#conservationverse

[wolven91]

Drifting - Part 10

“Ah! Casper my boy!” Exclaimed Zeet. It was the older engineer geckin who had been supporting the young man's progress as a brand new mech pilot. The blue geckin had been the one in the first instance to suggest to the young man that he give piloting a try and so far had been a stalwart ally and straight shooting voice of reason for Casper.

Despite the engineer’s enthusiasm, Zeet had never led Casper astray, nor had any of his machines failed the young man. The human felt he could trust this geckin, as far as his equipment went at the very least. 

“Good morning Zeet, I understand it's the moment of truth?” Replied Casper, calmer than he expected. Qik stepped into the room not a single step behind the human and marched over to the correctly sized chairs. She pulled out the centre one and sat directly in front of the High Commander, the black and purple geckin in charge of the geckin people’s military actions.

She would be the one in control of the upcoming operation.  

This was when Casper noticed that there was a small crowd of geckins already sitting on the other side of the broad table that dominated the room. With only two chairs on ‘his’ side, it was quite obvious where he was meant to sit. Casper couldn’t help but squint and narrow his eyes at the people arrayed in front of him. Wasn’t it a bit heavy handed? Zeet, Wren, the High Commander and a slew of other geckins that the man had yet to have met, at least as far as he was aware of. Were they all needed to brief the pair of mercenaries?

Zeet seemed undeterred. 

“Indeed! The moment of truth! Oh, I can’t w-” Although the older alien couldn’t finish his sentence as a curt, sharp voice cut him off and he went silent instantly.

“Enough Zeet. Casper, why not sit with your… colleague?” Suggested the High Commander, not in the slightest giving him another option. Her tone was mocking, but he had no doubt she held little regard to either Qik or the pair of them.

Casper didn’t say anything, and instead calmly walked over to sit and join Qik at the table. She was perfectly still and a perfect picture of cold, calm and calculating. Casper kept his silence, and waited for someone else to speak.There was a pregnant moment of silence. 

The High Commander was the first to break the pause and spoke in a haughty tone.

“As per your contract Qik, we have need to run an op on the same planet as before.” She explained, blinking slowly and looking down her short snout at the lopeljack mercenary. Qik was unphased. 

“What’s the gig?” She asked without missing a beat.

“They’re amassing a sizable mechanised force in the former cities. Orbital operations are still at a stand still, neither of us want to have to report the loss of a ship.” The Commander explained, waving a hand dismissing the orbital fleets as if it were a non-issue. 

“So you want us to cut them down?” Qik asked, fishing for details.

“Exactly.” The purple and black geckin replied without assisting. Her eyes blinking slowly again, she kept them focused on Qik, pointedly ignoring Casper. He made no attempt to insert himself, he trusted Qik implicitly. The lopel stared the geckin down for a moment before breaking her gaze and shrugging, leaning back into her chair.

“Seems straight forward, I would have thought you would have used us in something more valuable.” She mused aloud, interlocking her fingers and gazing lazily at the geckin. Casper’s eyes narrowed a fraction just as he noticed the scale below her right eye twitch. A tell?

“I am a geckin of my word. This is the first combat operation we need to deploy against. The choice is our own mechanised force, which is a cost and a risk, or we rid ourselves of the two drains upon our resources.” The aloof geckin explained, again, waving her hand in the air without her elbows leaving them table. 

“Drains?” Casper asked, unable to bite his tongue in time. The geckin finally turned her attention to the human. 

“With your contracts complete you will have no need to stay and we can invest in professionals that mind their business.” Replied the commander, obviously peeved at the pair of them. 

The geckin turned her attention back to Qik, despite only being a foot tall, Casper was near certain he saw the mental image of a tank turret, slowly traversing as the High Commander turned and stared at Qik. 

The lopel merely stared back. 

“Make no mistake, we are not pleased with your interference with Casper and his training.” She explained curtly. Qik shrugged and pulled a uncaring face. 

“I trained him how I would train any pilot, just as you’ve asked me to do for the last hundred you sent my way. He’s no different.” She defended calmly. Casper had no idea if that was true. Did she use all her trainees as body pillows? 

He kept this thought to himself.

“And yet he’s the first to demand his own contract?” The High Commander demanded.

“Ask him yourself.” Qik offered, gesturing at Casper to her left. The young man tried not to have a heart attack. 

“Well?” The High Commander inquired, staring a hole through the centre of Casper’s forehead. Casper swallowed and gathered his thoughts, not sure if he was ready to be put on the spot already. But the man had, had plenty of time to think and consider the matter. Clearing his throat, he offered his explanation, as honestly as he could. 

“I’m not geckin ma’am. I would assume your pilots are quite loyal to your people?” He asked slowly. 

“Every one of them.” She replied without hesitation. 

“I am grateful for your help, but I’m not geckin. There was no plan for me to stay long term. You got me dropped into your lap. This was just an accident, you couldn’t have expected me to stay?” Casper asked, trying to appeal to her common sense. A human to babysit wasn’t exactly a boon to anyone, let alone a government or private organisation that would apparently need to prove he was happy on a regular basis?

Casper wasn’t expecting the cold, sharp, humourless grin to spread across her face. 

“Hmph, quite the contrary. We fought for a sizable number of humans to be provided to the geckin territories.” She explained, almost off handedly. It hadn’t been what Casper had expected her to say in slightest. He frowned, outright confused. 

“What, why? You don’t know us.” He demanded. 

“Politics, as with everything.” She offered, waving her hand as she did. 

“So not the kindness of your heart then?”

That got a snort of derision from the small creature. She leant forward and interlaced her fingers, resting her snout beneath her fingers while staring Casper directly in the eye as she spoke next. 

Her words were low and intense. She believed every word she uttered with every fibre of her being. Casper was certain of that. 

“You are not an idiot so don’t be naive. No. The geckin people are under attack by the cowardly ssypno and their gluttonous nobility. All the while, their queen sits idly while our freedom is crushed within their coils.” The High Commander explained, baring her teeth as she spoke.

“Our very existance is up for debate amongst the high tri-table and we will not merely sit by while the next hunt begins.” She pulled her arms apart, one hand slapping against the table while the other pointed at Casper to emphasise her point. 

“Demanding our fair share to the human population that was being divided amongst the other races was a method of establishing our legitimacy to be sat at the table, as frustrating as it is to have to resort to such methods.” She explained, waving awake the unpleasant concept as if it bothered her like a fly.

Casper blinked, turning over this information in his head.

“Humans were… divided up amongst the other races?” He asked. 

“Yes. Humans have captured the hearts and minds of every race across the stars. The general populace of every sentient race demand we ‘save’ you.” The geckin snorted. “I will be blunt as there is no harm in being honest at this point.”

She paused, but Casper gave her every ounce of his attention. This was not knowledge that was available to him. He needed to hear this. The High Commander locked eyes with the human and spoke with conviction. 

“I do not care if your people die. But while you’re alive, you are the perfect tool for my people. A shield to aggression. No ssypno force, noble or royal, would *dare* attack a base, city or maybe even planet if there was a single human present.” The High Commander revealed, shocking Casper to his core. He felt his lips part, as if to retort, but no words came out. 

“You’re the perfect shield.” She pointed out as if the sky was blue and water was wet. 

Casper turned this concept over in his head as he considered this from every angle. He was staring at the wood grain of the table, but wasn’t seeing it. 

Until he made the connection, and looked back up at her. 

“But now I want off the planet.” He pointed out. 

“So we will lose control of you and lose your protection.” She finished. Almost smug in that Casper had to have had this information explained. She was not talking as if she was in a poor position. Why? What was giving her this confidence? 

“Why do I feel you have another card up your sleeve?” He asked. 

“An odd saying, but yes, my tail has yet to fall off.” She retorted. She paused, and allowed Casper a time to stay there, in his ignorance. Qik also said nothing, but was still avidly watching her. The lopel eyes intense and serious. 

Eventually, the geckin spoke again. 

“I wonder… How will the many bleeding hearts of the galaxy feel ‘if’ or rather, ‘when’, the ssypno forces fire on a human?” The geckin tilted her head.  “We will record and present every moment of your operation. Success or failure, we remove at least some of their forces from the board and weaken the ssypno’s desire to fight.”

The wicked grin returned as the High Commander leaned forward, pressing her fingertips and claws into the table, leaving curled wood at the end of new grooves in the priceless wood. 

“The ssypno people will see their nobility attacking their precious humans and revolt. That… is the value you hold.” The High Commander concluded, grinning and licking her absent lips. 

Casper had no retort, nothing he could say. He would be used regardless of his actions. Qik however, didn’t care. A job was a job and the sooner she and the human completed it, the sooner they could get to the other side the spiral. 

“Fascinating as it is, can we finalise the contracts?” Qik asked disinterestedly, suspending her hand in the air as if offering a solution. The High Commander affixed a ‘smile’ across her features while the rest of the geckins remained perfectly impassive. Casper didn’t like it immediately and the hairs on the back of his neck all slowly raised on end. 

The only exception to this and seemingly oblivious to the ongoing power players, was Zeet who immediately piped up and began to present his PDA, turning it briefly.

“Oh! Yes! I have some marvellous plans for you to-”

“Zeet. Shut.” The High Commander demanded. Zeet paused immediately, returning to his chair and hiding the screen from view. Qik narrowed her eyes, glancing from Zeet, back to the High Commander.

“Something you’re not telling us?” She asked, obviously sensing the same issue Casper was. The High Commander acted surprised and grinned again. 

“Oh no. You will deploy as you have done in the past with your equipment.” She offered. Qik outright frowned and her voice dropped an octave. 

“...What of Casper’s rig?” She demanded, deadly serious. 

“Casper doesn’t own a rig.” The High Commander offered, seemingly confused as to why Qik would ask. . 

“How do you expect him to fight?” The lopel asked, audibly speaking through clenched teeth.

“I suppose we could…  supply a firearm, for free.” The purple and black striped geckin offered pleasantly, as if that was reasonable or acceptable. 

Qik was on her feet in an instant, hands on the table, looming over the geckins as best she could.

“This will be a breach of contract, under the ‘unreasonable’ clauses!” She announced, pointing down at the table and punctuating her words. Casper merely sat back and let her work. The geckin merely shrugged, unphased by the lopel’s display. 

“We would contest any claim, but we… being reasonable, are willing to offer an amendment to Casper’s contract.” The High Commander offered, leaning back and spreading her hands and arms out, as if a benevolent trader.

The room went still and the temperature dropped. 

“What kind?” Qik asked in a calm, steady voice. Too calm. Too steady. She was on edge.

“We will provide a mech of high quality, free of charge until the completion of the operation and contract.” The geckin offered calmly. Everyone waited for the other shoe to drop. 

“What for?” Casper asked. Qik glanced in his direction, but otherwise kept her eyes on the geckin, who was now pointedly ignoring the lopel.

“Hmmm, you’re certainly not a simple feral creature like some suggest. There will be a clause that is in our favour.” She admitted. 

“What is it?” He asked. The High Commander leaned back and glanced to her left, Casper and Qik’s right. To Wren. The biologist who had been caring for Casper since the beginning. She hadn’t done a great job, but the young man couldn’t fault her attempts to ensure he was okay.

Wren spoke calmly in a practised manner. She seemed to recite her words from memory, rather than form them on the fly.

“In the event of the need to eject the pilot casket, the operation is declared over and the loaned mech and all its contents and components are the property of the XixTech organisation.” The green geckin concluded before sitting back down and going silent. She too, adopted a haughty expression, lifting her muzzle slightly and staring Casper down somewhat. 

It honestly didn’t seem like much of an issue. It wasn’t his mech, he’d get his own rig later. Casper breathed in to dismiss and accept the terms, he had no want to take their property, but stopped when Qik’s hand grabbed his thigh. 

He glanced over to her as she spoke without breaking eye contact with the High Commander.

“All components?” The lopel demanded.

“Quite.” A nod. 

“No deal.”

Casper blinked, turning to Qik. 

“What? I can’t fight on foot! I need that rig.” He demanded, thinking about fighting tanks on foot with a single rifle! Qik or no, he’d more likely fall and blow his own head off than destroy a damned tank!

Qik’s expression when she turned to him gave him pause however. Without waiting, she spoke and explained in a slow, clam voice. Devoid of emotion. 

“Casper, the pilot in the casket, is included in this.” 

Wait.

“If you need to eject, then XixTech will, literally, own you.” Qik concluded. 

Wren cleared her through before speaking as everyone turned to her. 

