I don't own the Thundercats this is fan fiction.
I decided to go dressed as the others, in full thunderian gear, no need to make the natives any more confused that they will be when they meet us. The thundertank was not entirely operational, Tygra was able to build us a substitute, two pairs of thunder cycles. My guess Tygra preferred this to the tank.
I have to agree with him, a nice speedy option might be just what we need, and it is the least threatening alternative. "You need me to tell you how to operate that? Or do you want to guess?" I will never get used to the way I and Panthro seem to be with each other. Like I need to be told how to operate basic equipment like this.
I helped design the ship that got us here in the first place, I mounted my cycle, but on the helm and touched the starter, as the engine came online I looked at Panthro and smiled, "No need, but thanks for offering oh buddy of mine."
As I took off I could feel the glares from him as we drove through the terrain, the probe pretty much told me this was a vast land that pretty much resembled low lands one would expect around sub-Saharan Africa, the terrain was very much what I would expect. The cycles had built-in sensors, and the probes while cloaked they were still in orbit.
I turned the display on my helm and began to get the map of the area as we traveled. The first settlement was coming up, part of me found the entire thing exhilarating, but also hope our first contact does not end up with us having to fight our way from a large misunderstanding. The helm also had an automatic translator, so I hope that helps prevent any miscommunications.
As we reached the outskirts of the settlement we turned off our cycles and turned on the stealth on them, no need for some kid thinking that this is the equivalent to a new toy now is there?
"Excuse me, we are people that have settled in the mountain not far from here, I would like to speak with your village elder if possible, we mean you no harm." As they began to talk with each other I could see that several of the men and women were looking at us with this rather distrusting look about them.
That is when this elderly woman finally came near us, I gather this was the elder. "I am the elder of our village, what do you wish to take from us? You do not need to fake being civil, it is not the first time some outworlders have come to our village to make demands from us. You may call me Keynit"
I see that is why they seem not to trust us, "Ma'am, we are being completely honest we mean you no harm, we are refugees, our home was destroyed and we are merely trying to build a new home for me and our survivors, we have no intention of demanding anything." I pressed the button on my helm and after the helm disengaged it finally came off.
They looked at me and the elder touched my head for a second, it was my intention to prove we mean what I said. I placed the helm back on and see she realized we actually told her the truth.
"An introduction may help, this person next to me is my good friend Panthro, next to him is my friend Tygra, and right next to me on my left is my beloved wife Cheetara. We just wanted to talk with you, maybe help us understand any possible dangers there are around here, and if all ends well we might be able to help each other."
Keynit looked at me and told us to follow her into her hut. The place was small but nothing out of the ordinary, it was made from dirt, and wood, man-made bricks mostly, Adobe is the closest thing I could think of when I looked at it closely.
"As I said, we have had people from other worlds come here to make demands, creatures that look like a mixture between man and animals, toads, reptiles, birds, and a few wild dogs, all in all, they never want to talk, they demand something as a tribute and then they leave, if we do not give them what they want, they injure or kill one or several of our young."
Great, just great, we just started living here and what is the first threat we find? The very same threat that caused our previous world to explode, mutants. "Is there any means for you to draw what some of them look like? Just to make sure we are talking about the same beings?"
She pulled out something from her bed, it looked to be a scroll that it seems to be her journal. She began to roll it until we saw the image that no one in our group could mistake it, they were mutants alright, heavily armed mutants at that.
"Yes, these creatures we call mutants, and they are the reason our world was destroyed. We know how they are and how much of a threat they are. Elder is there any land we can use to grow food and some things our people need? I don't mean to cause you or your village any discomfort, but we do need to be able to grow a few things."
She looked at me for a second and then she looked at a few sacks around the back of her hut, she took something from each and placed it in a small sack, she then walked over to me and handed me the sack.
"We don't own this land, we grow our food together between us and two other villages, I have no problem with your people growing some food, you seem like a friendly sort so I don't think we will have any trouble with you and your people growing some food, the sack has some of the seeds we use to grow some of our grains and the other villages grow vegetables and fruits."
"That which we do not grow we trade with the other villages around us, but before you go, could you tell me your name? I am growing old, but I simply do not remember you ever telling us your name." I guess I skipped that during my introduction. I wanted to establish a friendly dialect as soon as possible.
