Humans are Stealthy (Bush Wookies 2)

Well, I guess this will be a series now. Stories will be short and sweet, but I’ll keep em coming. Thanks to u/WenderToast for the universe name...

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Brzla froze in place. “Ixitl, you reallly need to wake up, like right now!” Ixitl slowly stirred, and looked up at Brzla...

“Am I imagining things, or did the bushes speak?”

“Yes, they spoke. Does the Hegemony have any information about sentient shrubberies on Terra? Because it said something about ‘passt owt’”

Ixitl sat up, rubbing his head with a fore-claw. “No, not that I know of. Besides, how would it know we were here? We’ve been cloaked the majority of the time, and we’re far enough away from their cities to not be easily spotted.”

“Well, that’s because I’m not really a bush.” Ixitl and Brzla froze, staring horrified at the pile of vegetation and detritus that slowly rose to a standing position less than three meters from their camp. The creature slung what appeared to be a primitive rifle over its shoulder and removed its head covering, revealing a shock of brown fur on top of a green face with piercing blue eyes. “GySgt Steve Jones, USMC, at your service. Now, what the hell are you doing running around Quantico?”

Ixitl stuttered madly, but the words would not come. “H-how? W-what? You u-understand us?”

A throaty, ululating growl came from the creature. “Yeah, we understand you. You remember the scout ship you sent about a year ago? We reverse-engineered your translator technology, among other things. We’ve been watching you for the past week.”

Brzla scoffed. “Impossible! Our cloaking technology is impervious to scans! There’s no way you could have followed us. Besides, your kind is far too primitive to use our technology effectively.”

The creature (apparently a huu-men of some sort) emitted the same growl again. Ixitl’s translator identified it as an expression of mirth. “We’re backwards? You guys show up like Times Square on the thermals! Also, your wireless transmissions are unencrypted; we’ve been reading your mail for the past year, ever since you ‘discovered’ us.” He snorted in derision. “We’ve got an Osprey inbound; you two are now guests of the U.S. Government, and we have some questions for you.”

Ixitl performed his species’ equivalent of a frown. It was supposed to be an easy reconnaissance mission to assess this “Earth” for worthwhile resources, yet he and Brzla had been captured by a single one of these huu-mens, some sort of subspecies that could apparently shape shift to match the local vegetation. He wasn’t even sure what a USMC was, but he knew the Hegemony was not gonna be pleased...