“More specifically, as their representative; I will own you.”

Casper frowned, seeing the green doctor in a new light. 

“Why?” He asked, confused as to why she’d go this route. If she had asked for anything, he’d likely have just given it to her. She needn’t of gone this way. 

“Ignoring that I don’t need to answer that, we can learn more from you.” She began, coolly. “From your connection to the machine to how you handle the load. I hasten to add, it need not be a bad life, you could work *with* me in researching this.”

Casper said nothing, she continued.

“Or I could put your brain in a jar and ask you questions where you are devoid of distractions like light or sound. I would reward cooperation with stimulation. Otherwise it would be a perfect void for you.”

The green geckin shrugged. 

“Either way works for me.”

The lopel stood and swiped her hand through the air, dismissing the whole geckin side. 

“No deal. My company is on their way, they will have several things to say about this coercion.” She warned before turning and breathing in to speak with Casper, but was cut off by the High Commander.

“So be it, but you’re not being asked here.” The purple and black geckin turned to the human and pointedly asked; “Casper? Your choice. Freedom, with the chance of failure, or stay here as our permanent resident. We will offer you opportunities to pilot mechs, albeit under our direct control.”

The High Commander turned back to the lopal, although still spoke to Casper. 

“We have learnt from our mistakes with our dear Qik here.”

Qik raised her hand, her fingers splayed and brought her palm down in a vertical swipe, holding it in place as if to highlight her words. 

“Casper, don’t. There's another way.”

The young man doubted it. The geckins were too sure, the contracts seemed too tight. 

“Is there?” He asked. 

“The company has lawyers, these idiots aren’t the first to try and strong arm a deal.” She offered. The geckin High Commander retorted again, with an almost gleeful tone.

“No, but we are the first with a human. We checked, your laws are fantastically logical and detailed. It even lists the species… unfortunate ‘human’ is not included.” The finished with a sharp grin.

“They’ve got us cornered.” Casper pointed out.

“No, theres another way.” Qik said, her eyes almost frantic as she mentally searched for an out, finding none. 

“Qik.”

“No, just… give me a sec.”

“Qik do you trust in your training?” Casper asked quietly. 

“What?” The lopel asked, glancing up at him. He was still sat in his chair as she stood over him. Her fur was beautiful and shiny. He didn’t want to cause her distress, but there wasnt a way out here.

“Do you trust in what you’ve taught me? Could I survive in a fight?” He asked pointedly. 

Qik said nothing, searching his face for something. He smiled and shook his head.

“I’m not trying to trick you. Just honesty.” He pressed. 

She grimaced and wore a tight smile. 

“I’ve taught you all I can. Everything else comes from experience.” She explained, her shoulders sagging. 

“Like fighting technicals?” He suggested. Qik frowned, then turned to the gathered board of geckins. 

“If… Is it just technicals? By requirements, you need to tell me your intel now.”

One of the side geckins spoke, reviewing a datapad. 

“Only scuttle tanks and stationary emplacements. We need those emplacements destroyed, but we do offer bonuses for every additional unit destroyed. The bigger the better.” He offered. His lighter tone a stark difference to the hard tones of the others. 

“No enemy pilots?” Qik checked. 

“The ssypno are still scrambling after you took out the former ace.” The High Commander offered. Qik turned back to Casper and sighed. 

“I think… You got a good chance.”

Casper merely nodded then turned in his seat to directly address the High Commander.

“I’ll accept the contract if you give me a fighting chance. Give me a good mech and I’ll agree.”

“Deal.”

[r/WolvensStories]

[Ko-Fi]

#conservationverse #cuddleverse #human #hfy #haso #humans are space orcs #furry #human x furry #rabbit #lopeljack

[saberswordseabass]

A Hidden Danger; Know your threat (3.5)

Soldiers began to bolt down a dark metal grated floor. The sturdy, metallic walls creak from a minor gravity difference. One of the soldiers shouted something unintelligible to the recording unit. The wall to their right begins to creak louder and warp from stress.

Blast doors begin to lower, trapping the two soldiers in the corridor as the wall bulges like it was hit by a freight train. The soldiers begin to obviously shake as they lower their helmets over their elongated fox like faces. They raise their laser rifles and steady it at the wall bulging.

After another moment, the wall explodes inward, but no explosive decompression followed. A bulky fox robot with stark white, like star-bleached armor, forced its way through. Lasers streak and sizz in the air as the soldiers begin to pelt the robot.

It seemed unfazed by the lasers, only focusing on them when one managed to shoot it in the optic sensor. The graviton ram of its right arm, hissed as it prepared to operate once again, while it raised its left arm, its fingers arcing with a green energy. The bot begins to march towards them intently.

The graviton ram began to glow with a green field as it launched forward with a wet squelch from the soldiers before the video seems to freeze as the recording device manages to show a soldier in horrible mixture of fused into the wall and crushed under a powerful gravitational force.

"So what are you thinking for lunch? I really want to try this Philly cheesesteak that the captive mentioned." A Ursidain spoke, gently scratching their belly as their unruly clothes suggested pirates.

"Eh, doesn't sound awful. You might have t-" The Taurian companion began to state before a warning light began to flash rapidly.

A warning began to echo from the P.A. system; "Prepare to be boarded! Don't recognize the ship, but it is probably the human savior team from the GC. Give them hell!" The P.A. warned as a few moments later, the ship violently shuttered as the boarding vessel rammed them.

The two pirates were caught off guard and had been knocked into the left side wall. "What the hell is wrong with them? Are they insane?!" The Taurian screamed as they grabbed their weapon. Right as they finish that thought, the wall to their right melts like butter. An intimated robot in height, having to lean down to fight in the hallway designed for Ursidains.

"Command: Give up human now, and your lives may be spared." The bot ordered as its stark white armored glistened in the dull, flickering florescent light. It held two massive clamp hands, like originally designed to carry around the cargo pods, but they were paired with some kind of unknown weapon, but the armored canister attached to it suggested a flame based weapon.

The pirates look at each other as the bot stares unmoving at the two, waiting for a reply. The Ursidain nodded to his Taurian companion before unslinging an old earth shotgun and firing a shot into the bot's ribcage area. "Eat ferrus insect!" The Ursidain roared as the bot stumbled back, its inner working exposed from the 'insect'.

"Hostile action has been taken." The bot spoke as its wide footing managed to stabilize. The bot's orange, almost yellow eyes, begun to rapidly shift color to a cool, icy blue. Its arms raise out, and frost began to coat its flamethrower like barrels. An icy stream connects with both organics. The Ursidain looks relatively unharmed but still affected by the flash freezing of his outer layer of fur and fat. His Taurian companion was not as lucky as half of her right side crystallized from the ice-thrower's very napalm; 'Neptunic Nictro'

The Ursidain rushes to close the gap, firing two more shots into the bot, which finally knocks the bot down onto its back. With another shot to it's fox like head makes the machine go limp.

From this device's recording, the screen begins to get hit with many white particulars, giving the recording a grainy resolution. A much smaller bot began to step through the hole left by its bigger cousin. Their rifle, which was glowing blue from an unknown source. Upon readying the gun at the Ursidain, who noticed it too late, the camera grows more grainy. The camera cuts out as the Ursidain attempts to rush the smaller bot, and a split frame of a blue pulse wave echos from its gun.

A deep-seated anger began to fill room, as all recording on each screen paused at a gruesome death. A dull grey fur inquistor sat at a desk in front of the screens. "I've spent 70 years making sure Octarus does not awaken. It is a massive threat to not just us, but all of the GC, if allowed, to get fully operational... again." Gloved hands gently rub the inquistor's face. "And if word gets out that we are the cause, that could cause an end to us, not just as an empire but also a species if what the GC did to the majority of humanity is to be noted."

"Get me on the line with Quilx." The old inquistor spoke to his help, who rushes off, only to return a moment later. "What's wrong?" The older inquistor asks as a worried frown fills his graying brow.

"Sir, Quilx has made a ground expedition to the planet where he believes Octarus' forces have been coming from." That made the old inquistor shoot up, only to grip his chest with a pained expersion. His body was old and failing as he was reaching a century in his Inquisitoral duties.

The help rushed to him before he shooed them away with another pained grunt. "Quilx will die if he steps foot on that planet! Warn him immediately to change his course of operations." The old inquistor gasped as his body forced him back down onto his padded chair.

"Maker, why?" The old inquistor gasped quietly to himself as he stared into space with horror of first-hand experience.

Decided to try another approach to this. I hope you enjoyed it! C&C is very much welcome and appreciated! Again, thank @wolven91 for creating this amazing universe to allow me to create this weird word soup :>

#conservationverse #cuddleverse #hfy #humans are space orcs

[aulosiannn]

May start writing up a few stuff that involves the conservationverse some time sooon.

Nothing crazy, I think, just a bit of writing that I'll do on my own time.

It'll be funn and maybe a bit heavy. It'll explore an idea for the verse I have. (Btw, I'll look through the docs to keep it as closely official as possible, but tbh, Im horribly inaccurate at times, so rip)

It'll explore the lost of like culture, music and history; Some time had passed since the incident of Sol-3/Earth (still recent) as Cale Walt who was on his way back gets a revelation of a problem on what he lost more than just his home.

But yee, the idea is to explore that to the best of my abilities and while I can't promise the smoothest or best or expressive writing, it will be fun for me lol.

Tbh, Idk how much more I'll write (aka stories other than Cale) but it will def be that one.

Anyways, thats it, have a good day

[wolven91]

Drifting - Part 11

“I am not one for politics. They make my scales itch.” Bemoaned Zeet as he walked ahead of Qik and Casper. His mobile platform moved and wandered without input from him as he stood upon it, grimacing at the two larger creatures. They had just left the boardroom where Casper had potentially just signed his body away if this went wrong. 

“I would have thought we would have got more usable data from you by informing you and letting you just *work* with us.” The blue geckin continued, musing out aloud. Casper couldn’t help but grin widely, pleased by the geckin’s seemingly honest distaste for the situation. 

Zeet was an engineer. A nerd. A geek, through and through. He cared about the machines he designed and made. The plots and schemes of others mattered little to him as long as they didn’t cross his wants and desires to improve on his designs. The geckin made an odd croaking throat noise. Casper spoke up.

“Let them work themselves into an early shed then, me and you are going to make a mech that’ll go down in history.” The young man offered, hoping to caress the geckin’s ego.

Qik grinned as well as he did when he blatantly hit his mark perfectly. 

“You think?! Oh! Oh ho ho ho! Just think! First ‘no drift’ pilot in one of *my* machines making headlines. But we need you to succeed. Fame goes both ways, ah?” Zeet pointed out, before adopting a focused look, crossing his arms and touching a finger to his mouth. The two far larger creatures shared a glance as both of them felt themselves disappear to the geckin’s perspective. 

“You’ll need survivability…” Zeet mumbled to him. “Heavy is always best for survivability, but it means taking the hits. Your agility shouldn’t be slept on. Light is just as good, if you don’t get hit.” The geckin snapped his head around to Casper.

“You stopped getting hit all the time?” The tiny creature demanded.

“What do you mean ‘all the time’? She got me *once*!” Casper shot back, thrusting a thumb sideways at Qik who remained silent, although her strut became more pronounced as they discussed her ‘perfect’ kill shot.

Zeet merely grinned at Casper and he was reminded that a grin from a geckin was *not* the same as a human grinning. Zeet was admonishing the human, not sharing in a joke.

“Once was enough. If we capitalise on your speed, you will be light, but weak; you will not survive errant hits! Anything above superficial damage could disable your points or even your whole rig if it’s a bad hit!” The geckin hissed. 

“I was showboating.” Admitted Casper. “I let my guard down. My fault. I won’t jeopardise your work again.” The human spoke seriously and with respect at the older engineer who squinted at him as the walking platform approached a door that slid aside without hesitation. The geckin waved a hand, dismissing the thought, seemingly satisfied with Casper’s devoted tone.

The group entered a room that was quite obviously Zeet’s workshop. Ignoring that it looked down on a hanger bay with a skeleton of a rig hanging in the centre, as Casper looked around the room, he learnt of Zeet’s personality. Messy, but devoted.

Mech and rig designs covered an entire wall which was dominated as a workboard. Pens, stylises and measuring tools were scattered everywhere. A large 3D printer squatted in one corner and was covered in tiny, intricate models of various shapes and sizes. Some were of arms and legs of disembodied mechs, and others were tiny replicas of the whole thing.

