raising from one knee as a more visible blue shield had bubbled around him. Paradigm stood still in the void of her pride as Anax recovered himself from the blinding light show.
"WOW!" Anax shone a childlike wonder at the untouchable smeet, amazed by his talents, but he quickly shook it off to seem more mature. "A little bit of a show off today eh, boy? All right, job well done." he looked to his partner, "Para?"
Paradigm finally blinked out of her trance, still holding a proud smile, "Most excellent, my Pestir." her voice a sound of tranquility and calmness in contrast to the aftermath of destruction around them still sizzling.
Anax didn't order any drones to clean any mess, as the calamity before left only burnt floors as a result. He readied his remote before calling out to the next and final subject, almost hesitantly.
"And... Aurum?"
Hearing the intense chaos around the room die and the ring of the Tallest voice rise above, there came an out of place silence during this turn compared to the other two Irkens who had charged in last time. There was no confident footsteps or excited cries. There was though, labored breathing. A tiny figure in the darkness just opposite of them seemed hesitant to enter the harsh judging light.
Suddenly, there came an annoying metal squeaking as another object wheeled towards the light of the burnt training facility. The squeaking figure was a rather small beat up looking robot, holding a feathery duster in its singular arm along with its one leg that ended in a wheel, enabling it to roll around. The bot had the name 'Zimbob' poorly etched on its frame. It jerked to a stop and simply waited in the spotlight for the unknown being in the shadows.
In the dark there was a pair of golden orbs looking onto the box-like robot enemy with terror, unsure of what to expect from it. After a few long seconds, the Irken placed one small foot out in front of them before dragging themselves into the light of the room. Trembling a bit as they entered was a dark green uniformed female, the last of smeets in training to show what they were capable of, Aurum.
Looking warily at the feathers on the duster as they swayed, she began to lift up one bare hand painstakingly to the bot before clenching her eyes and looking away. Her antennae, similar to that of a usual Irken male's, hugged her back tightly in fear. In her bare palm, a small radiance of light began to grow before engulfing her whole hand slowly. Nothing more than what a light bulb could produce.
Opening her eyes back up after a minute or so of feeling her bare hand get warm, she noticed that instead of seeing the proud look on everyone's faces and the bot being blasted by a blinding light, they were all looking at her with confusion and boredom. The bot's tiny, electronic face remained staring at the female smeet with curiosity.
Silence.
Aurum and the bot exchanged looks, Aurum's being rather upset with the dull shine of her hand, but when the little bot waved its duster gently towards her, she screamed out with pure fear before dashing across the room. Seeing this, the little rickety bot sputtered around the facility with her, trying its absolute best to catch up to the petrified Irken that was pleading for mercy.
The group watched on, cringing, as Aurum dashed around in circles; her screams filling the entire room with an echo. It was a pathetic performance even with the remote set on 'Smeet' mode, the very lowest setting. All had mixed expressions as this continued, but Paradigm's was one of fury.
Not wanting to watch any more of this, she shouted, "ENOUGH!", scaring the tiny robot forcing it to collapse on the spot in a heap of scrap and feathers at the shear boom of her voice.
The livid Tallest raced over to the afraid Irken, Anax giving chase. Paradigm stopped at the tiny one's feet towering over Aurum with pure disappointment written on her features. Aurum had been too deep into her frantic frenzy to notice she had stopped in front of her. Screeching to a sudden stand still her frail body barreled into Paradigm's metal one with a clank.
The breath was knocked out of her when she hit the ground, causing a light groan when she finally pulled herself up to a sitting position. When she did, her breath hitched then immediately started to cower with the Tallest pure look of loathing paralyzing her.
"That... was a disgrace!" Paradigm spat in disgust.
"I-it was an improvement over the last session!" Anax chimed in desperately, but Paradigm shot daggers at him; making him look away with indifference.
"Is this really the results of the 'very best training in all the empire' you promised me you would personally provide?" Paradigm fumed at Anax as she circled Aurum at her feet.
"Para, I assure you I am the most capable trainer for our smeets!" he defended.
"If that's true..." Paradigm looked over her shoulders at Aurum with lowered eyelids, "then I don't think we can do anything to fixthis one."
