#promptresponse

Pushing off into a full sprint again he found new energy in the terror that was gripping his chest. His legs pumped like pistons whilst his heart thundered against his chest as he willed himself onwards.

His panicked mind despaired; he was on a preservation station, they were small and designed to protect and host any space faring sentient who found themselves in distress, there was nowhere for Charles to run or escape to! The escape pod had no controls! It would just come straight back here!

He could hear the creature behind him as it scuttled. It had unfurled itself from one of the beds in the living area of the station as he had entered, unaware of the apparent danger. It was massive; longer than four or five of him laying head to toe, its shiny black carapace and bright red legs had set off every alarm in the poor Human's already frazzled mind, never mind the pair of leg sized pincers that looked like it could dissect him with ease. He could practically feel them connecting either side of his neck and snipping it straight off!

A thought occurred to Charles; the SOS signal was already broadcasting, perhaps he could hide from the giant-space-centipede until help arrived? Oh god he just needed to get away from it first.

Unfortunately he tripped. 

A loose shoelace had tangled around his other foot and the resulting failure to keep up with his torso sent the young pilot skidding to an abrupt halt, rolling over himself as he stop. The giant-space-centipede was upon him in moments, he was bodily lifted immediately and entangled in a long body, surrounded by legs. The human immediately assumed death would be next.

Charles expected screeching, blurbling or outright roars, but the cooing, motherly voice that erupted from it, kind of left his mind in the lurch however. It was a complete disconnect of what he had expected. 

"Oh! Oh no, you poor baby! Mama's here! Did you have a nasty fall? Let me see, did you hurt yourself? Oh dear! Magic pincers! Magic pincers will make it all better!"

He felt uncountable legs all over him, light pinches on what he assumed was a scraped knee as he was carried straight back to the room that served as living quarters whilst occupants waited for rescue. It didn’t bother to take the floor, it traversed the walls and ceiling whilst carrying the confused human without any hint of difficulty, all the while it whittered and worried over him. 

"Why were you running about? You could have hurt yourself-" "If I could just-" He tried to interject, "Your plates haven't even started to grow in! Honestly, your broodmother... Oh you poor thing, you're filthy, let's get you all sorted..."

"Will you get off!?” the struggling human started to demand, but the wiggling mass of chitin and legs corralled Charles towards the (to him) oversized cushioned bowl that counted as a bed according to the wider community amongst the stars.

The Broodmother happily poured herself into the depression encircling the wriggling youngster.

The poor dear was obviously young, possibly only hours old; his pink flesh showed no signs of hardening yet, covered only by thin cloth material. Someone had obviously cared for the little one by providing these rudimentary bandages that covered his four limbs, maybe the dear was a runt? Was that why he was alone? Oh her hearts, each broke in turn for the poor thing, she'd never abandoned such a vulnerable cutie.

The Broodmother, as she was known by her children, had successfully raised millions of offspring at this point. Countless eggs and the delightful youth that came soon after, she was made and born to be a mother through and through.

Those days were behind her now to her dismay. In her old age she missed the feeling of being needed, of giving care and support. To see a child grow from a beautiful egg to a regal centipede with the knowledge that if they were knocked back, she would be there to catch them without fail and without judgement.

But now this, admittedly, odd creature, needed her. He smelt of smoke and fear, her mandibles clicked in worry.

Charles on the other hand was easily manhandled into position at the centre of the bowl and the Broodmother’s body. Her many legs manipulated his far smaller and lighter body so it was also curled up, his back against the softer, warmer underbelly of the Broodmother and her legs curled protectively around his body.

"Sssh, it's okay baby. It's okay. You're safe now..." the motherly voice from above and around him crooned.

Squeezing his eyes closed for a moment, Charles took the opportunity to actually take a breath.  The running had left him panting and the ensuing struggle hadn't allowed him to recover.

"There we go.. Good boy... ssh shh shh..." Her soothing tones continued, feeling him settle.

Some of her legs began to tap gently at this skin in lazy waves, travelling from the back of his neck, down his arms and sides, before following down his legs. His flesh pimpled as a wave of goosebumps rolled across him.

"What happened darling? Can you remember?" Her voice enquired gently, as if she were talking to a vulnerable child that had hurt itself.

"I... it was a micro-meteor shower. There was nothing on the maps, took out my engine in one fell swoop..." Charles explained, hoping to regain some lost authority. He may not have been military, but he was a freighter pilot, he was self reliant, he'd always had to be.

"Oh I bet that was scary, it's over now baby, it's over.." yet more claws dragged themselves across his hair.

"Where's your carers dearie?"

