A few amongst the group chuckled at the 'school girls' comment. At least this student's not as cowardly as most of today's youth. She didn't break when they pressured her a bit. The girl has a bit of spunk too. Fine, we'll see what our commander is planning.
Aayla stepped back as the commander took over the meeting again. Units were assigned their routes and current cases. Some soldiers would accompany them for security and educational reasons. The higher ups wanted them to learn how to handle the creatures better as well. Captain Figgins would take Aayla around the city to meet up with various units. She would see what Aayla could handle first before deciding how the rest of the week would proceed.
The first call was to a large restaurant near the Southern gate. A long line of customers impatiently waited outside the door. They tried to rush in when the manager opened the door to let Captain Figgins and the team in. A faint odor of rotten eggs pushed them back outside.
"Thank you for coming so quickly!"
"Where is the creature?"
"That thing is in the back of the store. We've trapped it in one of the pantries."
"Show me exactly where it is. Have your employees stay away and keep the customers out."
The group followed Captain Figgins to the back of the restaurant. Aayla's nose furrowed as the smell got worse. When they arrived at the pantry, a couple of nervous employees with brooms and mops were keeping watch over the locked door.
Clanks of metal and the thuds of falling fruit echoed from behind the door. Aayla could hear chittering interspersed with a wet munching sound. Something was clearly chowing down on the food inside. The employees gratefully let the officers take over. Now completely serious, the soldiers and officers began their jobs.
Aayla leaned towards Captain Figgins. "Whatever's inside is not going to react well if they go in fighting," she whispered.
"They can handle themselves. Don't worry about it."
'Fine. As you wish,' Aayla thought.
She did not have a very good feeling about this. From the reactions that Aayla's already seen, she was skeptical about how well these young officers from a remote city could handle the situation.
Two men on each side of the door while the rest surrounded it. One officer slowly cracked open the door. A soldier peered inside, then pushed it open a bit further. The noises inside continued uninterrupted. The two men next to the door rushed into the room with spells blazing.
The remaining officers focused on the door but didn't enter. Loud bangs and crashes emerged from the pantry as the two men inside cursed.
"That little b***ard's fast!"
"I can't move well with all these shelves in the way."
SCREEEEECH!
"Hey, I found it! Over here!"
"Push it towards the corner!"
HISS! SQUEAL!
"By the Celestials, what is that smell?!"
The officers ran out of the room vomiting and gagging. The noxious chemical attack emanated from the two officers. The powerful odor assaulted Aayla's nose. She immediately pinched her nose as her eyes started to water. The others began to cough and gag as well.
A black ball of fur flashed out of the door. Before Captain Figgins could cast her spell, it scampered madly down the hall. Aayla quickly ran after it with Captain Figgins right behind her.
"You two smelly idiots follow me! The rest of you keep that room sealed! Make sure that nothing else is living in there."
The creature had fortunately run down a dead-end hall with the back exit. Aayla finally got a good look at it. It was a small critter with stubby legs, black fur and a fluffy tail. Prominent white stripes ran along its back from its head to its tail.
She realized that the noxious little critter was a skunk. She gave the stinky officers a look of pity. That smell would linger on them for days. The stinky officers felt offended by her not-so-subtle pity. Darn it. Even that little girl was looking down on them.
When its pursuers approached, the creature stomped its front feet and loudly screeched in defiance. Aayla stopped and held her arm out to keep the rest back. The furious officers barged right through her arm.
The skunk stood on its front paws in a handstand with its butt facing the officers. It would have looked cute if Aayla hadn't just experienced its gag-inducing self-defense mechanism. The officers were even more furious at this 'taunt'. So even stray animals would disrespect them? They held their arms out wide and dropped low to the ground so they could catch it.
"Alright you smelly little jerk. Don't even think about doing anything stupid."
No worries, guys. You clearly have that covered by cornering a very distressed skunk. Aayla preemptively put up a thin barrier so she wouldn't get caught in the crossfire.
The officers suddenly lunged when they were only a few feet away. As predicted, the skunk hissed and let out another round of noxious spray. Officers down! They screamed in agony as the spray went into their eyes. Aayla held Captain Figgins back.
"You're just making it angrier. Do you have any capturing tools? Like a net, cage or a pet capture noose?"
"Huh? The nets are back in the station. I have no idea what a pet capture noose is."
"… Did you bring anything?"
"Why would I? I'm not a tamer, and besides I have magic."
Aayla sighed. Magic was not an answer for everything. These guys clearly needed help. She wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt since they had never dealt with Terran animals before. However, they had magical beasts here! How could they not handle simple magic-less beasts? The incompetence was astounding. She would get to the bottom this issue later.
Fortunately, Aayla made some preparations. She pulled out a thick pair of gloves from her bag. She wrapped a handkerchief around her nose and mouth then put a pair of goggles around her eyes. They worked in magic theory lab, so hopefully they'll work for this.
No nets, traps or sedatives. This was going to suck major cheese balls. Wait, sedatives! There was a lifestyle spell for calming babies and small children. What was the spell for that again?
"Could you please maintain a barrier at the end of the hallway? Just make sure that the skunk, erm that creature over there, doesn't escape."
Captain Figgins nodded and stepped back. It was time to see how this girl handled something other than snakes. Also, she had no desire to get sprayed by that thing. As a woman, she preferred perfume over chemical attacks.
With the barrier up behind her, Aayla slowly sat down to the side of the hallway. The skunk slowly lowered itself from its handstand. It venomously stared at her for several minutes. Then it dashed off.
BAM!
The skunk dizzily backed away from the barrier. It shook its head then hissed at the barrier. No amount of scratching would take the barrier down. Aayla calmly waited for it to vent its rage on the barrier.
Eventually it turned its head back towards her. She started to quietly cast the calming spell. This one was an easy to remember song for children. The tips of her ears turned red as she slowly sung. The skunk paced around, searching for a way out. Ever so slowly it began to stumble drunkenly around.
Aayla cautiously scooched towards the drowsy skunk. Inch by inch she made her way forward. Avoiding its rear end, Aayla finally got within arm's length of the skunk. It had nearly dozed off completely, but Aayla waited several more minutes and repeated the calming spell. She smacked away one of the officers who tried to intervene.
Within half an hour the skunk fell asleep. She grabbed it by the scruff of its neck and stuffed it into an awaiting sack. Captain Figgins cast a spell that cleared the air in the restaurant. Unfortunately, the smell lingered around the officers. Especially the two that were directly sprayed twice.
A gloomy mood had settled over the officers. Everything started off fine, then somehow it all went sour. Their game starts out aggressive and well planned, but devolved after a fumble. Aayla sighed for the umpteenth time today. Clearly, she had a lot of work to do.
"That was called a skunk. While nobody screamed like little girls, the skunk still escaped from the pantry and a couple of you even got sprayed. What on Ear-," Aayla coughed to cover her mistake. "Tellus are you people doing?
These creatures aren't magic beasts. They can be dangerous, sure, but you don't handle these mana-less animals like magic beasts. You all totally stink. Seriously, smell yourselves. If you weren't a hazard to your fellow officers, I would let the smell fade naturally. That could take weeks, by the way."
A couple of the officers subtly smelled their hands. They immediately gagged. Indeed, they were hazards to their fellow officers. Captain Figgins spent the next hour removing the smell while Aayla quietly watched the sleepy skunk. Eventually, they were fit for interacting with others.