With each disdained word that left her lips, Aurum only flinched harder and harder until she was almost pressing up against the floor again; her antennas peeled back to her skull tightly and her eyes watering with tears as she looked up wide eyed at the two Tallest.
"I'm sorry m-" but before she could mumble another shaky word out, Paradigm seemed to just turn her back away from the Irken leaving her as is, to lay on the ground.
Paradigm whispered harshly to the male, "We need to talk." before abruptly exiting the room with her head high, leaving the room silenced.
Aurum peeled her gaze up to see the expression of all their faces, but this only jabbed her more so in the gut. Looking away from them all together, she sluggishly pulled herself up and shuffled over reluctantly to the line that Anax had called the three smeets to get in.
Anax spoke aloud to all, "My smeets, today you've shown great promise." he tapped his claws together and started pacing the room, "Just think, my small ones, one day you will become some of the greatest warriors the empire has ever seen, and perhaps greater than that!" he paused, "Becoming the next Tallest. It's the very reason we cloned you and raised you to be the best! And thanks to my training, any one of you will surely be a worthy successor..." he stopped himself after glancing at the third smeet. Her golden eyes full of guilt.
"Eh..." he looked away and rubbed his neck. "Anyway, me and your mother have some stuff to talk about apparently." he gulped, "Now all of you off to your personal quarters."
As her father talked, Aurum remained quiet, too afraid that she would begin to cry and show them all just how scared and hopeless she felt. She wanted to explain how sorry she was and what happened, she didn't mean to happen again. However, he too had turned away like her mother leaving the golden eyed Irken by herself with her siblings, which now was an even greater fear than the one she just experienced.
"Ho boy, did ye hear that guys?! We sure do have potential to be the BEST!" Koot cheered. "Don't cha think so? Pestir? Aurum?" Koot looked to her sister, previously smiling at her dad's speech only to frown when she saw Aurum battle with tears.
"We... all have potential." Koot then touched her sister's shoulder gently, "You did great Aurum!" she yelled a little to high of volume as she shook her sister with excitement.
The absolute shrill of Koot's voice only made her become quieter and more visibly disturbed. The little Irken gasped and almost jumped out of her skin when her sister touched her and began to scream intensely in her antennas to cheer her up. Her nerves rattling within her, she did her very best to not look like she was going to have a panic attack, still being shaken by her sister, literally and mentally.
"Am I right Pestir? Or am I right?!" Koot slyly asked her brother as she elbowed her sister with encouragement; not noticing how distressed she was.
Pestir was silent, his arms held behind his back as he watched Koot's haphazard attempt at cheering up their sibling. Slowly he turned his focus on Koot before giving her a bemused leer.
"Yes, cause a display like that certainly shows potential," he mocked in a sarcastic tone."The only 'potential' I saw out there was the makings of a janitorial drone, and even that was mediocre at best!" he added.
Koot crossed her arms, still sneering, "Aw, c'mon, Pestir! I think she did great! I mean, did you see the way she ran those circles? Why, she was running so fast you couldn't keep up with a spaceship in high speed chase for the most wanted criminal in all the galaxy!"
Koot stood between her siblings and hugged each in a separate arm; bringing them close together, all while wearing a goofy grin, "Now that's what I call potential!"
The young Irken raised a brow as Koot wrapped an arm around him and Aurum looking none too pleased by it. "Potential is being able to use it for something!" he remarked coldly glancing up at her. "All I saw was a coward running away from a useless robot!"
"But her hands can glow!" Koot stopped hugging them and raised Aurum's hand high in hers. Pausing after staring at Aurum's hand, Koot flicked her sister's fingers as though trying to trigger the light from it. "Isn't that the coolest...?" she squeaked.
Pestir couldn't resist rolling his eyes brushing himself off after being let go. "And so can Urma worms and Grac'ta dooky... your point?" he asked folding his arms and watching them both intently.
Koot didn't respond, but only turned to her sister to watch her response. She gave an empathetic smile as she waited for Aurum to speak for herself.