"I don't have any, I have no ne-"

A gasp and a tight squeeze silenced him mid sentence as lights from the room were blocked out by the giant-space-centipede ball growing tighter.

"You do now. I'm here.. I'm here little one... you're safe now. Mama's here..."

"It's fine, I'm fine, there's no need for this, you can let me go." He tried to reassure her, but he wasn't released, only caressed lovingly again and again. The sensations, weirdly feeling quite pleasant.

"You're so brave, but there's no need now. We'll rest here, mama will look out for you and when we're feeling better we'll see about getting you under my care permanently."

 "I don't think you'll be able to do that, I'll need to get back to work before long." charles chuckled as he tried to explain again on to deaf ears. Wherever they were on her body. The rippling laugh that came from The Broodmother felt strange. 

"Oh no, it won't be an issue. My children either own or run this system and the surrounding ones too. They likely own the company you work for or are at least contracting for, they'll let mommy worry about their employee if I ask, you'll be mine to look after from now on..." She said with finality.

Charles blinked as he worked over the ramifications of this rather alarming bit of information.

“err..”

The Broodmother enclosed around him again keeping him within the safe confines of her body and love.

After roughly a day had passed, the The Galactic Community rescue crew arrived at the station to retrieve the occupants. They found a healthy, but elderly crit'yun broodmother and an exhausted young male human within. Both were in good health although the human was difficult to extract from the centre of what was a protective centipede ball. It took almost as long as the rescue itself to explain that she didn't have to wait for his skin to harden, they were ‘just like that’.

The broodmother made a solemn vow in that moment to head to the human home planet as the young, soft creatures obviously needed protecting in such a dangerous universe. No one had the heart to explain to her that it was quite the impossible task.

Some time had passed since Charles had the pleasure of meeting the crit'yun known as The Broodmother. Oddly enough, whenever he mentioned her title, everyone had at least heard of her.

In the month that had flown by, he'd found out that his contract with his company had been bought by another company, quoting something about the lost commercial ship as the catalyst. He'd also found out the fine print of said contract left him with little choice but to accept the new company or be forced to not work for a whole year which he absolutely couldn't afford to do.

Upon getting home on board a sluggat station bordering The Edge, his entire hab-block, a building that housed over a million people, had been bought and all tenants had to vacate immediately. He sat on the edge of his bed looking around the cupboard sized home that he lived in.

It was tiny, sad and in desperate need of refurbishment, but Charles was at a loss as to what he was supposed to do. He rubbed a hand across his face as he leant forward, holding his head as the quiet hum of the apartment soothed him. 

When his door buzzer shook him from his meditation, he shouted that he still had 4 days to vacate, they couldn't force him out before then. But the buzzer buzzed again.

He sighed and pushed up off the bed and keyed open the door. His heart jumped at the sight of familiar black chitin and red legs.

"Oh darling there you are! Mommy's been looking everywhere for you!"

She surged into his one room home, her massive bulk instantly filling the place and causing Charles to stumble backwards and fall onto his bed as it hit the back of his knees. Her head and long antennas swung round to check him over. The long undulating appendages gently stroking his arms, shoulders, neck and finally settling on resting against the underside of his jaw.

"Baby, I know you're a big boy now, but I've been listening to the news and I heard about your troubles."

"I have a feeling you might be behind some of this 'Broodmother'." Charles replied, a wary look on his face, unsure just how much control she had over his life.

Her upper body rose up and he was once again grabbed, pulled off the bed, and pressed into the softer scales of her underside.

"I would only ever work for what's best for you baby! Mommy only wants what's best for her baby. Wouldn't she? Yes she would!"

He was bodily swung from one side to the other as he was held captive against her. He tried to struggle, but the fluid hydraulics that powered her biology rendered her incredibly strong and him woefully incapable of escaping her clutches.

"So! Mommy has a surprise. She's going to take you back to hers, where she will pamper you, and feed you and make sure you never have to work again!"

"That's not- I mean.. shouldn't I work? Earn my way... er... mother?" Charles asked, trying to play around her game.

"Mommy." She corrected him firmly. "And no! Look at you, your plates still haven't grown in! Ah ah! You can't expect me to believe those idiots about you not supposed to have plates. I promise not to let you out of my sight,-" She tapped his nose once to emphasise her point. " until they all grow in."

"And what am I to do while I'm there?"

"Why, be my child of course! If we're to encourage your plates to grow in, we'll need to start all over and make sure that we undo the damage your last caretaker did. I'll sing you to sleep, bath you, entertain you- we'll have a marvellous time together." She promised.