“Huh… I think you’d get along with some of us humans.” Casper mentioned, crouching to observe the intricate details of one particular model. It was beautifully designed all the way down to sleek lines showing where the various bolts would connect armour plates together.

“After yourself, I would very much like to meet more humans. I suspect if I could get my claws into one that had a history in mech design, fictional or not, we might share ideas…” Zeet offered before clapping his hands and holding them out in front of him, pointing his claws at Casper, drawing attention to himself.

“*But!* We need to design you a machine that will put us both in the history books and… *Not* leave you at the hands of the XixTech corpo-nation.” Declared Zeet, Casper nodding along until his brain caught up to the sentence.

“Wait… ‘Corpo-Nation’?” He asked, standing up again.

“Mm, they represent the eastern continental landmass on Bok. Our homeworld. They are their government representatives.” Explained Zeet matter-of-factly. Casper merely blinked, once again reminded this was not kansas. 

“Jesus… Yeah, let's not get dropped into that mess.” The young man agreed, already feeling his head spin. Qik settled herself, leaning against a wall, arms crossed as was her usual stance. Casper sat against the window frame with his back to the hanger below.

“So!” Zeet began. “Torso, Head, Arms, Legs and a Spinal mount. These are your rig’s modifiable options.” Zeet explained, turning to open a large cabinet where he produced three glasses. One tiny, the other two perfectly sized for Casper and Qik. The human glanced at the bottle of dark liquid, then to Qik who touched a long finger against her lips. She didn’t want him to ruin this. 

Zeet poured three healthy portions before taking a sip and giving a satisfied sigh, then continuing. 

“I already know what I’m doing for your chest, you don’t get a vote there.” He explained, swiping his hand through the air. Qik cleared her throat as she leaned in to pick up a spare glass.

“What’s your idea?” She asked calmly, seemingly trusting his good sense. 

“Maximum output. Heavier as an option, more so than an ultralight, but I think the way he modifies his output, it’ll be worth it.” Zeet explained, swirling the glass.

“I modify my output? What do you mean?” Casper asked, frowning somewhat. This apparently was an odd question. 

“Wha- My boy… You… It’s not a conscious decision? To pulse your power generation?” Zeet asked, seemingly very confused. Casper pulled a face and shrugged before reaching over and picking up the third and final glass. Taking a sip, it was like paint stripper with a smokey burn afterwards.

“Your power generation is not efficient, or it shouldn’t be! Your reactors ‘pulse’ instead of giving out a steady or constant amount. We thought it was a fault at first until the second and third time it happened. Every rig you hop in, it pulses.” Zeet explained shrugging his arms in defeated confusion, nearly, but not quite spilling his drink.

“Is it dangerous?” Qik asked, narrowing her eyes, but sipping at her own glass, it looked comically small in her hands. Zeet shook his head, sipping at his drink, a tiny red tongue dabbing at the murky liquid. 

“I don’t think so, although it was far, far faster when you took that hit.” The geckin conceded, pointing a finger over the rim of his glass. 

“Was it like a heartbeat?” Asked Casper, following a hunch. Zeet shook his head again, the corners of his mouth pulling up as if Casper had asked the same question as him.

“No. We thought so too, but it was too slow.” The geckin dismissed, looking into his glass with a contemplative frown. Unconvinced, Casper waited a second, considering what it could have been before getting an idea. Without speaking, Casper knocked his knuckles against the wall he was leaning on. Thump thump. Pause. Thump thump. Pause. The reaction was immediate, the engineer's feet jumping up in unison and briefly leaving the walking platform he stood upon as he pointed and did briefly spill his drink this time. . 

“Yes! That! That’s it! Two pulses and a pause. We racked our brains trying to figure that out!”

Casper merely smiled knowingly, closing his eyes and opening them again before speaking, pleased to have an answer for the older geckin.

“That’s *my* heartbeat Zeet.” Tapping his chest with his glass. ”Bigger heart, slower rhythm.” The young man explained. The tiny geckin stood there, motionless for a time. Before closing his eyes and placing his own drink down on the table.

“Your heartbeat. *Your*! Heartbeat. Argh! Rocks in my brain! Terminal rocks!” Zeet exclaimed, causing both Casper and Qik to grin as an apparent mystery was solved for him. The poor geek looked genuinely annoyed as he glared at the ceiling.

“So it’s not an issue?” Asked Qik.

“Huh! Hardly. It means he doesn’t run hot, but has access to power when he needs it. Works well with the rest of my plans.”

“Go on, you’ve ideas, I’m listening.” Casper said, grimacing as he slugged another mouthful of the drink down. It seemed to burn less with the third gulp. 

“Chest we go for power. Your spine mount, I suggest an advanced booster. It does mean you’re more vulnerable. One hit to your back and you’ve lost your main defence; not being where they fired at.” The geckin suggested, shrugging with the admission. 

“I mean if we’re engaging at range, I can move out of the way of the rounds, right?” Casper offered, looking to Qik for confirmation. She pulled a face and shook her head, her ears flopping with the movement. 

“Two problems with that; unreliable reactions and no one uses slug rounds anymore.” She explained. Casper frowned, specifically remembering a fairly solid round tearing through his chest not less than 24 hours ago. 

“What do you mean? The geckins do?” He pointed out, rudely pointing at Zeet who could care less as he tilted his head back, finishing off his own glass. He spoke next, pulling Casper’s attention. 

“We’re an exception, not a rule. The ursidains also use solid projectiles, but only when they’re firing a heavy hitter. Energy weapons are the name of the game these days. Most see solid projectiles as ‘old’, in the sense of ‘museum piece’ old.” Zeet offered honestly. 

Casper thought that was strange, solid projectiles were reliable, but this wasn’t his world. This was a galaxy in a vastly different period of their history than Earth was. He shook his head to clear his mind. 

“Okay fine, keep mobile. What about arms and legs? What about weapons?” He pressed, almost looking forward to hearing what toys Zeet was offering. 

“Legs wise, again, I’d go for speed. Extra vents for additional jet exhausts. Rather than running, you’ll end up ‘skating’ around the enemy. Good luck keeping up with you. You’ll need it too.” Zeet offered.

“Are the enemies quick?” Casper asked. 

“Fairly. Spider-Technicals.” Qik responded. 

“What are they?”

“Heavy armour, focused laser beam for their main cannon. Prolonged targeting will thermal shock the armour that gets hit, burrowing through whatever it's shooting at. The tanks are mobile, capable of keeping line of sight on their target and climbing up and around buildings to do so. The intention is to have a small army of them and they just overwhelm any target that approaches.” The lopel explained, polishing off her own glass and gesturing with her hands, as if she were spreading a model army out in front of her.

“So keep circling them?” Casper suggested.

“And they’ll have to track you. We keep you light and mobile, they focus on you…” Qik went on, trailing off to allow Casper to finish the thought. 

“...And you take them out while their back is turned.” The young man concluded, nodding at the idea. He could be bait, he didn’t even have to fight. Just wave his arms in the air and keep their attention. 

“He’s a fast learner.” Zeet pointed out, nodding to Casper but looking to Qik. She merely grinned and returned to her ‘arms crossed’ posture, smugness radiating off her.

“Thanks to his teacher.” 

Zeet was less than sure. 

“Mm. Sure.” He blinked slowly and turned his head back to the huma before opening them again. “Arms wise, we have options.“

“I did consider a plasma thrower, but it's heavy and drains a lot of power during charge up. Good against another mech, less so for tanks. We have similar options like sniper beams, but same thing. Line of sight and you’d need to be still.”

“So what would you suggest?”

“If we are going with this plan, we should actually keep you lightly armed. How do you feel about a solid sword?”

“Solid? But what about my lightsaber!”

“No, too draining. If we’re keeping you as fast as we intend, we need you using 100% of your reactor’s output. A solid sword, atomised edge, you’ll still be dangerous. Lightweight metal, no drain on your resources, there's no downsides besides no range. But that's not an issue this time.”

“Atomised edge?” Casper asked, just checking for clarification. Zeet nodded and hastened to explain before moving on. 

“An edge a few atoms thick. Blunts faster, but realistically, this is a blitz, you’re not going to be out there long enough to need to worry about that.”

“What could I cut through?”

“Anything with enough force behind your swing. Do *not* touch the edge with any part of yourself.” The geckin demanded with a serious tone and an accusing finger. Casper held his hands up in mock surrender. 

“Yes sir.”

Zeet merely nodded. Qik remained quietly thinking as she scratched her own chin.

“So, speed, speed, speed?” Casper summarised.

“Quite so. Qik, I trust you will just select your weapons as normal?” Zeet asked, turning to the lopel as he sat himself in a chair. The merc merely nodded and lay her palm up as if presenting her idea.

“I’m going for a swarm missile rig. If it’s just technicals, I don’t need anything else.” She explained with a carless shrug. 

“Swarm missile?” Casper prodded. 

“Line of sight lock on, you fire the swarm and they fire up into the air before raining down on the tanks. Doesn’t matter if they’re crawling on or around buildings. They’ll punch through their armour. The downside is I need to see them to lock on, which sucks when LOS works both ways.” Qik went on, but then leaned forward to emphasize her words. . 

“Buuut…” She drawled. 

“But if they’re looking at me, that doesn’t matter.” Casper replied, grinning back at the lopel. She held his gaze a moment longer than needed before straightening and giving him her approval. 

“Attaboy.”

Casper considered his options, and turned back to Zeet. 

“So a sword? Nothing else?” He asked. 

Zeet, his hands on his head, turned the chair to face the larger human. 

“Did you have something else in mind?”

[r/WolvensStories]

[Ko-Fi]

#conservationverse #human #cuddleverse #hfy #haso #humans are space orcs #furry #human x furry #rabbit #lopeljack

[wolven91]

The Eyes Are On The Front

Wesk snarled as he dabbed at the openly bleeding wound across his forehead. The shrapnel had obviously done damage to his face and eye. No matter what he did, the canid just couldn't see out of it.

At least he'd retrieved the human from the slaver camp. This was meant to have been a silent break in, snatch and run. So much for that plan...

Wesk had cased the tiny outpost for several days. All their comings and goings. Knowing where the guards were, how they patrolled, which ones took their job seriously and which ones liked to sit on the hidden chair behind the depleted uranium rod holders.

Chained avians, damaged chintians by the crate load. All more than enough evidence with recordings to count as a payday per head for each slaver Wesk removed with his high powered rifle.

It was only when the human appeared through Wesk's scope that his plans had changed so suddenly. The canid recalled blinking several times just to confirm the bounty hunter was indeed, seeing, what he was seeing.

Gone from merely picking them off one by one, now there was a hostage to rescue. One that Wesk had successfully pulled off, if not messily.

The human, a grubby but still feisty thing, was glancing around the den that Wesk had been using as a base. It was embedded into the side of the cliff that overlooked the outpost nestled and hidden in the valley.

Wesk held what amounted to a medical stapler to his forehead and pinched the flesh closed.

"They're coming..." The human quietly warned.

Wesk dropped the stapler and nearly bowled the tiny creature over as he tried to focus through his scope.

But he couldn't see through it. Aberrations in his vision caused it to swim and blind him to the magnified images of his scope.

"Dammit, I can't see! We jave to run." Wesk decoded and span away from the rifle to quickly grab his bug out bag.

The crack of gunfire caused the canid to throw himself down onto all fours and spin round, fully expecting to launch himself at a threat.

Only it was the human that had shouldered the deployed rifle and was now peering through its scope with her finger on the trigger.

It was far too large for her and was not calibrated for one if her kind!

"Hey! You're giving away our pos-"

"One down."

The canid blinked as he watched the human breathe out and squeeze the trigger again. The whole device lurched into her shoulder which took the blow.

"Second down."

"But you need... you need a predator's eyes for that. You're a.."

"Eyes on the front mate. My eyes are on the front."

#conservationverse #cuddleverse #human #hfy #haso #humans are space orcs

[wolven91]

Inventors

When humanity joined the rest of the races amongst the stars, it was a cause of celebration across the stars as they paraded the humans through the GC ring world, regardless of the gaunt and tired faces that the ticker tape and confetti fell upon.

The celebration was confirmation that there was yet more to the universe to see! The melancholy that had plagued the races for two hundred years was over! There was yet more life in the galaxy! What humanity learnt in the coming weeks and months, was the reason *why* humanity being found and brought into the fold was so important.

It was because the wider galaxy; had stagnated.

