Chronicles of a Space Mercenary

Most sentient races are violent. Not all, discounting the Kievors, but most. The one factor that held true for every sentient species was that they had had to struggle to become the dominant life form on their respective worlds. Eat or be eaten, but some planets just couldn't have been as fierce as others. Earth must have been a fierce place, by my reckoning, because humans are fierce, and we barely became the dominant species of Earth. We had really had to struggle. It had been no picnic for humanity. Thus we were a preeminent predator even among the many races, at least hand to claw. Technologically we were not so advanced.
That was a big part of how humans had gotten their reputations, as well, forced into it by the aggressiveness of other species.
The bear like aliens seemed particularly dense and slow to me, although they were aggressive enough, the way they were acting towards those around them. They were obvious bullies. What caught my attention the most were the piles of Kievor Credits strewed upon the table in front of them so carelessly. As if it meant very little to them. Thinking about how few were left on the Credit Voucher in my pocket, I thought I might find a better use for them than their present owners.
The bears were about two and a half meters tall, hugely muscled, clawed, black furred and had large protruding snouts filled with what looked like razor sharp teeth. The kind made for ripping and tearing at meat. Otherwise they were similar to humans in that they had two eyes, ears, arms, legs and other similar attributes. They walked on their hind feet, like we do.
"Those are Magwa." Tanya said. "They're supposed to be incredibly dangerous."
"They look slow and stupid." I said.
"It's your funeral."

Dettagli