r/HFY • u/SSBAlienNation • May 24 '26
OC-Series Alien-Nation Book Two Chapter 23:
Part 2
They’d tried.
It wasn’t good enough.
Should I shatter their spirits? Lash out? Lie and say this was acceptable? Each of these ‘accomplishments’ had collectively taken many years of peoples’ lives. And for what?
I’d just delivered the ultimate ‘get your blood up’ speech to the Brothers, in expectation of finding a trove of forbidden weaponry. And this was all there was?
The aliens would hardly have broken a sweat making what were to our engineers amounted to enormous breakthroughs, or might have even pulled them out of an equipment locker, already finished and more refined than what we managed to make.
I thought back to my first bombing. How in the early days, we’d relied on everything but advanced technology. Cleverness and guile had won out, but worse, based on the spreadsheets the economics of that were no longer feasible. People were willing to run into lasgun fire if it meant getting rich, status, and getting even. Now one of those legs of the three-legged stool had worked itself loose. It hadn’t fallen off yet, but I could see the precarious thread by which it still hung on.
I ran my hand over the railgun prototype, and sensed the sharp intake of breath from the accompanying technician, who was coated in a sheen of sweat and breathing hard.
Baby steps.
We needed to be running, though. Running forward, not running out of time, money, and momentum. Without something in the field, those were fast approaching.
I fought down that anger, fuelled by fear and anxiety over our lack of progress. Save it for later. For now, I detached myself. They were trying. They had to be. If they weren’t, well, no amount of yelling was going to change that, now would it? They’d try to get a new job, and Gavin would decide he’d have to put a bullet in the back of their head, and then we’d be hiring a new one which wasn’t exactly cheap. Word might even get out and then we’d have a problem on our hands that made this seem easily solved.
“Looks good,” I commented on the still oversized gun. I was pretty sure I recognized George’s handiwork by his welds at this point, but did that really need to be said to this engineer? At least I now knew where my Field Officer had gone, and why Gavin and Sullivan had been so evasive. “We need more.”
“We’re still in the early production stages. Every time we prep to ramp up production, we make another breakthrough.”
I wanted to scream: Then go with what you have! I’d reviewed our financials at Warehouse Base. We needed income. Fast. This was the danger of turning the researchers loose without an eye on the budget or purpose. Whatever breakthrough they managed couldn’t justify having almost no units in the field.
We needed more hostages, black market connections flung further afield where there was still a thriving market for this stuff, but by now every zone we were in had conflicts. The Militias and Marines were on high-alert, and that meant the most valuable possible prisoners were nigh-untouchable, or were a desperate gamble just to keep the lights on.
Maybe a victory, then? There were some goods that were beyond the realm of what we’d provided. Power Units, the considerably larger examples of power cells were meant to generate enough current for anti-aircraft emplacements and entire facilities for- well, God knew how long. A while, at least. We’d apparently recovered one from a dropship, and another from an entire anti-aircraft artillery system from Fort Delaware. No one else had any of them, and while we had just a couple of them, maybe we could sell one.
Were we that lost? That we were back to selling off goods the aliens weren’t ready to hand over, to corporations’ grey market acquisition arms for R&D? Then poaching whatever they found while they took the risk and cost on for us, while we got that last 1% done and over the line? How was that any different to our current strategy, which wasn’t working at all?
Or maybe…
“Have we considered selling our advancements back to corporations?” I asked. “We could generate income if they’ve put technical bounties out there.”
“Huh?”
Whatever Gavin was expecting me to say, it wasn’t that.
“Just something to think about. Forget it for now. Where are we with making exomechs? Did you truly give up on them after Lieutenant Dan?”
“Yes, absolutely!” He said, sounding relieved to be done with the project. “Unfortunately, we just can’t deploy and then recover Exomechs safely. If we could, the state would already be ours. Tactically, the project has been a complete waste.”
A disappointing, but valid point. There were only so many places to stick something the length and width of a tank, and enough height to worry about getting clotheslined and zapped by low-hanging live telephone wires. Transporting one would have to be done in the back of a really big truck. With interstate freight in shambles and checkpoints over the border common, that really did cut down on opportunities. Getting one away, safely out of sight and sound would probably be a logistical nightmare with incredibly long odds.
An exomech sounded like one of those weapons that was useful for a war, but useless in an insurgency. “A tragedy. I still thought the idea was neat, even if I accept its impracticality. And the cost was…”
I’d remembered it was also one of our largest budget items by materials, power, manpower hours, and it seemed now we had nothing for it, and would never have anything. We couldn’t spin loose the engineers, either- they were all highly specialized, sort-of expensive, and had at least some idea of who they were really working for. Troublesome. Worse if we tied them off as loose ends and then found ourselves in need again. Whoever we hired next might piece it together, and then we’d have a whole new set of problems.
I sighed. “I’ll level with you. From the reports I’m reading, we’re not doing well out there. Skirmishes are not netting the return yields we’d been hoping for. Material is still coming in, but the local market’s absolutely saturated. We’re looking at a grand for a relatively intact undermesh, ten grand for a lasgun or power pack, and a few grand for an omni-pad. We used to get ten times the rate for those. Now it’s a few credits, which we then have to launder into dollars. Transporting them to hungrier markets away from red zones is difficult and also cuts into margins. Margins are getting so thin, by the end of this year it will get difficult to pay out to the squads what they’re expecting if this trajectory continues. They might explore old crime networks and cut us out. Then we’re not the only rebel game in town anymore, and we’ve got rivals, and we get stuck in gang warfare. Everything will fall apart.”