The small alien had only gotten more nervous by the second as the two argued over her and her 'potential'. When she saw the expecting gaze of Koot and then the deep dark maroon glower of Pestir, she began to breathe a bit heavy. Swinging her head back down to her hands she fiddled with them while slowly inching away from the two.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be so scared..." Looking back up at Pestir, the Irken gave a rueful look, "But I had no clue what to expect!" The Irken admitted under her breath gently to the male, hoping that once she explained, he would understand why she had been so frightened.
Her explanation didn't help change anything, Pestir's antennae twitching before adjusting himself. "Scared?" he asked incredulously, "It was bested just by shouting!" he stated sternly. "Not only that but the worst it can do is get your uniform dirty!" he added with a hiss. "The fact that you ran from a low level cleaning drone baffles me, Aurum!" he growled.
Aurum remained dead silent and visibly jumped when her brother's voice raised, now making her shrink away. Her eyes still placed on anywhere but the two, the room fell silent from his shredding voice.
There then came another small whine from the alien once again, "I... didn't know it was... I'm sorry, Pestir." With her eyes traveling down to the ground on her feet, she saw a feather from the robot and suddenly pounced up with with a rough jerk.
He growled as Aurum apologized once again. "Can't you say anything other than sorry?!" he demanded taking a step towards her.
"Realsoldiers don't apologize!" he snapped his foot crashing down viciously on the feather that had startled her. Once his eyes trailed down to it he looked up at her again. "And they certainly don't get startled by feathers!"
Aurum had flattened her black stalks to her head and was frozen from his eyes tearing into her with such scorn. She really thought the Irken was going to hurt her with how loud and aggressive he was being. Luckily, her sister swooped in to stop him from possibly doing so.
"Hey hey hey! Guys, dad gave us orders to go to our rooms, so... why don't we just cool it down and take a break, huh?" she waved her arms frantically trying to calm things before they got too bad.
"C'mon, Aurum." Koot gestured her sister to follow.
Aurum's eyes were still trained on Pestir's daunting form, she timidly took a step closer to Koot and grabbed her hand tenderly, a silent gesture that only enhanced itself when she squeezed it self consciously.
As soon as Koot got in the way, Pestir turned his stern crimson gaze onto her. He didn't say a word more, only watching them depart before giving in to his vocal cravings, "Keep playing your silly games of false hope, Koot." he exclaimed. "Keep treating her like a sniveling smeet! But in the end you're only hurting yourself by letting a defective soldier weigh you down!"
And with those final words becoming quieter with distance, Koot didn't pay them much attention leading Aurum to their rooms still with a small smile on her face as she continued to walk down the hall with her dear sister.
The only sound between the two was their tiny pattering footsteps. The small stomps echoed off the long halls of the ship and bounced back to them in a greater volume. Aurum had kept her hand locked with Koot's as the Irken walked her back to her quarters like she would usually do after training. Because, she herself, would be too nervous to go alone and would always want someone to go with her. Of course no one else would, but Koot on the other hand did it in a heartbeat. Aurum was beyond grateful for her sister and everything she did for her.
So when Pestir's words had burrowed themselves deep within her about how she was weighing her sibling down, Aurum truly couldn't stop the words that stammered from her mouth in a pitiful attempt to break the silence.
"I-is he right, Koot..?" came a tiny whine from the Irken walking along side Koot, her sad doughy golden orbs on her sister. "Was he mad at me... because he was right?" The Irken asked again, but this time having a bit more trouble containing her quivering lip.
Koot stopped in her tracks, pausing a leg in the air. She set it back down and coughed, then looking away from her sibling she cupped a shoulder with her free hand. Laughing under her breath, her face was one of confusion as if she was really thinking for this first time. This lasted long enough for it to become awkward for the two before finally Koot perked up with a gasp and calmly smiled to her companion.
"Come with me." she said in a whisper, turning away from the path that led to their chambers; tightening her grip on Aurum's shaky hand, Koot led her to the unknown.
With a timid "Okay." Aurum was dragged by her sister and away from their previous path. The longer they walked down hallways she had never seen before, the more nervous she got. Her eyes shifting quickly around them.
