PThok Eats an Ice Cream Cone (2/2)
The passerby for the most part ignored P'Thok for the next several days, as he spent all of his money on the delectable substance known as ice cream, trying as many different types as possible. He could not believe that the Terran's had devised so many distinct flavors! What geniuses! Surely the Hive Mothers would relent and grant the mammals honored being status in the Hive if they would just share the wonderful recipe of delightful concoction with the Traena'ad. Soon, P'Thok began selling some of his non-essential equipment to a man on a corner by a house with friendly Terran women who had lots of visitors at night. Soon, the man began trading the wonderful substance to simply record P'Thok speaking about life in the Hive, while two huge Terrans, nearly entirely mechanical, they were so heavily augmented with cybernetics, guarded P'Thok from the shadowy foes that sought to bring him down. Despite P'Thok's nervousness about the two fearsome combat cyborgs, the friendly man assured P'Thok that they were deserters from the Terran military that believed that Terrans and Traena'ad should work together.
P'Thok could not believe that a simple street vendor sold something that would make the Warrior Caste of the Traena'ad appear harmless to the surrounding Terrans and tourists. Nearly as good as the legends of invisibility! And here was a fool who gave the substance for answers even a larvae would know. What fools these Terrans were. No, not fools, they knew who he was, and they would come and get him soon! Those two 'bodyguards' were in fact Terran military, who were measuring P'Thok for a steaming pot and determining what kind of sauce he would taste good coated with and dipped in!!
Almost clacking with anxiety, P'Thok hurried to the nearest space port, keeping a whole box of ice cream close at hand the whole way, and boarded a flight to the Disputed Zone. There, he ordered his freezer stocked full with as many different types of ice cream as he could order. He really wanted to avoid leaving his room, after all, they were out there, waiting to get him, to keep him from breeding with fertile virgins.
The whole way to the Disputed Zone, nobody even suspected the Traena'ad warrior who ate nothing but ice cream and rubbed it's legs together in glee one moment and whose antennae trembled with fear that they had almost caught him. No one knew that instead of a harmless Manti, peaceful ally of the Terrans, a Traena'ad warrior, a feared infiltrator to the very cradle of Terrans itself, was among them. Had not the Traena'ad defeated the Terran military in 22% of all engagements? Had P'Thok himself done something no other had ever done, visited the Terran home world and survived? Wasn't that man by large artificial pond of liquid H2O one of the men who had asked him harmless questions? What exactly was Rocky Road? There was not any chunks of stone, nor did it have any roads in it.
The Disputed Planet Tk'Ktak/Decarus was easy to reach, and easier to move from the Terran occupied areas to the small section of the protocontinent that the Traena'ad still occupied. Before P'Thok left the Terran Occupied Zone, he stole a large, armored ice cream transport vehicle that had specially outfitted to transport the wonderful material. The camouflage built into the vehicle and the bobbing head of a large Terran with a bright red nose and strangely multi-colored hair ensured that none of the Terrans would try to stop P'Thok as he raced out of the Terran Occupied Zone. The severed head atop the vehicle cackled the harsh Terran laughter the entire way, striking fear into everyone, but strangely enough, attracting Terran larvae, who tried to flag P'Thok down with credsticks.
Each crowd of Terran larvae made P'Thok chitter in terror, and reach into the back of the armored transport for another ice cream bar. He was deathly afraid the small, voracious creatures would manage to stop his armored vehicle and devour him in a larval feeding frenzy. The viscous little larvae were in such a feeding frenzy that they chased him on their large, crushing feet for long distances, their hunting cries loud as they pursued him.
He was keening in relief when he finally reached the Traena'ad Occupied Zone, pursued by dozens of Terran assault craft who seemed desperate to regain the armored transports valuable cargo intact, and because of that, could not bring their heavy weaponry to bear. Despite that, the ferocity of the Terran assault troops forced what small, remaining forces the Traena'ad had off the planet within hours.
But P'Thok and his invaluable cargo had made it, and once his superiors had sampled the contents of the armored cargo vehicle, they agreed that the loss of a minor planet was nothing compared to the importance of P'Thok's discovery. While sampling the prize P'Thok had returned with, Clutch Leaders decided that they would use their secret weapon, and the invincibility that it bestowed upon them, on the hotly contested world of Chtick'vik, where the Terrans had recently inserted a full Clutch of Terran Heavy Assault Marines.
P'Thok's superiors viewed what tapes P'Thok had not sold off, and agreed, with ice cream in there possession, the mighty Terrans would suffer the fate of any other primate that dared resist a Traena'ad.
Defeat, death, and devouring.
P'Thok and the other warriors gathered together to charge the Terran lines. Their weapons were slung as they moved slowly forward through the line, each of them being handed an ice cream cone by the Clutch Leader. All present were trembling in anticipation of the substance that would turn them from the universes lowest form of life, not fit to even gaze upon the stars, much less travel them, to the greatest thing the universe had ever created, the sum of all that was good, wise, clever, sexy, and powerful.
They had seen what happened to the Terran Marines stationed nearby as the Traena'ad sympathizers stole each ice cream shipment as it came through. Snagging it right from the Terran Naval transports when they touched down, and leaving boxes full of dirt in the place of the crated refrigeration units the ice cream was shipped in. As the ice cream was stolen, the Traena'ad watched the Terrans closely to see what effect it would have on the Terran warriors. More and more fighting among brood brothers, lack of equipment maintenance, lackluster patrols, a complete falling apart of discipline in a force feared galaxy wide for their discipline and ferocity. The Terrans went from almost machinelike to a clutch of larvae without Hivemind touch for guidance.
P'Thok's superiors were pleased with P'Thok's discovery of the secret to Terran ferocity and ability to become nearly invisible anywhere. Not to mention the ability to breed like some kind of scavengers infesting a giant corpse. They had planned in lengthy conferences, partaking of the wondrous substance P'Thok had discovered, and finally settling on the mornings operation. During the long trip, having gotten lost several times, they had devoured the cargo of the armored transport, and so, had to choose a random world to test the power of ice cream on. Wisely, the Clutch Lord had pointed at the map, membranes over his eyes, and stated that that world would be the first to fall.
Each Traena'ad left the bunker complexes that had been their home, scuttling forward on powerful legs, holding the ice cream cones high overhead to grant them invisibility and fearsome combat discipline and skill. Many of the cones were half eaten, and more than one warrior held an empty hand high into the air, snickering to himself with his cleverness at deceiving his superiors into thinking he had not eaten his issued cone.
They drew closer and closer to the Terran lines, not a single shot being fired at them. They could feel a surge of victory as they drew ever closer, soon able to see the Terran Marines staring at them in fear and confusion. Elation filled their hearts as they drew ever closer, coming closer than anyone ever had without being discovered and fired on by the fearsome mammals. Some of the Terrans were bent over, convulsing in terror and their diaphragms spasming so they uttered sharp barks of fear and chagrin.
”Open fire!” one of the Terran's bellowed, and the fearsome firepower of the Terran Marines tore the attacking insect warriors apart. Some of them managed to stagger within spitting distance of the Terrans, but none of them ever fired a rifle, one warrior stopping between two marines to dance and preen at them, displaying his invisibility and cleverness. P'Thok watched the demise of his comrades from behind the boulder where he had stopped to eat his cone, and any cones within reach, and felt sad, but oh well, more would be hatched to replace them. P'Thok figured he would go back and tell Hive Intelligence what had happened.
As soon as he finished this ice cream cone. And maybe the bucket of ice cream in the bunker.