"I am Hector, I thank you for telling us and for your willingness to help me and our people. We must return to our settlement to tell the others that we found some friends in this new world we hope to call home. I, however, do wish for you to tell us something, how would we know if the mutants are making demands to a village?"
She laughed and said that there is no way to miss that when it happens, the smoke pretty much is a clear understanding between the villages that one of them is being attacked or visited by the mutants, so as long as we can see the smoke we could have fair warning to avoid that village.
She, of course, thought that I wanted to avoid the mutants, after all, we just told them these creatures destroying our home world. I wish I could tell her my true intentions, but actions speak louder than words. We were not trying to avoid the mutants, in fact, we would want to find an end the very threat of these mutants all together.
As we boarded our cycles and was ready to leave, Keynit walked over to us and told us if we could join her and her family in a family meal, "You wish to know of us, eating with my family could be a very good opportunity to get to know each other and for you to taste some our village's cuisine."
Allergies aside, the elder actually had a very good idea. So, in the end, we agreed to eat a meal with her family, I just hope that their customs are not something we could not actually follow.
As we entered her home, I was surprised to see that most if not all her children and grandchildren were, in fact, women, it seems she only had daughters and her children also only had daughters. I did mention to them that I am married right? I got the real bad feeling that what she really wanted to test is the fact that I was indeed married.
So far only I have removed my helm, Panthro, Tygra, and Cheetara have been wearing theirs since we left the fortress. "You don't need to be so formal with us, please feel free to take off your helms, you have nothing to fear from us. It might make you feel more comfortable as we eat."
They each took off their helms and did as I did, Cheetara was getting more stares than Panthro or Tygra which is odd. I would think my friends would catch the attention of a few women near us, but no, the one that was being stared at is Cheetara. She sat down near me and for some odd reason, she was leaning on me.
I placed my arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer as I kissed her on her lips for a brief kiss. "Thank you for sharing your food with us, I am sure we will be great friends. Do you need us to help carry the food?" The elder looked at me and began to laugh as I said that.
"No, there is really no need, what I would like to know what is your plans for the future. I may be able to help you if I know what exactly you plan to do." For a moment I thought of that, on the one side I wanted to keep our plans secret, there is no telling if someone in the village if the situation was desperate, would not share this information with the mutants.
"My husband has an idea of creating an alliance with the neighboring villages, maybe get all the villages and our people to cooperate, for raising food to protection, he tends to worry about our people and the fact that he and I talking about the possibility that we might have a child or two in the future."
I guess she decided to take the initiative, I can't fault her on her decision, and at least she did not share with them our security plans. I am truly blessed having her as my wife.
"Actually we have tried to do just that several times, but since we have fought over resources in the past, that tends to make it almost impossible for us to do that, old grudges that our people have between the villages are many and some are quite bitter."
"There are a total of nine villages in the area, each one has at one point fought against each other, some due to petty reasons, some to gain more land to cultivate and even some because our village seems to have more women than theirs."
I guess if they were all eighteen I would call them tribal at best or a group of punk at worst. "I see, so you and the other villages never go together to actually discuss your differences. How about this, we will go to the other villages, try to solve their issues and get them to agree to meet to form an alliance. If we can manage can you please try and negotiate with them?"
He immediately nodded his head, "If you manage to convince the other villages to work together with mine, you will probably make life better for all of us, I know it, if you manage to do this I swear on the graves of my ancestors, that we shall be friends to your people for all time."
So basically he considers this impossible and if I actually manage a miracle he will want to be on good terms with the people that can do what none of these villages ever could. I put on my helmet and we decided to send scouts to find the other villages, which turns out was pretty much in the places they told us they would be located.
They may seem primitive but they know basic map making it seems. "Sorry if I embarrassed you when I mentioned to them that we were thinking of having children. I guess the way some of the females in that village were looking at you made me feel uncomfortable." As we began to ride towards the next village I pulled her closer till she was sitting on my lap.
"Cheetara there was no need to do that, I will never cheat on you or hurt you like that, I am your mate, you are mine, I am yours. I love you, you know that, and no I am not embarrassed that you told them we were planning to have children, it is true. I only hope old Snarf can be around to help babysit."
