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Wilbur strutted down the steel grey halls of the unregistered ship. His flippers barely making a sound on the metal flooring as he made his way to inspect his crews work.
It’s not that they were incompetent. But they tended to get distracted without his watchful eye.
Marching into the cargo hold, Wilbur found his own crew starting to inspect the unauthorised ships cargo while the absolutely tiny crew of this ship were cowering in the corner, freezing up at the sight of him.
All appendages froze up as their light sensory organs locked onto Wilbur. So they were aware who he was. Good.
He would be disappointed if they didn’t. He was the Daimyo of this region of space of course. And the son of the greatest warlord and emperor this side of the galaxy.
His fins flicked out. Gills rumbling in amusement. His second in command, a fellow Meling named Niki, came up to him, two appendages folded behind her back, with the others carrying a pad likely containing the inventory of the ship.
Flaring her lower fins in respect, she handed the pad to Wilbur’s lower limbs, as she does so saying “You’ll find a complete set of everything being transported, my lord.”
Look over the list Wilbur flicked his head fins, “Smugglers I see.”
Niki returned the gesture, “there are also a couple of crates out back that are not listed.”
Looking up at the other Meling, Wilbur’s fins quivered, giving away his curiosity as he gestured for her to show him.
Making their way towards the back of the cargo hold, Wilbur saw three crates lined up, left untouched by the rest of the crew of the Hto Dawg for personal inspection by their captain.
Each crate were made of reinforced foggy white material and had netherian steel clamping the lid shut.
Prying the first crate open, Wilbur was greeted by a small creature covered in brown feathers, not that different from an elytrian’s. It was just under 1 miton in size and had these scratchy little talons on its feet.
The little thing had a pair wings tucked into its side and it tilted its head at Wilbur, making a sort of clucking noise. Wilbur flicked his fins. Looks kinda dumb.
Moving onto the second crate, Wilbur found some weird spiky thing. It was kinda round and covered in these brown scale like structures and these spiky green leaves sticking out the top. It was likely some sort of plant. A seed or fruit.
Looking into the final crate, there was a tiny bipedal creature. It appeared to be in a sort of hibernation period, curled up on its side. Curly fur covered the top of its head. It was a sort of golden colour that could likely make his brother stuck in his instincts. The fur only covered the top of its head.
It only looked about one and a half mitons tall, though it was hard to tell due to the little ball it was curled into. It could lie in the midst one of his paws like that, as small as it is. It was honestly adorable.
Turning his head so his eyes could see Niki, Wilbur asked, “Are there any records of these things?”
Niki held up a data pad had a quick look through before flattening her fins, no then.
“The emperor may know. Prepare to leave take all cargo and load the crew onboard.”
“My lord,” Jack, a blazer from Netheria, said, small flames flicker around his figure, “Emperor Philza has summoned you.”
“I’ll speak with him about this then,” Wilbur nodded to both crew members as other members locked up the three crates and started emptying the smugglers cargo hold.
He had a meeting with the Emperor of the Antarctic empire to attend and he knows his father won’t be impressed if he was late.
•••••
The impressive halls of the ‘hardcore’, Emperor Philza’s cruiser, thrummed with the sound of the hundreds of crew working aboard the ship. The heavy marching footsteps of Lord Technoblade of the ‘Syndicate’ region was joined by Lord Wilbur of the ‘L’manburg’ region’s near silent flap of his finned feet.
“How have you been dear brother?” Wilbur questioned, with a slight flicker of fins, betraying his true intentions in this conversation.
With a snort Techno responded, “Doing perfectly fine before you showed up.” His tail and floppy ear flicked in sync. A quiet chuff he made telling Wilbur of his fondness towards his brother. Automatically, a musical hum escaped Wilbur in response, head fins flapping.
As they reached the end of the hall, imposing black netherian steel doors bared the way. Gems from all over the empire embedded into the swirling patterns, showing an intricate and complex map of the empire, though those who don’t know this would only see intricate patterns carved into the steel.