No new ideas were being made. No new technology besides mild improvements of what had already been there. No new fashion, just old things recycled again and again. Not even concepts that were commonplace and obvious to humanity had been even thought about by the wider GC. It was so bad, for so long, there was a statement that confused most humans when they heard it. The galaxy was so stagnant, that not even so much as a new recipe had been discovered in over a hundred years.

So, when humanity appeared, most of the races didn't even *think* of asking them whether they had any new ideas they wanted to share with the galaxy, they assumed that the races had not only thought of everything, but that humanity couldn't have possibly discovered new things on their own.

In the end, it was little things that were slowly added to the combined technology of the Galactic Community.

An 'umbrella' was created on a planet that only ever had rain. A blanket with sleeves in was invented for a long-haul transport trip.

'Unique' and 'inspired'.

So obvious most of the races from the stars merely blinked and wondered how they could have possibly missed such marvellous and simple ideas.

Humanity! The little inventors that *could*!

It was brilliant PR for the little race to buck off the sombre knowledge they were nearly extinct to add their own work into the tapestry of the GC. The heads of state even gave a small speech of how, regardless of whether in a hundred years humanity was still with the GC, their little contributions would mean they were remembered forever!

The console screen snapped off and the remote thrown across the room, hitting a cushion with a solid 'thud'.

"Fucking twats." Growled the human, still glaring at the now blank screen, fuming.

A canid's head popped around the doorframe at the outburst with his ears perked and eyes attentive. The human was facing away, but the tense shoulders and anger in Ted's voice told Kiv that the human needed him. The scent was acidic and figuratively burnt the back of Kiv's snout.

"You okay Teddy?" Asked the canid, quickly washing his hands and running them down the messy grey fur of his thighs to dry them. Padding into the room, the human now had his hands on his hips but was staring at the blank console screen mounted on the wall. From Kiv's perspective, he was like an ursidain; a living mountain. The tight green shirt running along and highlighting the corded muscles of his back, neck and shoulders.

"Teddy?" Asked the canid again, gently. He stepped around the oversized sofa and tapped the tips of two of his claws together, holding his hands in front of his chest as a nervous tick. Kiv was a nervous soul and despite doing nothing to earn the ire of the human, there was still a part of the canid that blamed himself for anything negative in the world around him.

The human turned to face Kiv and the mostly fleshy face broke into a tired smile, easing Kiv's fears.

Kiv was not your average canid. He was an outlier by a large margin. As a canid, he was considered 'disabled' despite being perfectly capable to exist in society without the need for help. But Kiv wasn't considered 'capable' in his own species' eyes.

Kiv was a runt. Incapable of serving the military or even private security in any capacity.

At barely 5'5, the canid had to look up at the 6'3 human who dwarfed him in all ways. Kiv practically had to bend his back and crane his neck just to look his fellow canids in the eyes, saying that they could reach up to 10 feet in height. The human blinked and sighed through his nose before speaking. 

"Sorry Kiv, I got... annoyed at the TV." Replied the human, gesturing with a limp arm and allowing the tension that was in his broad shoulders to melt away with another sigh. The human merely turned to the canid and wrapped his arms around the short, furry alien. Kiv closed his eyes and rumbled into the nap of Teddy's neck, relishing the thick broad arms of the human, holding him in place. The human, without issue of effort, lifted the wiry canid from the floor and flopped down onto the sofa. It had been built for the titan-esque ursidains in mind; the furniture barely noticed both the human and the tiny canid.

Relaxing into Ted's hug, Kiv didn't know what a 'TV' was but could guess that it was the news that had annoyed Ted. It usually was.

"What were they saying?" Kiv asked quietly after a moment of them both laying there.

"Congratulating us poor, helpless humans and how we're doing *super* and that if we die out, that's okay; we invented stuff." Ted replied with a gruff, annoyed tone. It still made Kiv nervous. The mere tone was enough to set him on edge despite Teddy never *once* raising his voice in anger for frustration at the canid.

Kiv's ears laid flat as he gazed up at his human longingly. Kiv never believed he could be a real canid before meeting Ted. Canids each had an instinctual drive to protect and defend others. It mostly meant one's pack, but when Kiv simply wasn't included in a pack, all he wanted was someone who could rely on him, despite being a runt.

Then he had bumped into the mountain of a creature that was Theodore. Ted or 'Teddy' for short. Kiv liked how only *he* was allowed to call the human 'Teddy'. The human had mistaken Kiv for a cub at first, which the canid couldn't blame the human for. But after that crash introduction, the pair of them had become close friends. Kiv had shown the human around the station in a manner not approved of by the administration and the human had met an equal, one that didn't treat him like a lesser being. Kiv had to admit that he had fallen for the human almost instantly in the beginning...

Moving in together had been pragmatic. Sharing each other's bed was merely the natural progression of things, much to the canid's absolute joy. He had never dreamt that he could have had such a wonderful life when he was growing up.

Kiv gently licked the underside of Teddy's chin, pulling the hulking figure out of his thoughts again.

"You don't need their approval. Since when have you needed anyone's?" Asked the canid carefully, pointing out the truth. The human grinned and planted his soft lips against Kiv's leathery nose once. Kiv licked it as a habitual response.

"You are the only one that matters to me. Just annoyed. I feel called out." Replied the human, merely articulating his feelings for the alien.

"Don't! You're a brilliant inventor! Your invention is going to change the stars! Every canid from here to Anul-6 is going to want one! Even if you only sold them for a single credit; you're never going to have to work another day in your life! We could-"

But Kiv stopped himself and laid his muzzle flat against the human's chest, preventing him from spiralling and talking too fast and too much. He had a habit of getting excited then speaking so much that people found it annoying. Kiv didn't want to annoy Teddy...

"Hey! Hey, hey hey..." The human coaxed, aware that the canid was once again silencing himself. The human used his arms to hug and squeeze the canid to get his attention. Ted was aware that Kiv was used to being shut down by others, merely because his opinion was worthless to them thanks to his size. "What was it? 'We could' what?" The human asked calmly.

"You'll laugh." Accused Kiv, nervous and feeling vulnerable.

"Never at you darling. *Never* at you. What could we do if this works?" Promised the human, using his finger and thumb to being the canid's head up and catch his gaze, holding it; silently promising nothing but respect and love.

"We could... get a little plot of land..." Whispered Kiv in a tiny voice.

"Oh? That would be nice... Whereabouts?" Whispered Ted right back.

"...I always liked the looks of the ursidain forestry worlds... They sell little parcels... I... um... That was my dream. To earn enough to buy one..." Mumbled the canid directly into the chest of the human, the insides of his ears turning a bright pinkie red, that had the human grinning from ear to ear.

"Alright then. That's the goal." Ted said with a firm tone and a curt nod.

Kiv's head snapped right back up, nearly clocking the human under the chin with the canid's skull.

"But what about you?" The furry, wolf-like alien demanded.

Teddy snorted.

"Like I had a 'plan'. Until you came along, I didn't have anything, or anyone left to make plans *with*. At least now..." He touched his nose to the canid's muzzle again. Kiv licked again. "I have someone to dote on."

The pair laid there for a time on the sofa, merely enjoying each other with their eyes closed. Eventually Ted sighed and with a single hand, reached out to the coffee table where one of his prototypes laid there. Grasping it, he held it up in one hand and turned it over.

'This is so stupid' Ted thought to himself, only to have Kiv, seemingly read his mind and pipe up.

"They're brilliant you know. I mean it."

"You really think they'll be popular?" The human gave it a squeeze and physically felt the response from Kiv as he laid on the human. The rubberised material deformed in the human's grip and forced the air out of the hollow insides through a squeaker. The high pitch squeal gave one note, then drawled another as air flooded back in once Ted had relaxed his grip.

His eyes flicked to the canid, who despite living with these things now for a few weeks, was still; completely and utter enraptured by the object. His eyes and ears were locked on and as Ted held the toy still, raised above the canid, Kiv could help but lick his chops and begin to shake in anticipation.

Ted broke out into laughed and scooped the canid up into a hug and rolled the alien against the back of the couch as he began peppering the smaller creature with kisses, his foul mood; long forgotten.

[r/WolvensStories]

[Ko-Fi]

#conservationverse #cuddleverse #human #hfy #haso #humans are space orcs #furry #human x furry #werewolf #canid

[wolven91]

It's Cold Outside

Space isn't as cold as one expects.

Oh sure, in the shadow of something; it's freezing, but exposed to a star and no way to naturally dissipate the heat? It gets hot quickly. Having a robust method of cooling one's ship is vital, otherwise the crew would cook within hours. One's ability to cool one's systems is the deciding factor of how much a ship can do in most situations. Problem arise though when that system goes on the fritz and doesn't stop cooling.

On its own, Neil wouldn't have really had an issue. Maybe put on an extra jacket or hoodie? Sure, it was cool, but it wasn't cold. Unfortunately, Yil'ro was a ssypno and cold blooded.

She wasn't cruel, evil, or mean. She was not cold blooded in that sense, but more literally; she made very little of her own heat and without enough heat, she would slow down, become sluggish and eventually fall into a coma. The ship wasn't huge, it was enough for a grand total of eleven crew members. Yil'ro was missed when she didn't appear at breakfast.

When the human had gone to check on her in her, comparatively to her size, tiny quarters, he'd keyed the door open to find her trying desperately to warm up. Blankets covered her and several instant hot food snacks resting against her gently steaming into the air-conditioned room.

"It's... Not... not enough..." She explained haltingly. Coiling herself into a tight knot, causing the hot-pots to wobble. 

Neils, unafraid of the blue Titanoboa, stepped up and placed a hand on the nearest loop of her tail in a show of care and solidarity.

"Is there anything I can do? I can bring more blankets?" The man suggested, genuinely concerned for his friend of the last three months. However, she reacted to his touch, pushing into his palm.

"By the storm snake's blessing, your hands are like a fire..." She murmured, seemingly not hearing him.

Emboldened, the man rubbed his palms together quickly and placed both back onto the coil, which surged up again and into his hands. Neil had always delighted in the deep blue scales of Yil'ro, they were so dark that without light they looked almost black. Currently they shimmered and moulded under his touch. 

"Is this helping?"

"Yes!"

"Should I get everyone else?"

"It doesn't work like this with t-them. Too much fur. Feels cold."

The skin. Humans were alone in the universe with regards to how little they had to cover them. A bit of hair, here and there, but nothing even close to the full head to tail covering of pelt that most of the other races had. Skin on scale transferred heat with such efficiency, that it had been reported that humans who touched the draconians, geckins or the ssypno; felt heavenly.

Neils frowned as he tried to think of a solution, before his mind offered him one.

There was a second of debate, but all it took was to see Yil'ro's miserable face, pulled tight against her coils to make the decision for him.

The man put his weight onto the coil in front of him and vaulted it, swinging a leg up and over it. The size of a ssypno can not be understated. They regularly reached forty to forty-five feet in length with the potential to get much, much bigger. Even with his leg thrown over one of her smaller coils, his toes barely touched the floor.

"Ooh.. What-? Neil?!" Yil'ro started, apparently opening her eyes to see what had just briefly provided two legs' worth of heat across one section of her tail. "What are you... you doing?" She asked, flinching as she shivered with the cold.

"It's an old human trick, sharing body heat."

"But-"

"In life and death situations, skin on skin contact can save your life. I'm not offering, I'm instructing you-" Neil removed his top, the frigid air making his skin pebble. "-To coil me. Shut up! Just do it." Neil ordered with a firm tone, silencing Yil'ro before she could say another word.

Despite her cooled state, the speed at which a ssypno could move shocked the human as her torso appeared from the depths of her coils and embraced him with all four arms. Then, thick, muscular coils wrapped and coiled around the pair of them, sandwiching them together before the outside world was lost and all the remained was the sound of the ssypno and the human's breathing.

She was cool to the touch and Neils could feel the heat sap from him, before the air in the confined space began to warm notably.

"Oooh..." the chest Neil was pressed to rumbled. "Oh my..." Yil'ro murmured.

"I had always wondered... what it was like to hold you- I mean a human..." She corrected hastily. Neil just grinned.

"Enjoy what you like, I just want y-" Neil's words were cut off as he squeaked. One of the broad hands that were clasped down his back had twitched sidesways and given his rump a hard squeeze having him jerk forwards into her.

"You said 'enjoy'..." Yil'ro giggled, already seeming much closer to her old self. "Can we... do this every morning? It would definitely help me get moving..."

