Traitor

The space craft dipped sharply as Cass cut the engines to escape detection from the surveillance scanners monitoring the moon's atmosphere. Illura was surprised that her ward's flying style hadn't gotten them flown into a star yet. The surface of the sixth moon of Harjaht came closer by the second and the four long and bony claw-like fingers of the Arothan female gripped onto her seat tightly, her four equally long and claw-like toes digging into the metal floor of their shuttle with a screeching sound. The strawberry blond human girl in the piloting chair winced at the sound but thankfully kept her main focus on not getting them killed via crash-landing. The engines flared to life just in time and as Cass pulled the vessel upwards sharply, Illura was immediately bombarded by the girl's collection of senseless human trinkets flying all around the cockpit as her own tentacles, growing from the back of her head, slapped her in the face. With a stutter and groan their shuttle, the Bumbershoot, settled on the ground. Really, the Arothan should've expected a name of the like when she'd offered the younger human female to name their newly acquired vessel back in the day, her fascination with all things human was bordering unhealthy in a galaxy like theirs. Grumbling, Illura started picking Cass' collection of human relics off of herself. "What, by the stars, is this?", she inquired in Arotha, her species language consisting of throaty and guttural growling, hissing and humming sounds for a lack of vocal chords, holding up some object made of a hard, dark material that bore some similarities to the pilot goggles Cass was pushing up into her short hair, having shut down the Bumbershoot's engines for good. "Sunglasses.", Cass replied in human language, equally physically unable to speak Arotha, reaching for the object, her freckled face contorted in a grin. Illura shook her head in discomfort, despite the fact that she'd practically raised the human female the notion of baring one's teeth as a show of joy or excitement was still utterly alien to the Arothan, who's species only opened their mouths to show hostility and a warning of an impending attack as well as for eating. The thick, armoured skin of the bubble in- and deflating on her chest, the Arothan equivalent of a human lung, fluttered as she sighed through her nostrils, strapping out of her seat and standing upright, towering a little more than two heads over her human ward. "Well then. Let's find Moira Talley and get this job over with as soon as possible." Cass nodded, storing away her trinkets before she slung her rifle over her shoulder and followed her out of the ship. Upon opening the door of the shuttle, they were met with uncomfortably humid air, only descending the ramp already made droplets of moisture trickle over Cass' pale milky skin. Illura had a feeling that the girl was suddenly thankful that she'd left her jacket in the cockpit and that human clothes weren't commonly sold and she'd had to wrap her chest in stripes of fabric after ruining her last shirt. The Arothan herself didn't have such problems, she was much more adept to temperature changes and traditionally only wore a simple skirt of burgundy folds of fabric around her hips. After closing and sealing up the ship the two set off through the tropic environment to the closest settlement.

Upon entering the assortment of narrow muddy streets and wet, partially overgrown one-story concrete block buildings, Illura placed a long-fingered hand on Cass' shoulder, making it seem like she was guiding the human around. She felt the girl stiffen as she observed the local humans scurry through puddles, their heads bowed and shoulders hunched. She pushed the girl forwards; they had a job to focus on. At a corner an Arothan male used his long scaly tail to swipe a woman's legs out from beneath her, chuckling "human scum" as she hastily climbed back to her feet and hurried away, throwing one last fearful look at the reptilian creature, the scaly armour-like skin, the bubble-like lung on a forward bending torso with protruding ribs, the long muscular limbs and tail, the long bony claws on fingers and toes, the round head with the broad jaw full of sharp predator-typical teeth sitting atop the long forward bend neck, the flat nostrils and slitted eyes, the folds of skin, horn bumps and tentacles on top of the head, the latter falling down to the lower back, marking this individual as pretty old. "Cassidy.", Illura had to warn and tighten her grip as the girl attempted to pull away. Once steered away from the scene, she didn't try to pull another stunt on their way through countless hidden dirty alleyways towards the local detention center.