Quietly the doors opened, sliding flush into the walls. Within the room was a long table with most seats occupied by the other lords of the empire, given to them by the Elytrian sitting at the head, glistening black feathers nearly the same colour as the void spread out in the empty space on the other side of the large window behind him. Wings lying on the table casually as unblinking black eyes locked onto them over his shiny black beak. The two made their way to the empty seats beside this man.
Emperor Philza.
•••••
Low level lords made their way out of the hall, each walking confidently, each poorly hiding their tension as the emperors eyes trailed them. Once the room became empty, beside the little family sitting at the end of the table did Philza’s eyes turn to peer at his sons. Fondness glittering amid the black eyes.
“Now that that’s done, what have you two been up too?” Philza asked, a slight twitter trailing off at the end, a sound only meant to be heard by flock.
“Not much, the usual,” Techno shrugged.
“I actually found something interesting on a smuggler ship.” Wilbur’s head fins fluttered as he pressed a button on his comm.
“I’m not sure what exactly it is but I figured you may know Dadza.”
Niki came into the room followed by the three crates. Her lower fins flared as she entered. Wilbur non verbally dismissed her for the time being.
Rising from their seats the warlords made their way to the three crates, the clouded white exterior of each giving no indication of what was within nor which was which considering Wilbur was already aware of the contents.
“Lets have a look then, mate,” Phil said as his talons curled under the lid of crate number one. The lid opened easily. Peering over the side Wilbur saw the strange bipedal creature. It stared up at them with large eyes that were the colour of the clear sea on a sunny day. They seemed the same as Techno’s, except for the colouration differences. It had pushed itself into the far corner, trying to hide away from them.
Phil’s feathers puffed up as he made a curious clicking noise “It’s a human.”
“A what?” Wilbur responded shifting himself to look at his father.
“A new race that was recently introduced to the Federation. I intercepted a transmission about them earlier this cycle.” Phil tilted his head as he looked down at the seemingly sentient being.
A quiet cooing noise filled the space as Phil continued to watch the human.
“Is it supposed to be this small?” Techno grunted, peering over their father’s shoulder at them.
“An adult human is only 3 mitons tall. This one is probably a fledgling.”
His father reached down with a taloned hand. The human curled tighter into them self, hiding away. It’s head tucked between it’s lower limbs. Hiding itself and what’s likely to be vulnerable areas.
Tucking his paw bellow the fry, Phil scooped it up so that they were sitting comfortably with their back against his cupped talons. Bright blue eyes peered into Phil’s black, the funny little things flat face, obviously belonging to a predator, was creased differently than how it was when unconscious.
Phil gave a little reassuring chirp to the fry. Pulling them closer to his chest. A high pitched noise was made by the human as Phil held the little thing. The elytrian made a small coo in response.
Wil heard techno huff “I’ll get a translator made for them since Phil’s brooding.”
Phil quietly squawked at his twin, being careful not to startle the little human in his hold. Wilbur peered down at the fry, their shivering form remained curled up in a little ball as their bright blue eyes peered around the room, flicking around rapidly. Droplets of water ran down their face, leaving a wet sheen on it.
Wilbur was curious, to say the least. A new species on the galactic stage and one ends up within his own territory. He couldn’t wait to speak to the little thing.
•••••
Tommy was scared, to say the least. The three big aliens crowded around where he sat on one’s hand. He thinks. The fluffy feathers tickled against his arms and legs.
There was a big birdy that kept making pretty noises at him. Like the ones from his last home. There was one that looked like a piggy with a pink snout but its’ red eyes scared Tommy. And the big teeth that stuck out of its’ face. It didn’t sound like a pig. The noises it made were more grunts then oinks. It was weird.
The last alien was scary. It’s mouth was huge and filled with sharp teeth. Its’ arms bent funny and it had four. Its’ weird eyes didn’t move like Tommy’s did. It didn’t blink. It was scary.
His body shook violently as wet tears ran down his face. He didn’t know what they wanted with him. He didn’t know why he was in space to begin with. He just wanted Henry. He wanted to go home.