[r/WolvensStories]

[Ko-Fi]

#conservationverse #cuddleverse #human #hfy #haso #humans are space orcs #human x scalie #snake #ssypno

[wolven91]

Skin Deep

The crit'yun are an ancient race.

Chitin instead of flesh, feather, scale, or fur. A mind that was vast enough to include all their kind, but also individual minds, all working towards a common goal broken up into hives then castes. They were like ants of old, but massive.

As for the hives, in the deepest, most protected parts of their worlds, there were pools of a biological soup that gave birth to new and needed bodies. There was no 'set' appearance to the crit'yun. If they needed pincers the most, then the creature that crawled from the ominous goop had pincers. If they needed size or bulk, the goop would recede as a titan lifted itself clear of the liquid, allowing it to cascade from it in great waterfalls as it stepped into the galaxy.

The crit'yun had been around since the various races that now dominated the galaxy had begun to crawl from their own primordial soups millennia ago. They watched the galaxy and recorded its comings and goings with a careful eye. Nothing was forgotten, everything was shared. Perhaps once the crit'yun had spread themselves across the galaxy, like a grand empire? But that wasn't the case now.

Their territory with a sliver that spanned several arms of the galaxy. They stayed there, watching and listening to the galaxy that appeared and grew now that they stayed dormant.

But the modern galaxy feared them, even before their most recent awakening.

Not just because they had perfected what was important to the current races, war and weapons, but because they were an antithesis to what was considered beautiful within the galaxy. Skittering. Twitching. Eyes that didn't look like eyes, or none at all, still watched without blinking. Legs and hands that were weapons.

They were judged on their first introduction. The crit'yun were aliens, even to the aliens.

When humanity appeared, it created an almost visible ripple amongst the insectoids. Something new. Something they hadn't seen. Something they hadn't recorded with their incredible minds. Something, that was dying.

Like a locust swarm amassing, the crit'yun, after thousands and thousands of years in isolation and refusal to engage with the wider galaxy; was suddenly abuzz with activity. The galaxy feared the crit'yun despite the diplomats they sent to assure the Galactic Community of their honourable intentions. They avoided crowded systems, sent only the most appealing of the crit'yun to parley when needed, but they were still shunned as dangerous, foreign things.

This was where Max came in.

Max had been in the 'care' of slavers. He was one of the lucky ones. He hadn't even been aware of their foul intentions. They had lied, placed him in comfortable quarters and began their journey towards a buyer before being found by the crit'yun.

"We are still sorry. That this. Was your first step. Sorry, that we, no... you... did not find... ally, friend, family." Chittered the creature. It was the size of a large dog, perhaps a Great Dane? It's red membrane wings flutters and twitched, but the numerous black dots, that Max had come to learn were its eyes, watched him carefully. Its speech pattern was strange, but it sat next to the human on a raised bench of resin that coated the inside of the crit'yun ship.

"It's alright. I should have known, I just didn't... think I suppose?" The human said with a sigh, gesturing with his hand before it fell back down against his knee.

"Absence. No. Lack of knowledge. Ignorance. Not worthy of fault. " Assured the creature as its head tilted one way and then the other.

The human smiled idly, more to the floor than to himself or a crit'yun. His hand, ever moving reach over without thought and rubbed a hand against the almost perfectly rounded head of the alien insect. Although there was no fur there, the distracted human merely felt calmer by the action. It reminded him of his own dog, Max missed him.

It was almost a whole minute before Max turned his head to the crit'yun and blinked, seemingly surprised that he was petting the insect and immediately withdrew his hand.

"I'm sorry! I didn't-" Blurted the human, holding his hands up in apologetic surrender.

"Why?" Asked the creature. It's perfectly round head turning, the beady black eyes rotating with it. It was a perfect impression of a puppy tilting its head.

"I wasn't thinking." Replied the human honestly, lowering his arms once more, paying attention to the creature.

"Ah. This one knows this. Nature. No... Natural action... To act by instinct. True Freedom. Fear no. Fear not. No offence made or received." Confirmed the alien, bobbing its head. Unbeknownst the Max, the instinctual drive it spoke of was its 'purpose'. Every crit'yun was born and made with a goal, a true purpose in life. The broodmother's was to birth and care for their young and vulnerable. The guards was to defend and destroy threats. To this drone? It was to reapply the resin to the ceilings of the crit'yun craft.

Since the human had shown preference to it, it had already been replaced, its purpose was now to stay by the human and ensure it wanted for nothing until the broodmother's craft arrived.

Max gave a smirk as this giant insect spoke in such an odd way, struggling to find the correct words, all the while he had accidently just treated it like a favoured pet. His brow furrowed as he thought about it though.

"How come the translators don't work for you?" The man asked curiously. He was aware that translators normally just adjusted any word heard for the word the speaker meant, in the listener's language. It shouldn't have been hiccupping over the insect's words.

"They do." Replied the creature smartly.

"But you mix up your words?" Pointed out Max.

"Ah. Translators fine. It is mind that is... limited." The insect explained, bobbing on all six legs.

"Mind?" Max was only more confused now.

"Yes. This one. Crit'yun you see with your eyes. Is only drone. Mind limited. In time... We will present acceptable crit'yun to you." The drone explained, speaking the words the broodmother sent through the hive's mind. It was a delicate thing, to speak through a drone, but doable. They didn't normally have the drive to talk or even need to. It was pure luck that this done was a talkative one, often humming to itself as it happily worked. The broodmother could only whisper simple concepts and the drone would repeat them as best it could.

"What does that mean?" Enquired the human. The crit'yun was pleased with the new specie's curiosity but feared that this was the moment they would lose this creature's trust. The crit'yun knew what they looked like, and the diplomat form could only look so much like them before it caused distress.

"We hide. Will hide. What makes us. Robes will hide chitin. Our eyes will be only... One... Two..." Counted the drone, repeating the broodmother's words. Her signal was getting stronger, straining the creature's mind.

"You don't have to change for me you know? I don't mind." Promised the young man.

"You... flinch." Pointed out the drone.

"I'm not going to lie, its intimidating, being surrounded by bugs, but I bet I don't look great to you."

"Clicks for this one. True. Truth is spoken. Very well. When this drone... is returned to the hive. Hive will not attempt... much... to hide selves..." Promised the drone, settling down onto its folded limbs. Tired now.

"Good. I was always told be proud of who you are. And you guys saved my life, so in my book you're alright."

"We wish to record your book. Please present it." Asked the drone, it's mind growing tired now that the broodmother had relinquished her hold on its mind. She was on the ship now. The idea the drone could record new history and present it to the broodmother? As it slipped from the waking world, if it could smile; it would have.

"Oh. Uuhh..." The human said, unaware he was the only one present now.

[r/WolvensStories]

[AO3]

[Ko-Fi]

#conservationverse #cuddleverse #human #hfy #haso #humans are space orcs #insect #insect x human #crit'yun

[wolven91]

They're Good Boys

“Abigail, get away from it!”

The human made no attempt to move away from the obviously apex predator that they had found evidence of, only days before on the latest planet to be surveyed in the oddly unresearched system. The planet was an iceball relatively close to the canid home system Anul. This system had been largely ignored due to the dangerous gravity wells that peppered the whole system. It was only now that they were investigating due to the unusual amount of stranded ships becoming an issue. Mainly because these ships were beginning to contain humans. 

Now the humans were seemingly desperate to get killed as the predator was a gigantic beast, the human barely came up to the top of its leg, its shoulders and back were only just reachable to the shorter human and even to the avian Guelex,  they barely reached its head. The poor avian was currently displaying his stress via extending his plumage to its maximum.

“He’s fine, see; he likes me!” The human shouted back, turning her head towards Faa breifly. The giant predator continued to lick and slather over the human’s ear instead of her face directly.

“It. Is. Tasting. You!!” He tried to penetrate the human’s exceptionally thick skull, but to no avail. The human turned back, reengaging her scratches to the sides of the monster’s face while using a strange voice, one reminiscent of the way one would speak to a young hatchling.

“Oooh, you’re just a big ‘ol space puppy aren’t you? Who’s a big space puppy? Who's a big scary six legged space puppy!?”

The creature collapsed to the ground and rolled onto its back partially, the human, not using this opportunity to flee, instead moved to rake her hands through the fluff that made up the creature’s belly. The set of hind legs began to kick in time to her attention.

Faa felt like he was going to moult at this rate.

“Human Abigail?!” Faa no longer cared for the Human Abigail who had the good sense not to climb on top of the predators. Human Max however, had appeared behind where Human Abigail was currently face deep into the belly of the beast, riding atop a different member of the behemoth’s pack.

“It’s like riding a horse! Only not really and completely different!” Human Max shouted from its back, his legs and stomach were completely obscured by the deep pelt of the creature. He reached down to scratch behind a massive ear, causing the creature to tilt its head and take several sideway steps in that direction.

“See! They’re good boys! It’s been years since I rode!”

“They- They’re not ‘good boys’! They’re dangerous!”

A large branch came flying from behind an ancient tree that had been growing on the ice planet for centuries. Moments later two more of the creatures came bursting from the undergrowth before growling and pulling at either end of the tree branch, fighting amongst themselves. Human Sarah appeared, pushing through the snow that reached her chest.

“Guys, they know ‘fetch’!”

“Awesome!” “Cool!” The group shouted.

Faa simply put a taloned hand on his face and shook his head. If Faa got eaten because of these Apes, he’s going to have words with the God of Challenges. 

This wasn’t fair.

“Faa, look, we can make it all the way back to the ship before nightfall if we take the Good Boys.”

Faa opened one eye at Human Abigail without removing his hand, Human Abigail was currently laying against the creature’s stomach on her back. She looked cosy and warm, ignoring the giant megafauna that was her ‘bed’.

“By riding them?”

“By riding them. We’ll have to give them treats though...”

The creature she was laying against, flinched, and sent her stumbling. It brought its muzzle all the way round towards Human Abigail and began to press it into her at different locations while the giant bellows of its lungs worked to sniff at her vigorously. The others that were in ear shot also took notice, as if understanding her meaning, if not her words. Human Abigail had the good sense to back up from the trio of predators that approached a few steps before falling over backwards into the snow bank.

Faa looked on in horror as he assumed the creatures began to eat Human Abigail, he didn’t even want to say ‘I told you so’, but before he could shout, run or even grumble, Human Abigail’s laughter broke out from below the muzzles that were pressing him into the snow.

“Stop it! Argh! I don’t have any on me ya daft things! Stop licking me! Let's go back and you can come with us! Pleh! Urgh! It got in my mouth! No!”

She had the decency to sound distressed now, but Faa knew she’d not learn from this experience, none of Faa’s team ever did. No wonder these humans didn’t travel in large groups; they hardly got any work done.

#conservationverse #cuddleverse #human #haso #hfy #humans are space orcs #wolves #wolf pack #feral

[wolven91]

Tasty Treat

If you want to get on the good side of an ursidain, cook for them. To say they are 'food motivated' was to describe the universe as 'mildly wide'.

Ursidains would eat a meal to mark your arrival at their home. They'd eat a meal to mark your first evening. They'd test which of you could lift the other, and if an ursidain can lift their guest: it is their job to feed the guest!

Breakfasts were huge affairs, the giant bear-like creatures adored the concept that humans had the saying; 'breakfast is the most important meal of the day'.

That oneoffhand comment from one human guest, complimenting the ursidain delegation, way back at the beginning?

Within one week, every ursidain majority world that had heard of humans, also knew this saying.

This alone was to firmly catapult humanity into the ursidain species', favourite species position.

So when Jonathan had first met with and stayed over at Garsh's home, he'd wanted to return the favour.

There was just one problem.

Ursidains, on average, reached thirteen feet in height.

As Jonathan stood there, glaring up at the cooker top while he could still hear the rumbling snore of Garsh in the other room, he had to come up with a plan on how to approach this.

==0==

Garsh woke shortly before she would have normally.

Her fist-sized leather nose scrunched up and wiggled in a tight circle. Her tongue, moments before lolling out of her mouth, returned to her wide maw whenever moistened it, licked her chops and nose, before sniffing.

Her eyes shot open.

Something smelled *delicious*.

Normally a ponderously slow creature, Garsh rolled out of bed with the speed of an apex predator, her mass rolling and sloshing as she padded out of the bedroom, following her nose.

"Oh you really shouldn't have d-*JONATHAN!!*" She bellowed, her mind lurching from looking forward to eating, to abject fear.

The human was stood on the cooker, with several utensils celotaped together so he could move and flip the crisped squidgit, all the while using a pot lid as a full body riot shield while the fatty meat spat and sizzled.

