Imperial Orders

♕The Natives♕

They had been slashing through the jungle for what felt like hours. Hugo had somehow procured a machete and walked heroically at the front of the group, crudely cutting a path out of the foliage. Tuofah and the kids walked behind him with much less enthusiasm, more preoccupied with not stepping on spiders and beetles than the path that lay ahead of them. 

Tuofah had heard that one of the reasons the humans left Earth was that they were causing something called "global warming" and it was getting out of control. Now that they were gone, the planet certainly didn't seem much cooler. She found herself constantly stopping to wipe the sweat off her brow, though this was soon very ineffective as her grimy hand was soon made just as sweaty as her face. The heavy, tropical air weighed down on her and she found herself sorely missing the air conditioning of the Minister's ship. 

"How much longer?" Nut was the first of the Peenutz to complain. Her braids were slick with sweat and adhered firmly to the back of her neck. 

"I've got Lady Serpis' map of this planet on my CommPad. It says we've got about two miles left until we reach the site." 

"Why couldn't you land the ship closer?" Dot muttered. 

"Why don't you try flying a ship that's seven hundred models fancier than your own!" Hugo snapped, momentarily faltering in his step. The heat was clearly taking its toll on everyone...especially Tuofah. Ever since they had stepped out of the ship, she had been feeling a little light-headed, and the long walk certainly wasn't helping. She knew that her discomfort was the least of the Peenutz' problems, but she was beginning to grow a little concerned. She moved as if in a dreamy haze, watching her legs cross in front of one another but not really feeling them, as she followed Hugo on a path she had to trust was the correct one. Her lips were parched despite the moisture all around her and her eyes grew steadily more watery. She pushed onward. 

"Stop!" Hugo called in a suddenly self-conscious whisper. The Peenutz froze where they were, startled by the shift in his tone of voice. Soon, even they could hear the crunch of leaves beneath feet coming from all around them- a sound too methodical to be made by animals. 

"It's the natives." Hugo raised his ray gun, a determined look setting on his face. 

"Natives? You mean there are still people living here, and you knew it?" Tuofah muttered deliriously, her jaw beginning to go slack as black spots danced at the edges of her vision. This was a terrible time to be coming down with something!

"Well, suspected it," Hugo shrugged just as a man, taller and bulkier than any Hominan Tuofah had ever seen, charged through the brush wielding a medieval-style mace. He fired his ray gun twice, clearly aiming to disable and not to kill, and watched as the laser beam embedded itself into the man's thigh, sending him crashing noisily to the forest floor. 

Tuofah's head felt like dead weight. She had barely turned it when she saw another man and a woman rush out of the trees in her direction, wielding similar crude weapons. Like the first man, they wore three red stripes painted onto each cheek and had much larger builds than most Hominans. Aside from this, the only thing that separated them from modern humans was their clothing: they both wore some combination of mesh overalls, probably to keep out the mosquitoes, and reflective gear to cope with the heat. Tuofah would've taken more time to take note of the intricacies of their appearance, but they were charging straight at her and didn't appear to be slowing down. 

Throughout her time on the ship, Tuofah had gone to great lengths to keep her mutant powers under control: meditating, practicing, consulting Hugo- anything she could do to better understand them and keep herself in a calm state to avoid unintentionally triggering them. Yet now, sick and under attack on an unfamiliar planet, Tuofah was neither calm nor in control. She raised her arm lazily, and with one flick of her fingers watched in surprised horror as both of her attackers were swept off their feet, sailing headfirst into the nearest tree trunk. Her broad sweep was pitifully lacking in accuracy and nothing close to the precision telekinetic attacks Nexetra Serpis was capable of, but it had done the job and left her feeling even more drained than before. 

"Drop your weapons, now!" A second native woman had emerged from the trees, but she was neither armed nor running. Somehow, whether it was because of her confident posture or the fact that she was better dressed than the others and spoke perfect English, the Peenutz got the sense that she was in command. Hugo warily lowered his ray gun, and the rest of the Peenutz reluctantly followed suit. 

"I am Karishma Idala, Second Priestess of the Acolytes of Ikmanon," the woman continued as soon as she was sure that the Peenutz were cooperating. She squared her broad shoulders, making no attempt to apologize for the earlier ambush. "We do not know who you are, where you are from, or why you came here, nor do we wish to know. But what we do know is that your friend here has been infected with a tropical disease that she obviously has no immunity to. If she is allowed to come into contact with our people, she could start an epidemic. Therefore, it is our firm recommendation that you allow us to administer to her the appropriate treatment before granting you passage past this point." 

It was at that moment that, as if on cue, Tuofah's knees gave out underneath her and she felt her body drop noiselessly to the leaf-covered forest floor. The voices of Hugo and the other Peenutz calling over her were lost to her ringing ears as her vision swiftly faded to blackness.