"Oh, jeez... is this another weird prank? Do I have to be in it?" she asked softly, more than fearful at what was happening now, knowing that her sister would sometimes prank Pestir and it would never turn out pretty.
The echo of footsteps became louder as Koot picked up her pace, dragging her sister with her. She eventually stopped at the entrance of a giant door with it's red light above it indicating it was locked. Koot didn't bother with the door as she quickly dashed to a nearby vent and sprang her PAK legs to life. Turning the screws with them like a pro, the vent cover fell to the floor within seconds. The Irken took her sibling inside with her as she crawled along the cramped metal portal; not saying a word throughout the entire crawl to the other side of the vent. They passed by many piles of shiny objects in the occasional corners stashed there by Koot who had a smile that read she was very eager for something.
Finally Koot opened up the other vent cover and she jumped down to the new room's floor. She looked up a few feet above her to see Aurum still in the vent, to which she motioned down with a playful wave. Waiting for her sibling, Koot turned to take a good look around her.
She stood in the Tallest's private space observatory, where the largest window to to view the stars resided. A place where the Tallest also took snack breaks, but now it's large comfy couches lacked their owners leaving the entire chamber empty. Koot speed walked eagerly in place as she desperately wanted to run to the window and take a closer look at the canvas of glowing dots. Waiting for Aurum to join her however, she bit her lip with impatience as she looked back up to the vent with the biggest grin ever.
At first the Irken up in the vent didn't really know where they were, in fact she had never even seen this room before in her life. Looking around cautiously, she turned her attention back down to Koot who was motioning her down. Recoiling and pulling her antennas back, she clung closely to the vent, her eyes wide at the height Koot was asking her to jump from. She made it look so easy. Making some funny noises under her breath, she closed her eyes and began to talk to herself to pump herself up.
"I can do this..."
There was a few metal bumps as she did her best to open up her PAK legs to help her cushion her fall within the small vent. When Koot turned around and placed her attention back on the stars, that's when a painfully loud thud come from behind her. Turning around, Aurum was now on the floor with her PAK legs all spread out and a pain stricken look on her face.
"Ow..." The small Irken grumbled pulling her fail-self up from the unforgiving ground and began to make her way over to her sister. The soreness in her body soon subsided though when her eyes filled up with fascination seeing the beautiful array of stars and galaxies that laid out in front of them like a painting.
"Whoa..." she uttered while placing her hands on the thick glass in front of them, she leaned forward trying to soak up every little speck that stood beyond the glass.
Koot ran straight for the glass, smashing her face on it's smooth surface with her wide smile never leaving her. "Isn't it purdy, Aurum?!" she said bashfully after unsticking her face from the glass, "It reminds me of you, seeing as you glow and all. It's called: SPACE!"
Aurum had a star stuck expression on her features the whole time. The Irken seemed a bit disconnected while her eyes scoured high and low looking at all she could take in. With Koot's next comment though, the female placed her attention on her, the same look that she had when first discovering this new magical other world on her face. Her cheeks seemed to light up a soft golden. Aurum pulled her hands back to herself.
"Space?" She asked back with a tiny upturn of her lips, turning her head to look at the galaxies beyond the glass then back at her sister.
"Yep, that's space alright!" Koot sat comfortably on the edge of the window sill, her head leaning to the glass lovingly. "You'd wonder why space is so dark, because no matter where you look there is always a light." she rambled on mindlessly before snapping out of her trance and giving her sister a more attentive look.
"I know today wasn't your best day ever... but one day, Aurum, you'll shine just as bright as these stars here!" Koot gestured a hand by her side motioning for Aurum to sit with her.
Looking down at her hand and then back up at Koot, the little Irken couldn't help but have the glow that was once in her cheeks now begin to fully make its way to her whole body and cause her to glow all over. Seeing Koot on the ledge of the window, she carefully began to pull herself up with the other female.
"You really think so?" Aurum mumbled her smile only growing as she settled in next to her to watch all the dancing stars move past them as if they were all in a long never ending stream.
"Of course!" Koot placed a hand on her sisters knees, giving her the sweetest of all smiles, "You're gonna be amazing, Aurum."