[r/WolvensStories]

[Ko-Fi]

#conservationverse #cuddleverse #human #hfy #haso #humans are space orcs #furry #human x furry #bear #ursidain

[wolven91]

Slight of Hand

Taurians are impressive to behold.

The males move like they float, never even so much as ruffling the silks they wore. Their ability to handle any situation, speak on a wide variety of topics, all the while being cool, calm and collected.

It *was* impressive.

The females were impressive by a whole different nature.

As tall as the tallest human, as strong as the strongest human. They were the very embodiment of 'macho'.

There was a ritual the females did that shocked any human who heard of it. Despite the females horns having the sensation of touch, those that wished to prove themselves, would dip their horns into a variety of molten metals.

Some would go gold for the looks, some would go silver or even steel. The hues might be varied, but it was the resistance to the pain that impressed any taurian who saw them.

A taurian with coated horns, was not one to trifle with.

Not all taurians could brag that however. That was only a small fraction of the population that chose to follow through, but all female taurians were impressed and fantasised what it would be like to survive the torture and walk away a true 'alpha'.

Marues was not one that ever believed she could get her horns dipped. Her pain threshold was very low and did not consider dipping even close to what she would want.

An ear piercing, however, was.

"Aw it's going to *hurt*!" She moaned, pacing back and forth.

The human merely held the piercing gun in one hand while she observed the, rather large, stud in between two fingers.

"Only for a moment Maru, now come on. Sit down."

It was weird to see a taurian nervous. They were huge creatures, still small compared to an ursidain, but when the shortest female taurian was as big as Shaquille O'Neil? It was a odd concept to think they'd panic at the idea of an ear piercing.

"But it'll hurt!" Exclaimed Marues, holding her hands over her large ears.

"For a second, come on, sit down so we can look. I won't do it, I want to see how it works and where you want it."

The taurian complied, but made a point of saying 'only to look'.

The human touched various points on the taurian's ear before one section along the bottom was chosen. It was the thinnest section possible, but the stud would look good.

At least Marues had taste.

"Alright, I'm going to count down." Explained the human as she punched a hole through the taurian's ear, clamping the stud into place without hesitation.

The taurian closed her eyes and braced as the human stood up and went to wipe the puncher down, cleaning the needle.

"Like 3, 2, 1, go or or or 3, 2, go?" Asked the taurian, peeking one eye to watch the human clean the gun.

"Mm, I usually countdown from 10. Really get the nerves going." Grinned the human, placing the gun down and retrieving a mirror.

"What?! You're so mean! Don't do that!" Demanded Marues. She'd come to the human because *normally* they were kind! At least Marues knew the human wouldn't tell anyone how much of a weakling Marues was being about this.

"Alright, alright. How about... I fit it when you're not paying attention?"

The taurian leveled a glare at the human, who was holding the hand held mirror out to the larger alien.

"Har har. Can we get on with it? I'm freaking out!"

"Just check that I've got the spot right in the mirror."

The taurian looked at the mirror, then back to the human.

"Yeah, that's right. Let's do it!"

"Cool. Tadaa. Done."

The taurian frowned, before looking down.

Looking back up.

Looking down and turning her head to see her ear more clearly.

She even gingerly touched it, wincing a fraction.

Marues looked up, blinking, her muzzle-like mouth working but no words coming out. The human merely grinned and gave a wink before walking to the kitchen to get a drink.

[r/WolvensStories]

[Ko-Fi]

#conservationverse #cuddleverse #human #hfy #haso #humans are space orcs #furry #human x furry #taurian #cow

[wolven91]

Stolen Yawn

The black fur of the felinoid was scruffy in the reflection. Kallis visibly flinched and immediately began raking his claws through the fur along his cheeks and meticulously used his thumb and finger pad to straighten his whiskers.

It had been a long day but was happy enough now that it was over. His stop was next and from the station, if the felinoid moved with purpose, he could get home and get his fix.

Looking down at himself, he produced a large, round comb with a strap across the back to hold it against Kallis's hand and began to prepare himself. The velvet black fur began to shimmer once more in the horrid light of the monorail. The gold spirals that were designed into the pelt once more looking like the felinoid and painted himself in liquid gold.

A quick once over and a glance in a handheld mirror, the felinoid snapped it closed and focused on his target.

Matthew.

When the monorail doors opened, the felinoid leapt from the tram like a beast out of a trap. To an observer, it wouldn't look like the felinoid was running, the graceful bounds were more of a skip or gazelle-like leap, one someone who was carefree might employ.

But this was far from the truth.

Kallis was on a mission; he had gone too long without his human and now he was so close the alien's mind had near gone feral. As the felinoid made it to his level and corridor, his claws clattered on the tiles. Kallis actually skidded in a rare display of a lack of control at his own door.

AS the felinoid reached up to unlock and open the door with his own biometrics, the door slid aside, and the bright human face of Matthew lit up.

"Kal-*Oof!*" The human began only to be silenced and winded as he was picked up. In the next few seconds, Kallis strode into his and Matthew's home with the human held aloft in his hands. The front door slid closed giving them privacy whilst the felinoid twirled with the human in his hands. Kallis stared up at his human while Matthew screwed up his eyes during his journey.

The next thing the human felt was being brought in, under Kallis's chin, which began to rub itself over and over across the crown of Matthew's scalp.

"Oh, how I've missed you today..." Uttered the black and gold creature. Kallis felt warm arms and hands reach around his chest and try to hug him, despite his size rendering him too wide for the human to complete his hug. It didn't matter, he knew what Matthew was doing and to Kallis that was just the same as if he had succeeded.

"Oop! Earthquake!" Matthew chuckled as Kallis couldn't help but purr.

To the human, it was long laying on top of a warm, fluffy, V8 engine that idled. The purring rattled and shook his whole body, but like magic it made the man's eyes close in delight.

"All I want this evening, is to lay down together and merely bask..." Kallis explained, communicating to his partner, and let him choose how they spent their evening. The human, albeit reluctantly, lifted his head from the thick silky fur of Kallis's chest and grinned up at the alien.

"I got popcorn and a film all lined up."

"'Popcorn'?" Asked the alien, having never heard the phrase before.

"Alright, you got me. Popcorn doesn't exist anymore; I deep fried a bunch of squidgit bites. But we can pretend, and-and the film was recommended by the nice felinoid at the corner shop." Explained Matthew desperate to explain himself and searching Kallis's inscrutable face for either disappointment or approval.

Kallis merely leant down and captured the young man's lips with his own and enjoyed his favourite 'snack'.

Two hours later, the film was wrapping up and Kallis was idly toying with the human's fur. Hair. It would grow and grow without pausing unlike the felinoid pelt. Kallis was considering this as the human lay on top of his chest. Matthew was chest down on top of the felinoid, both hands up, resting against his pecs.

Kallis could grow his fur out if he wanted? He'd been orange and cream when he'd met Matthew and had merely changed to the black with gold spirals. Maybe he could change it to Matthew's favourite colour? Red? Long and Red? Would that work? Would Matthew like it more importantly.

Kallis yawned as the day caught up to him, only to find his mind completely freeze with his mouth caught wide open.

Matthew had a finger in his mouth. It took a few moments for the felinoid brain to turn back on and Kallis gently 'chewed' the finger until Matthew retrieved it and Kallis was able to close his mouth again.

"How... what was that?" The felinoid asked, confused for a moment.

"I ruined your yawn." Grinned Matthew, mischievously.

"You completely derailed my thoughts... I've never had that-" Kallis was caught out by another yawn, only to blink as, unbeknownst to him, he lost his train of thought again as a finger touched his tongue, killing a yawn midway through. Matthew was giggling to himself, so at least Kallis's human was happy.

Kallis lightly chewed the finger but found himself naturally covering his mouth as he yawned next, unsure why he'd suddenly taken up the overly polite gesture.

[r/WolvensStories]

[Ko-Fi]

#conservationverse #cuddleverse #human #hfy #haso #humans are space orcs #furry #human x furry #felinoid #cat

[wolven91]

Cooking For Humans

Nepeltor loved cooking.

As an esquinine, she was drawn to the more pleasant hobbies in life, both for her own happiness and other people's, more so than the average being. She found great joy in being able to provide a service to others that caused such a positive emotional surge. As a strong natural psychic, she had the ability to 'sip' at strong emotions and enjoy them as a one would a drink.

For the unshielded, she was exposed to all emotions, but it was the greater ones, or those felt more strongly that she recognised above the usual din.

Anger, frustration, disgust, or hatred were the ones she avoided where she could, instead deliberately seeking out positive ones instead.

A favoured pass time was lingering near spaceport greeting lounges where long lost partners, families or friends would meet again, rush into one another's arms and embrace with an outpouring of love, joy and relief. It was like standing just off from a planet's coast, until the water reached her shoulders. The ebb and flow of the water would rock her back and forth. Likewise, the relief of seeing one that you had missed was enough for her to physically waver, stood in the middle of the expansive room.

That was until she happened to be in the same café as a human when they got their meal. The creature was one of the new additions, and seemingly was mentally grumbling that they had not eaten anything other than nutrient cubes for a while. Nepeltor grimaced herself, she'd lived off nutrient cubes once; tasteless, boring and a chore to eat. No wonder the human relished the middling quality meal as if it was fine dining.

The esquinine telepath had met no other race in the cosmos that seemed to have such a reaction to their meal.

Even before they started on their plate, the anticipation bled into her readily. When the first bite was taken, she was glad she was seated as the sheer, unadulterated, euphoria that washed over her and hit like a tidal wave. Each bite blinded her like no other. Not even the ursidains could match the depths of the emotion's the human was feeling at this second.

It was the very next day, Nepeltor applied for her culinary licence.

Just short of a year later, she applied for a location for a new food stall on the station. Directly next to the new arrivals exit.

She didn't need much, in the end just space for 5 or so mid-sized creatures... 'humans' she hoped. They were rare, but she noticed a steady appearance of one or two as they made their way across. This station must have been one of the secretive layovers for the valuable species.

Her stall was barely more than a hot plate and space for her ingredients behind the counter, with a bench in front and an eating shelf for the customers.

Perhaps it would be frowned upon to have stolen an idea from the human. Perhaps they would have agreed to give their permission if she had asked, but in the end, Nepeltor made a new meal that was a human specialty in the hope it would lure the new species in with tastes of their former home. 'Noodles', chives, meat and an egg. Throw in some other bits and bats before serving with a smile.

It was several weeks before the first human appeared. By then she was fully invested in her work and had been forced to plan a handful of other stalls opening, manned by hires. The human 'noodles' were a hit, a brand new taste sensation in a galaxy that had tried 'everything' already.

The esquinine at this point wasn't thinking that a human would arrive, instead focusing on her work of slicing vegetables ready for the next fresh pot. She had served the two newcomers as she had anyone else, with barely a thought thanks to the rush.

"God I'm starving!"

"I know, can't get a good meal anywhere here, did that guy genuinely suggest we eat rocks?"

The first voice replied but was muffled as he slurped a heaping of noodles into his mouth.

"At least this place has normal foo-" His dramatic halt gave pause for the other human, before the one that had taken a bite 'mm'd in pleasure as he immediately began eating with gusto.

Nepeltor however, was rocked out of her zen 'flow' state of working and knew instantly that she had done well. From a gnawing hunger radiating from the other side of the counter, like a grenade exploding right in front of her face; a mixture of desire, greed, pleasure and even love bloomed in front of her until she stumbled and had to lean against her counter just to stop her knees from buckling.

What was interesting was that over time, one by one, each human ended up emitting the same few handfuls of emotions, which was an experience every time and not only did they love her food, there was a hint that they had associated her with her food and she herself was the target of their outpouring of positive emotions. It was directed at her, rather than just passive.

In the end she became famous amongst humans traveling that route.

She had the opportunity to expand, become an administrator, be rich and never have to work again with her stalls setting up shop everywhere, but she would lose access to be there when they took that first bite with ecstasy. Not to mention, if she expanded too much, she would be less likely to see the humans if they weren't forced to come see her and her stall specifically.

#conservationverse #cuddleverse #human #haso #hfy #humans are space orcs #furry #human x furry #esquinine #horse

[wolven91]

Drifting - Part 3

The Nerve Suit was skintight and left nothing to the imagination.

