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The Macabre Farce of Unggoy Existence
Posted By: The 14th Wonder<iplaybass14@hotmail.com>
Date: 29 August 2008, 10:51 pm
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Fram felt that the humans' star was making his surroundings hotter than he liked. He did find the humans' home planet to be almost pleasant, though, star aside; everything around him was a mixture of browns and greens, a clearing amid the surrounding thick jungles. It was placid, though he wasn't there under particularly peaceful circumstances.
Presently, Fram sat leaning against a rock, thus gaining a bit of shade from the star. His newfound friend Stim sat across from him, picking various parts of his body with mild interest. Stim didn't talk much, but the two had bonded since landing on the humans' planet. Two Kig-Yar, who kept very much to themselves, were positioned to Fram's left. Closing out the group was a lone Jiralhanae, visually patrolling the end of the clearing as they had been assigned to do.
Four hours earlier, Fram and Stim had been wandering through the encampment, which was just undergoing assembly, albeit more slowly than the Jiralhanae would have liked. Fram had happened to overhear two of the commanders speaking as he and Stim wandered; one them mentioned that it might be wise to put a few of their more disposable soldiers at the far end of the clearing. Fram, of course, had no idea what "disposable" meant, but he figured that whatever the meaning, he could be it for his superiors. Fram chimed in brightly, hoping he didn't sound too giddy, "We do it!" The two Kig-Yar and the one Jiralhanae had been quickly assembled thereafter with the Unggoy and the band was sent to the far end, a few hundred meters off.
It was rare for a group such as this to be completely unfamiliar with one another, and for four hours the Unggoy had spoken only to each other, as had the Kig-Yar. The Jiralhanae spoke to no one. Fram ultimately decided that he should try to break the barrier, at least with the Jiralhanae. "What his name? Rast? Rust? It not matter."
"We burn humans' little planet!" Fram followed his statement with a very nearly convincing laugh. The Jiralhanae remained completely motionless.
Fram could tell the Jiralhanae was very young by his helmet and his fur. He assumed this would make him more approachable and decided he shouldn't give up yet.
"How many humans you kill?" This time, the Jiralhanae turned his head ninety degrees and snarled.
Fram decided then that young Jiralhanae were something he didn't like about the life of a military Unggoy. But for the most part he did rather like this life: it was undoubtedly exciting. The screams of battle, the hot crackle of plasma streaking through the air, the uncertainty of what sort of sludge would come out of the nipple that day; he loved these sources of constant surprise. And there was one thing that never changed: the constant, squeaking hiss of his mask. It was always with him. His perpetual air seemed to make everything about this life make sense.
Still, Fram had one thing that he would never understand about being a fighting Unggoy: what it was that possessed his brothers to charge into the fray, a grenade in each hand, going to a willing and gruesome death. He never could make sense of that. Did it make them feel greater to have such control over the power of such an explosion? Did they simply wish to die, quite literally, with a bang? Maybe it was the promise of killing the enemy by catching them off-guard that gave them some immense, entirely unreasonable thrill. These reasons came to mind, but none could make him understand.
It was among these musings that Stim's head very suddenly exploded. Fram spun quickly to see flashes of human rifles and dropped back behind his rock. The Kig-Yar had brought their shields to bear already, but there was no way of escaping their inevitable demise. Bullets weasled their way past their shields and into their bodies, sending them to screeching deaths. The Jiralhanae danced spasmodically for his life, firing glowing spikes back at the humans. It wasn't long, however, that the scant energy shield that came of his rank popped out of existence. The bullets didn't relent, and they tore him down with a shocking lack of difficulty. He toppled to the ground with a sonorous thump, mouth agape, facing up at Fram.
Fram was alone. He looked over at what remained of Stim.
"It make sense now..."
His reason became hopelessly muddled. Had shrapnel punctured his mask? Surely the gas was invading his brain. He couldn't think of a good explanation for why he reached for the grenades on his belt, but there was no question it was the right thing to do. Fram waited for footsteps and they came. Two activators clicked and one Unggoy took as many humans as he could manage into an azure hell of glory.
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