“H-hey! Wait!”Charles struggled again as she scuttled out of his apartment and into the hallway, also occupied by more crit'yun.

Big or small didn’t matter, just something to break the stroke of bad luck and the militaristic funk he was currently in. He wasn’t defeated, he just needed to pivot to another avenue of attack on the wider galaxy.

Once he got back to base, he’d drink everything left over from previous raids and start fresh with a little genocide on some backwater planet. He’d skirt The Edge first, picking off any lone freighters or under-prepared sluggat stations he came across before attacking the first inhabited planet. Sluggats were a soft race, get into one of their stations and it was easy pickings. It was just a matter of getting past the defences first.

He leaned back in his chair with a smirk across his snout as his radar ‘pinged!’ with a new contact. Turning his head a rapturous grin broke over his features.

A single ship, a goods freighter most likely. His grin broadened as the scan confirmed no weapons at all, aside from point defence for meteors. Child's play and proof that his rampant bloodshed in the past would be rewarded by the Gods. Depending on the crew he could personally slaughter them all or just make his way to the bridge and vent them if they didn’t join his new raiding band. He needed to replenish his forces after all.

He didn’t bother opening a comms link to offer terms or even a chance to surrender, he needed this.

With a bone jarring slam into the docking port, his ship tore its way in and sealed itself around the ragged edges of his piercing entrance that had been the side of the freighter’s hull. Once he left, the resulting hole would either kill or cripple the ship, their corpses would merely add to his infamy.

It was a scant few seconds later, whilst he still had the element of surprise that he burst into the foreign ship. Right  into an empty corridor with flickering lighting. The ship was in a poor state, less from intentional damage and more from neglect. It explained why they were out toward The Edge to begin with. Only those with no options or money would come all the way out here.

Once he got to the bridge, whilst the door was locked he was Garf’troyus the pirate! No locked door would stop him as he simply grabbed the edges and pulled them apart. They resisted, but helped by the aged unmaintained mechanics it tore open and let him through with a squeal.

A human launched themselves at him and gave a swift downwards slam with a heavy wrench across Garf’troyus’s forehead. Thankfully they had gone for the thickest part of his skull or that may have defeated him then and there. He merely straightened up and looked down disdainfully at the creature. He snorted once.

What followed was a series of brutal blows thrown by both Garf’troyus and the smaller human. Her hair was long and greasy as if she hadn’t been able to wash it in an extended amount of time. She fought like a wild creature that had been cornered and with no further options but to fight to the death.

Garf’troyus was triumphant in the end, but it was not the landslide victory he had come to expect from his past scores of wins. He had lost several teeth and was fairly certain had several cracked ribs. But the Human was slumped against a far wall and breathing heavily. She was mortally wounded, there would be no further danger from her. His claws dripped with her essence.

He began to check the main console for any other life signs and found none aboard. A dark hacking chuckle came from the Human.

“Are you finding humour in your perishing human?” He asked, keeping an eye on her crumpled form. She didn’t rise.

“No.. But it’s over.. Finally..” She wheezed.

“You disliked your life so much? Then you are welcome.” He grunted, wincing from the pain lancing through his side. She had done a worse number on him than any other in living memory.

“Look.. hah.. no-one deserves what’s about to happen without a heads up… What’s your name?”

“I am Garf’troyus the pirate! Rejoice, for you are rewarded with death to be in my presence.”

“Your name is Garth?! Hah! Oh, oh don’t make me laugh.. oh ho ho.. ooh ow…”

He snorted in frustration, humans never knew when to show respect.

“They’re going to be loose already… That explosion or whatever it was will have woke them up…”

He glared at her out of the side of his eye. “..Woke what?”

“They started as toys… Then people felt more deeply for them than any basic toy.”

She pulled a hand away from her side where it was soaked with her disgustingly red blood.

“They became cherished pets. They modified them… Made them better…Your technology…”

A sigh.

“Technology got better and so did they. First it was just their appearance, before long they could move on their own.”

Her eyes got heavy, her words slurred.

“But they were ageless. Their owners passed away and they became beholden to no-one.”

Her voice got quiet.

“… I got most of them… but.. now? ...B...Best of luck Garth…”

She was still.

The lights flickered overhead and the shadows of the room seemed to lengthen.

The huge alien heard something long and slithery outside the only door in or out of the room.

"Kah hungry, aaa aaa aaa!" came something sinister and synthetic.

"Whoa! Big sound, wah!" another, different voice answered, it was in the room.

Garf’Troyus grabbed the Human’s dropped wrench as he saw two blinking eyes illuminated in the pure darkness outside the room.