Casper had already tried plucking the thin layer of jet black second skin away from himself, but hadn’t been able to get any purchase on it with his covered fingertips. Looking back to the mirror, the only thing exposed was his face and shaved head. The young man grimaced, he’d never been one for hair styles, but cutting off his messy brown curls had been an unpleasent twist that he hadn’t expected when agreeing to this experiment. Glancing down in the mirror, he instinctively covered himself, the suit rendered him genderless at a glance, but it was still rather obvious after more than a passing glance.

“Casper?” Came a voice and the now telltale sound of robotic legs whirring and walking towards the room the human was stood in. He glanced back at his normal clothes, then at the mirror again.

“In here.” The young man called out. The sounds of the robotic legs go louder until he saw Wren appear in the mirror in the doorway to the room. She was atop her bipedal robotic platform that most geckins used around anyone larger than their single foot in height.

“They’re all ready for you. Last chance to run without anyone seeing.” The foot tall green geckin offered without emotion in her voice. Neither judging, nor leading him in a certain way. Casper suspected that she had her own horse in this race, but out of everyone who the young man had spoken to; she’d been the most warm.

“This is going to be fun.” Casper began, convincing himself as much as her as he turned and, whilst trying to ignore that he was very much on display to her, she matched his pace as he marched toward the hanger. Speed and stride wasn’t a problem for the geckin, at least not for their platforms. They could outrun Casper at the push of a button, completely ignoring they’d outlast him with the fusion cores that powered them.

“It’s certainly going to be interesting, but why would you use the word ‘fun’?” Wren asked calmly, keeping the conversation light, but still obviously monitoring the man. The small green geckin had become his doctor and psychologist of sorts. Carefully watching him and seemingly keeping the more extreme ‘Zeet’, the head engineer, in check.

“Well, we have media and fantasy stories about piloting mechs. Whole franchises that are built around the concept of bipedal or multi-legged technicals. Apparently, I’m living the dream, and I didn’t even need to train for it.” Casper shrugged, feeling oddly disconnected from the current events.

 

“You understand this is unlikely to be easy right?” The small green alien gently pointed out. A glance down at her and Casper noted how her neck ruffle was pulled tight against her. He gave her a wane smile and nodded.

“Oh yes, Zeet has explained at length that it’ll be like learning to walk again. Moving an arm or leg on its own, is its own thing. Even all four limbs is another level, but I’m going to be controlling a thirty-foot mech, dealing with its balance, its systems, everything.” Casper grinned and chuckled as they entered the hanger proper, and the noise went up significantly. Casper had to raise his voice somewhat to ensure Wren could hear him, she had to practically shout back at him.

“He made a big deal that I would struggle to balance it without a tail.” The human said with a smirk.

Wren grinned a sharp grin.

Taking a moment to look up at the giant machine, Casper could only be impressed.

The mech itself was a rough translation of a human body. Two legs, two arms, a torso and a head on top. They had toyed with the idea of a more mobile machine, with digitigrade legs or even giving him equipment for his first outing, but Wren had been present and argued them all down. In the end, it was her pointing out, not for Casper’s safety, but the cost of breaking or damaging complicated equipment if the first piloting effort failed.

No point in having a fancy jetpack if a panicked human trigged the jets and crashed into the ceiling, rending the bay unusable for the foreseeable future.

So as Casper gave the giant bipedal vehicle a critical eye, he noted that it was surprisingly thin. The legs were slim, several meters wide to a normal human, but compared to the rest of the mech it felt like they were too small to lift such bulk. Likewise, the arms were malnourished, obviously barebones. He could see pistons and wires. They were all strapped down and had metal plates protecting them in places, but this mech was not designed for anything other than an experiment.

A prototype. Saying their true mechs often looked like geckins; digitigrade legs for explosive speed and massive mechanical tails for balance. Casper had to guess that this was the first, truly humanoid machine they’d made… and only in the short space of time too.

Their industry capability was frightening.

“He was quite upset that he had to remove the tail section of the mech. No point in adding parts and complexity for the first step.” She pointed out, that wasn’t something Casper had heard yet. Interesting. The next time Casper spoke, it was to Zeet in the form of a short, sharp ‘good luck’ and nod.

“You look ready, like a real geckin pilot.” The blue geckin pointed out, gesturing to the skintight Nerve Suit from his position on his own mobile platform.

“Just a bit taller.” Casper grinned, but realised he made a faux par with the immediate frown form Zeet. “Sorry. Nerves. The suits pretty tight, I didn’t realise it would be like this.” The young quickly said, running a gloved hand over his stomach. Thankfully, this change in topic was enough to remove the dark look on the blue geckin’s face as they rejoined the conversation again. He had to remember that geckins were touchy about their height…

“Yes, well the Nerve Suit is needed to ensure the body has as little feedback from your true body as possible. It should be plenty light as it’s only a pawful of atoms thick.” Casper pulled a face and rubbed his fingertips together. He felt pressure, but not sensation other than how slick his grip was.

“You ready to climb in? Remember, we’re just calibrating. Remember; don’t be disappointed if you can’t run yet, all we’re looking for is movement. Wiggle the feet, twitch the fingers. Look up and down.” Zeet rambled, nervous all of a sudden at the prospect of the human experiment. He continued to run through a check list of basic movements.

“I understand Zeet, I’ll do my best for you.” Casper promised, unsure if he could reach out and touch the shoulder of the geckin, or if that would be too far. Was he supposed to be the nervous one? With everything going on with humanity, it seemed impossible that they would allow anything to happen to the young man. Like walking along a tourist bridge and it has a glass floor; this was all simulated danger, not real danger. Right? Casper turned to the mech itself and headed towards the team of technicians who were waiting for him. They were crowded around the open hatch where Casper would climb in like a pack of scavengers waiting for their prey to fall over.

The clamber into the pilot chamber wasn’t the issue, nor was the coffin-like pod that required Casper to lay down with his arms crossed over his chest, it was the needles. The pod pressed in on his legs, hips and shoulders, his arms were still free for the moment, but would be locked into place when the sarcophagus’s lid came down into place. The inside of the casket was filled with a gel that had given way by several inches as he sat down, then shuffled himself in. If he was struck by anything, or more likely; fell over, the gel would absorb the impact to his physical body. It would also swell, once he was sealed, securing him in place.

“Legs in place!” Called one of the techs as they fit a breather over Casper’s nose and mouth.

Then, after a moment, Casper was stabbed.

Along the various rivers and paths that followed his nervous system, hundreds of hair thin needles all stabbed into him like a wave of bee stings, causing the human to grunt and flinch. The shoulder locks stopped him from moving too much as the techs gave curt nods that all was well. Then a series of five needles thrust into and along the young man’s spine and he lost all feeling of his body.

His eyes snapping open and gasping at the sudden pain and of a fear that something had gone wrong! He couldn’t move!

Zeet appeared in his vision, next to two of the techs that were disconnecting tubes from the mech itself.

“You’re good. First disconnect from your nervous system is always the worst they say. We’re about to give up control on the mech, you’ll be in the dark for a few minutes, but that’s it. Blink twice if you understand.” Asked the blue geckin, staring down at the human. Without a voice, the young man, blinked twice.

“Outstanding, good human. Lets get this closed and submerge him. Casper? You’ll hear me over the radio. Follow my instructions. You’re going to be seeing the world from a whole new perspective.”

Casper tried to nod but was reminded again that he couldn’t move at all. He just laid there.

Flat on his back, from the perspective of a corpse in a grave, looking up at the techs and Zeet, as if they were mourners about to throw the first handfuls of dirt upon him.

Then the lid of his casket slid closed and sealed against him. He felt pressure on his body as the gel filled casket embraced him and then all was still. He couldn’t move, he couldn’t see or hear. He couldn’t smell anything. His body wanted to twitch, to move and kick. But even when he tried to test the limits of the pod, of the gel, he couldn’t feel anything. He couldn’t even tell if he was moving!

Panic was rather rapidly growing within his chest as he lay there, alone in a sensationless void.

Was this what death felt like?

“-asper? Casper can you hear me?” Zeet’s voice appeared in his head.

He tried to instinctively respond, to say ‘[Yes]’, but immediately felt and knew it was pointless, his [paralyzed throat and mouth meant talking was out].

“Excellent! We’ve got your feed here. You don’t need your throat anymore.” Came the excited reply.

[What?]

“You’re connected to the machine’s transponder. You talk, or try to talk like normal, and we will read you.” Zeet explained, Casper could hear the excitement in his voice.

[Is everything okay?]

“It’s going fantastic! We literally just turned this system on and you’re already communicating with us. You’re a natural, human! You ready for more systems?”

With nothing better to do, Casper thought of his reply.

[Sure, let’s do it.]

“Alright, give me a minute.”

It was a strange method to talk. Casper could… feel? The correct way to communicate. It wasn’t his unprocessed thoughts being transmitted. He could feel what he was sending to Zeet, like he was approving every syllable. What information the human wanted to send, was sent, and nothing more. There was no tone, no emotion. His words, thoughts, sentences, were words on a screen.

Light appeared, briefly blinding Casper, who squinted, and the hangar immediately came into focus. His head was drooped forward and for the most part he could only see the floor that had been directly in front of the mech itself. There were geckins down there all running to and fro. Focusing on one, Casper’s vision rapidly zoomed in and he could see each and every individual scale on the yellow geckin tech’s face, before Casper relaxed his eyes a fraction and his vision pulled out slightly. The geckin tech monitored a console that sat beneath the tower where Casper had entered, seemingly unaware he was being watched.

“Okay, we’ve turned on your external cameras. Do you feel any new sensations? Any sort of… connections that you can access?” Zeet asked carefully.

[I can see.]

“Yes, we want you to access those so you can see out of the cameras attached to the recon unit.”

[No Zeet, I can see. There’s a yellow geckin at my feet.]

“You can- Hoy! Who’s below us?” Zeet shouted, Casper could tell it was loud, but the radio wasn’t being ‘heard’ in the sense that the human wasn’t using his ‘ears’ to hear the radio. He was… understanding it without the need for such things.

As Casper watched, the yellow geckin reacted, looking up and waving his arms up at someone before shrugging.

“You’re right! You’ve already… Hah! Okay then. This is beyond what I was hoping for. I think we can jump a few steps.”

“Sir, this is ill-advised.” Wren voice said, coming over the radio loud and clear.

“You’re here as a courtesy doctor, you’re welcome, but now as a courtesy, you will not interfere with my work.”

[What’s happening?]

“We’re going to disconnect you from our power and control. You will have full control of the mech and its systems.”

[You said that was dangerous?]

“For a normal pilot yet. But your aptitude for this was off the charts. I think it’s time to jump a few levels.”

There was a flurry of activity as the geckins who were milling about at Casper’s feet suddenly began disconnecting from the various consoles and began disappearing from the edge of the human’s vision. He could see the metal platforms that counted as the mech’s feet, but aside from that and the bottom of the tower, there was just the hanger floor.

“Alright, we’ve got everyone to a safe distance. In a few seconds, we’re passing control of the whole mech to yourself. We won’t be in control of anything. You ready?”

[As I’ll ever be.]

“Good. Hand off in 3… 2… 1…”

The change was sudden and startling. Immediately, Casper’s legs buckled as his knees weren’t prepared to take the sudden weight of his body once more. His arms flung forward as the ground rushed up to greet him, but he stopped himself from bouncing his head off the concrete by completing a half press-up.

There was too much, too fast. His body felt, stiff; tight. Like he’d been in a cramped position for so long that his whole body was sluggish.

It was too much. Casper felt lightheaded, as if he was suffocating! His heart was pounding in his chest so fast that it was humming! A giant metal hand reached up and clutched at his metal torso, sparks flying as the two metals clashed against each other.

[Something’s wrong!]

“It’s fine, just activate your intakes.” Zeet ordered calmly, despite the panic rising.

“He’s panicking, eject him.”

“No, he just needs to start up the intakes. Casper? Your reactor needs air flow, active the intakes.”

“Power it down Zeet! His vitals are spiking.”

[I don’t. I can’t. My chest feels tight!]

The human was panicking, he could feel something was wrong, like he was running on empty, like he needed to close his eyes and lay down. It felt like he was dying.

“Casper! Batteries are running low, active the intakes!”

The words were less clear now, like his mind was swimming. The young man felt for the first time since getting into the machine his vision failed, like he was blinking despite not needing to before now.

Wren’s voice broke through the roaring and nonsense that Casper was being bombarded by.

“Breathe Casper! Take a breath!”

The human sucked in air as deeply as he could shocked that he had forgotten such a normal thing.

