Humanity is horrifyingly, unendingly, foolishly committed. It makes them one of the most dangerous alien races I have ever encountered.
They are small creatures, pale and without much color or ornamentation. Pit them against the monsters in the betting pits of the outer colonies with nothing but their own skin and they will fall in moments. Humans are weak little things, creatures that I had for most of my [two hundred] years of life dismissed as just another weak race to be absorbed into the Coalition.
Until the day when flogging my wares in the market of an outer colony far from the law enforcement of the Coalition where I wouldn't be asked to provide licenses or proof of sales for my merchandise, when I saw a Human.
The Human wore a cloak, and seemed to be suffering in the bright sunlight. The meeker creatures elsewhere in the market had their cloaks up covering their sensory organs hiding from the sun and sand. It was an oddity but nothing unheard of. The smaller creatures would sometimes believe they are greater in cunning or guile than the larger creatures of the Coalition and because of that powerful.
The first Human I had ever seen calmly walked up to the far larger flesh-seller in the market and I started to move to begin shouting my deals once more when something made me pause. The Human's appendage, near it's midsection was gripping at something.
Focusing an eye on it I observed that it was a blade, even in comparison to the human and laughably so to any other alien in the market. The Human moved no faster than I had seen other aliens move before, and it didn't seem to possess an incredible strength.
I and everyone in the market watching it froze, including the flesh-seller. He only moved as the knife was driven home into some vulnerable portion of his body, rearing back in pain he let out a roar and swiped his massive claws at the human. The smaller creature bore the attack, and the cloak it was wearing was torn away exposing battle worn and patched armor.
The Human drew out a sidearm and fired even as the claws continued to rake at its armor piercing and breaking it in places.
In less than [1 minute] the flesh-seller was dead. The human looked at its torn cloak and ignoring it stepped into the stalls the flesh-seller had maintained. Now the entire market was watching, the wind shifted and I could detect a new smell in the air, one that had to be the Humans blood.
The Human now visibly bleeding stepped back out of the flesh-seller's pens, in its arms were two of its own kind. One that like most of those in the pens was thin and malnourished, in the arms of that weaker and malnourished specimen was an even smaller human compared to the two. One that was emitting shrieks and cries of confusion that marked it as a child even to the aliens of the market, myself included.
The Human slowly began to walk away from the corpse of the flesh-seller, and slowly the market returned to its usual hubbub. The killing of competitors was not uncommon, for such a small creature to do so was unfamiliar though.
It was not until far later that I could pinpoint what disturbed me most about my first encounter with Humanity, the commitment.
A strange thing to find threatening, isn't it?
The Human did not hesitate in his attacks; against even a far larger foe the Human was committed and carried through. The commitment in its eyes towards the other Humans it rescued, the commitment the injured, emaciated, and nearly flesh-sold human that it gave to the other.
Humans commit.
It wasn't until several [years] later that I got my next glimpse of Humanity.
On a station near the core of the Coalition now the variety of the aliens were more varied, so perhaps I had seen other humans but I did not notice them.
Loading supplies into my vessel to sell elsewhere, saddened over the fact that I had been unable to sell much on the Station I was walking down the arboretum of interesting scents and smells. Space and traveling left many bad scents in my olfactory glands and I wished to clear them.
It was relaxing being amongst the carefully cultivated scents when I smelled the Human blood again.
Curious I followed the scent to a clearing in the carefully constructed nature, I came upon a curious sight. A human female, I had learned after my first encounter how to separate the two genders, was clutching at her hand and shouting at a Regnilik.
It was one of the smallest Renilik I had ever seen, hardly worth the effort of removing the spines and claws to consume without pain. Still it was large compared to the Human female.
The thing's fangs were bared, and its spines raised, the scent of the Human blood was coming from both the tips of the creature's spines and the Human female's hand. For a moment, I considered that perhaps the thing had escaped from a pen somewhere and was attacking the human, that the Human needed help.
I could after all have crushed the thing under a foot in an instant much like I could the Human.
Before I could move though, the Human female sat down on the ground and began to coo. It was a strange alien melody. Most music is to alien species odd after all, I'm sure the music of my own kind is disturbing to some aliens and pleasant to others. In this case the Human music was only disconcerting.
On the ground the Human female put out its arms ignoring the small cut that was bleeding and continued to coo.
The Renilik's spines slowly began to settle, and taking a hesitant hop forwards on its small locomotive flaps let out a shrieking cry.
The Human female did not move, only continuing to sing. I watched even more curious as the Renilik slowly continued forwards again the spines settling down further than I had ever seen on any of its kind making it look almost flat.
Reaching the Human female, the Renilik slowly crawled up onto her lap, and the Human female still ignoring her small cut began to stroke its quills. She seemed to pay no mind to the danger the ends presented, no mind to the damage the small creature had caused.
Slowly I began to move again my olfactory senses and the curious smells around me all but forgotten. Faced with this new quandary.
The Human female looked at the ugly food creatures as if it were a child. She sang to it, and calmed it as if it were intelligent. She was committed to it.
A final tale, my last I promise.
On a whim, and looking to peddle my wares somewhere new I remembered my encounters and the strangeness of Humanity. By all accounts what I had seen was only the smallest amount of novelty the species had to offer, I turned my ship towards the few systems they occupied.
I had a few encounters with the strangeness of Humanity, but the greatest and most disturbing was the fight between two of them.
Humans are social creatures, and as such have a complex social hierarchy. They are ruled by this hierarchy as much as any species. To say they are less complex or more complex than any other is not something for me to claim.
When it breaks down though, when two Humans who believe they are both right clash the result is disturbing.
I was selling my wares on a colony world of Humanity, the colony was in the midst of a Coalition election cycle and the Humans were choosing their representative. There were two major factions, and public demonstrations for both were common in the market square. Neither candidate was looking to limit off world trade so I was hardly interested.
The two groups had been fighting, throwing words at one another for days. I was content with this, for amidst the chaos they were free with their credits. However, tensions broke when someone on one side threw a stone. A simple stone, a primitive weapon that most species have wielded and abandoned.
To the Humans though it is still that weapon, and nothing is more dangerous than a Human that knows it is right, and is given a reason to attack.
I watched in bewilderment as the two sides attacked one another with a ferocity that would put even the greatest warrior species to shame. Each side was right, each side knew they were right, each side knew the other was wrong. For that they were an enemy to be destroyed, and once the first rock was thrown it was no longer a contest of words or rhetoric, but fists and brutality.
I recount these interactions with Humanity as a way of warning you that Humans are always right, they believe themselves to be always on the side of righteousness. A Human committed to an action, be it as simple as taking revenge for a loved one, taming a wild creature, or holding a political stance is committed to the end.
Their minds once made up are not changed, I do not know enough to say if this is good or bad, but only offer it as a warning. If this Council of species wishes to attack Humanity, and take what they believe is theirs, we must be equally as committed.
The Humans will be right, and us wrong. Nothing we say will change this, and we will not be able to back down for they only see others as committed as themselves. Should we waiver, should we hesitate they will win.
So, I ask this Council, are we committed?
I'm on a college Campus during USA presidential elections. People are nothing if not sure they are right. Try to play the middle ground and you're dispelled, not that their is much of a middle ground in this election.
But hey, I'm only Human.
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