From outside, the vents that lined the pectoral area of the mech slammed open with great turbines that sucked in the vital oxygen needed for the reactor that sat in the centre of the mech’s chest. It burped to life and the exhausts along the back of the machine began to spew heat and a cough of black smoke. To the geckin engineers, the ever-pleasant noise of a system booting up to full power whined to life as the human mech heaved in an oddly biological movement.

There were no ‘lungs’ built into the machine, only vents, fans, and a reactor to power it all, but the way it was gyrating, put only the image of someone who had been suffocating gulping in air into their minds. The mech was currently on one knee, the other leg folded to support its weight. One arm was placed on the ground and the second was still touching the chest plate, scratching the bare, unpainted metal.

[I’m okay.]

“’Breathe’ doctor?” Snapped Zeet, not addressing or not seeing the text on his console that Casper had sent.

“He’s not trained on the technical specifications of a machine. His point of reference is what he can feel. What he knows.” Replied Wren, defensively, but not backing down.

“He said they had media of mechs, that it was a common fantasy. What popular media doesn’t have common sense specs?!” Barked Zeet’s voice.

“He’s not a geckin, he’s human. The importance of certain subject will be different.” She replied, still sturdy in her observation.

The voices in Casper’s head continued to bicker as the world stopped swimming and he slowly raised his head to look around. He felt less sluggish now, like he had started to shake the cobwebs from his bones and movement was easier, as if he was awake again. He felt strong. Fast. As if his body not just wouldn’t fail him; but couldn’t.

== 0 ==

To the outside, whilst Zeet and Wren continued to argue the toss, the techs watched as the giant mech’s recon unit raised up and scanned the hanger. With a great heave, one of the legs raised the body up in a single smooth movement before the second leg straightened and held the giant mech upright and proud.

The mechanical hands, simple things, were raised as the cameras of the recon unit that sat atop the mech inspected them, as if seeing them for the first time. This was more than any of the techs had expected. New pilots barely got their radios working after the first hour, let alone movement. Why was it so… biological in its movements?

“Sir?” Called the head technician, up at the two geckins that were still arguing over utilizing the correct terminology in a professional setting and pointedly ignoring the several hundred-ton mech that was now moving around in a manner that was thought impossible for the timeline.

The mech took a single step forward, then a second.

“Sir?!” Shouted the head tech again, more urgently now.

Thankfully, Zeet and the good doctor paused their debate to look round, only to realize the mech was no longer where they left it.

It was currently headed towards the great metal shutter that blocked the outside world from the hanger. Beyond the shutter was the proving grounds, where pilots that had finally fully integrated with their mechs would prove that they were ready for furthering the geckin interests.

[r/WolvensStories]

[Ko-Fi]

#conservationverse #cuddleverse #human #hfy #haso #humans are space orcs #furry #human x furry #geckin #lizard #mecha

[wolven91]

You Will Be Snugged

Sqwee checked his paperwork which caused his eyes to go wide. He read it again, then a third time.

There was a human due to dock today and he was marked as their escort for the station. It was the third time Squee had met a human, to meet one was like winning the lottery, to meet three over the course of a few months was like winning the lottery three times in a row whilst getting struck by lightning.

"I got 'human duty' again..." Squee mumbled, reading the side comments offered by the upper administration.

"Haha, good luck Sqwee, 'human duty', god I couldn't handle that!" Shouted a delightfully smug voice.

"Go cough up a hairball Daw." Sqwee snapped back, more on impulse than paying attention to them. The notes on the file made mention of how the other two humans had praised Squee for his attention to their needs, his welcoming attitude and openness which 'showed humanity how welcoming chintians can be'. His application to become a guardian, had been fast tracked, all because of the human's comments.

"Again?" Asked another voice, a different colleague leant over his chair to read the confidential message. "...So this must be one of the human scattering paths? It's the only reason they keep appearing..." They murmured, talking to themselves.

"Well keep it to yourself, you now how dangerous it is for them. Information like that is valuable to the wrong people..." Squee retorted, turning off his computer to go meet his new ward. He ran his hands through his whiskers as he left the office, leaving his colleague to their discussion.

Sqwee was a rotund creature. Not because he was fat, but because his fur was 'poofy'. As a chintian, they were well known for their luxurious fur which was not just silky and thick, but deliciously soft too. Squee tried everything as he hustled towards the docking bays to get his fur in order. It was important! Especially for the humans! He had a damn fine idea as to why they liked him.

When the last two humans arrived on the scene and made it clear that they had zero respect for personal space and every intention to pick up and stroke and squeeze and pamper any chintian that got in their way. Squee discovered that most were frustrated or even angry at them for showing this kind of attention.

In the end, general opinion was to just deal with the exuberant human and move on with one's life. It was, however, always hilarious to watch someone else to have to deal with a human from a distance so you could point and laugh at them as any protest from them was ignored completely.

Sqwee had a secret, however.

He loved the way humans treated him. He adored it!

He wasn't just a clerk with a human. He wasn't a nuisance or an irritation. Humans wanted him, to help them. They seemingly universally adored his fur and gave it high praise. Sqwee loved it when they complimented his fur. He was very proud of it. He couldn't even remember the last time someone other than a human had given him, even a passing compliment.

He wasn't alone by any means. A compliment to one's fur is high praise for a chintian at least, but many were taken aback by their... enthusiasm.

So here Squee was. Stood at the bottom of the ramp and his new ward was due to step through the bulkhead at any moment. He'd do his very best for them and show them just how wonderful chintians could be. They may only be a foot tall, but chintian's had their own culture just as big as an ursidain! Bigger even!

It was the first step that was important. First impressions.

When the bulkhead did hiss, unlock and fly open with a whoosh, a new human stood there in all their glory, blinking into the station lights.

Squee assumed it was a she, and an older one at that. Her skin was exposed with no fur apart from a greying patch atop her head. Her features weren't wizened like the elderly, but there was wisdom and experience there. Oh how Squee wanted to hear her stories... But first!

The human glanced down and caught sight of the foot tall, chinchilla-like alien. Her eyes lit up, a wide smile cracked her face and she bounded forwards down the ramp.

Sqwee, aware of the likely events about to unfold, raised his arms up as if reaching out for her. When she snatched him up, he was pressed underneath her chin, folded within her arms and they both span once in a small circle until he was pulled from her and held at arm's length.

"Well you're the most adorable thing I've ever seen!" Came a kindly voice from the alien. "I sure hope you're my guide!"

He smiled softly to himself, relishing in the loving embrace and warmth the humans gave out so willingly. She spoke as if he were just an animal, and at first there had been mild insult, until the very first human had explained that they'd never met a chintian before and didn't know there were sentients smaller than a human. To be fair, aside from chintians, geckins, and sluggats there weren't any smaller races that Squee could recall.

"Look at you! You're too fluffy! Much too fluffy!"

'Yes I am.' he thought privately to himself, grinning at the praise.

#conservationverse #cuddleverse #haso #hfy #humans are space orcs #human #furry #human x furry #chintian #chinchilla

[wolven91]

'I fixed it'

Ulfric stared at the hodgepodge of taped wires and jerry-rigged mechanical parts with a critical eye. It sort of looked like it would work? It gets a bit fuzzy in the middle, but his gut told him 'maybe' with a positive inflection.

He wanted to spit at the whole thing. To swear at it and curse the designer of the damned thing. The human didn't like how his work had turned out; it wasn't pretty nor, was he confident he'd done everything right. Theoretically the engine would come back to life if he understood how it all worked.

Problem was he didn't though. This was all alien tech; everything was alien tech! Human stuff was always behind! But even alien tech was supposed to comply with physics, so he did what he thought was right.

The ship he was on was supposed to be a 'simple' 'off the rack' skiff ship that could make it from one planet to another in less than a day. Not only had the jump drive catapulted him and his fellow passenger way past their target, but they were also floating alarmingly fast away from the system.

Sure, it had emergency beacons and SOS systems, it advertised that 'everyone found was saved' with its life preservation tech.

"Found." Ulfric stated with sarcasm. "Everyone found..."

If they weren't found, then sure, this shit craft's designer could keep saying that.

"How is it looking?" Asked a delicate voice from the cockpit.

The hornless taurian, who called himself; Yasil, appeared in the doorway, holding himself against the frame. Ulfric avoided the odd creature's gaze. Ulfric had been a rough man before the Earth 'thing', but now he was stuck in close proximity to this... delicate alien guy... 'Focus on the engine Ulfric', his mind supplied.

"Well. I think it might work, we have enough conventional fuel to turn up back the way we came, then we can try and jump." Ulfric said, scratching at the back of his scalp. He didn't know about male taurians and their demeanour, so once they were introduced to one another, the alien wasn't what he was expecting.

When Ulfric saw a bull coming towards him, horns or no horns, the human had thought he was going to be sharing with a man who could shoot the shit, but instead, every attempt to connect with the usual conversation points had fallen flat.

So, bored as he was, Ulfric changed tactics. They were stuck like this for at least a day, the human wasn't going to spend that silent.

Ulfric was rough, but he wasn't without a little game.

He turned on the charm.

An hour into their journey he'd turned the attempts at idle conversation into discussions on a far less superficial level. He didn't have a set plan or 'topic' it was simply a matter of listening out for what someone reacted to, what they wanted to or enjoyed talking about, if they wanted to talk at all.

Thankfully, it seemed the bull wanted to talk, and the topic was him. Or rather Humans.

Ulfric wasn't opposed to talking about humans, but he hated talking about himself. So, he answered the alien's questions, at least until the cockpit readouts went dead anyway.

They both had watched as the two of them fell out of a structured jump into 'real' space. They then had watched helplessly as their target planet sailed happily by while they travelled near close to light speed through the system. They got 'lucky' by not having anything in front of them while traveling this way.

By the time Ulfric had gotten through the sealed door into what amounted to an engine room, and then figured out which bit had done what, they were too far away for the general communications array to be of any use. Still, at least Ulfric could be useful now, well... either useful or both of them would be lost to the void forever.

What followed was multiple hours of swearing, sweat and the breaking of several noncritical machines and furniture to fix the busted, stupid, ridiculously crappily built engine.

The human created something akin to art. Only not.

His new engine was the opposite to art.

It was a monster, and he was the new Frankenstein.

Using the attitude adjustors, Ulfric changed their yaw and roll. They pointed at the slowly shrinking planet they wanted, or roughly where it was going to be in the near future.

"What now?" Asked the bull, nervous in tone, but hopeful as he looked longingly at the human.

"Now. I kick start this mother." Ulfric said, getting up from his seat and readying his kickstart. "You holding onto the controls? Like I showed you? This is going to shake and judder something rotten."

"I got it." The taurian announced with a nod and a firm grip of the controls.

With a nod, Ulfric, with everything he had. With every ounce of hatred he had for this machine; he kicked the engine as hard as he could.

--- 0 ---

Ulfric stood in front of the spaceport's lead engineer. An ursidain covered in grease and other stains kept glancing from him, back to the craft that she had just appeared from. His craft, at least his engine anyway.

She was currently staring at his monster with a flabbergasted expression and kept glancing back at him before returning to the engine.

"You should be dead." She stated firmly.

"Well I'm not, I need to know why it failed so we can sue!" Shouted the shorter bull beside him. Choosing to ignore the fact the larger ursidain was speaking to the human. He wasn't a large taurian, nor did the young bull come across as an aggressive sort, but god help the poor soul that stood between him and justice. Ulfric never cared much for causing a scene, but the taurian had assured him that if they could remain in contact, justice would be had! Oh sure, they might get a few credits, but if they prevented the company from doing this again; they'd save lives!

Ulfric didn't mind either of those outcomes and he was starting to like the little taurian. All that pomp and show was just that, a show. He had a mouth on him!

"No I mean; this isn't possible! It shouldn't have worked! You've combined. plasma and pure oxygen!"

"I needed a combustion source."

"Thats. not. you." She tried to grasp his logic, but failed as the idea of using this method as a combustion source was suicidal.

She blinked, smoothed the thick fur on top of her head back, pulling the hair bobble from her wrist and tied the fur on the top of her head back with it.

"So. why is there no core then? How did you jump, without a core?"

"We ejected it."

"Was it damag-"

"And detonated it."

"You-"

"And rode the wave back."

The large bear alien stood back up right and stepped carefully away from the machine.

"I'm not touching this. Someone call for containment breach clear up."

#conservationverse #cuddleverse #haso #hfy #humans are space orcs #human #furry #human x furry #taurian #minotaur