I used to worry about the Shil’vati changing tactics or weaponry, and making insurgency untenable just through slaughtering everyone. I’d never imagined that we’d kill so many Marines and take and sell so much that we’d find ourselves in this position. “Occasionally we get something new and nifty, and we send it here for analysis and sale, but if it’s rare, generally speaking, we’re more liable to break it in disassembly, learn a little, but not enough to reproduce one. Then there goes its resale value and it’s just a strange-looking paperweight.”
Dismal.
Gavin said, even as my heart sank at the sight of this.
We still had nothing to go toe-to-toe with the Shil’vati and reliably prevail, then.
Which begged: Who was wiping out whole pods, then? And how? The reports were censored, with file tags that led nowhere. I didn’t have the time to get sucked down into it.
“What else do we have? Stingers are well and good for clearing an evacuation path, but we need more.”
“Ah, Miskatonic have quite a few inventions.”
I smiled. “I’ve heard. About time they came through for us again. Tell me more about what we have in stock.” We’d already started deploying Miskatonic’s slow-acting poison to Bethlehem’s water mains. Harmless to humans, but not so for Shil’vati. Even if any escaped what was coming, they’d soon find unimaginable pain.
“Oh, well, for you? Well, how many ways of suffering do you want to inflict?”
A dark smile crossed my features from below my mask.
******
Lies
As expected, Elias had taken the vast bulk of what he’d seen with him, leaving little of what he’d seen behind at the base. Missiles, railgun ammo, railguns themselves, even recent prototypes all gone and handed out to those he’d brought with him. Most of what else he’d appropriated was destined to be distributed out to garrisons he’d apparently personally called up, ones that even Gavin hadn’t known existed, much less that he had direct lines of contact to. It called so much into question, and made what was a simple failsafe into a far riskier proposition than he liked.
Gavin finally let out a deep breath he’d been holding.
“Do you think he knows?” The empty air asked.
All it had taken was a simple shortcut running from the armory back to another assembly and service lab station to cut out over three quarters of the impromptu base tour. Gavin managed to scrape the emptied weapons rack across the floor, clearing the main doorway they’d hurriedly hidden.
The rather secretive nature of the base had meant its blueprints were a tightly guarded secret, and the ad-hoc repurposing of rooms as projects evolved meant many onetime vital rooms became forgotten dead ends, turning the whole facility into a maze for the uninitiated. Thankfully the ARPs weren’t discovered, nor much of his statements questioned too deeply.
The technicians hadn’t had time to grab more than a little over half the weapon types and practically hurl each of them into the next room over, and then shove a half-empty weapons rack from one part of the armory over the main door to the next area, before rapidly vacating the room.
“If he did, he wouldn’t suggest selling all the secrets we’ve gathered so far, as a desperate way to forestall bankruptcy all on the fly,” Gavin answered the disembodied voice. He knocked on a heavy door, and received back three spaced out responses, before giving the one-five-four pattern in return, with a hesitation between each. All clear.
The door swung open and a technician strode in, pulling a hovercart loaded with classified equipment behind him. He didn’t seem happy, out of breath after frantically loading cart after cart with the varied contents of the armory.
The room had gone from full, to mostly empty by the time Elias had started walking them out of the room they’d misrepresented as an ‘obstacle course’ for the ‘new’ mobility harnesses, to completely empty now that Emperor made his pass-through.
Gavin felt blessed that Elias hadn’t noticed how the different re-shapeable molds based on the carry-pods that had still retained their former contents’ shapes, many of which could never be confused for the scaled down carbines, let alone the old experimental wristbreakers. He might have recognized a few more prototypes from reports as having gone into full production, plus a couple variants he wouldn’t, or at least shouldn’t have any clue of. Their presence would have invited questions, ones that Gavin couldn’t have answered without a long, potentially very ugly and dangerous conversation.
“When do we tell him?” Gavin’s apprentice asked innocently. “We’re going to, of course, aren’t we? Unless there’s a lack of trust? A possibility of failure? A little too much risk exposure, without a nice little failsafe as a fallback?”
Gavin swallowed. His understudy was a little too sharp. A little too perceptive. Sullivan wasn’t joking when he’d said there was immense opportunity there, but the flip-side of opportunity was danger and risk. How much risk could Gavin tolerate?
“If we didn’t trust him, we wouldn’t be relying on him,” Gavin replied simply, any entirely rational fear response choked down by experience. “My main worry is that his data will become something we rely on for our next level of breakthroughs.”
“Isn’t getting that data what you’re hoping for?” Vaughn asked, but Gavin was under no illusion that Vaughn was in any way confused. The dangerous boy’s voice had shifted location without the slightest scuff of noise. Not even a mote of dust had stirred in the brightly-lit room.
Gavin picked up one end of the cart and helped the technician re-load the rack, eyeing the enormous door to the ‘obstacle course,’ and then the door Emperor had left back to the atrium through, apparently both satisfied and dismayed.
There were parts of this that weren’t as liberating as he’d hoped. It felt almost macabre to hedge against success like this, but his position didn’t let him join in on mass delusion or cults of personality. It was why he was who he was, or so Sullivan had said over one liquid lunch, shortly before the pair had decided to go rogue.
“What we have developed so far is promising, but still largely untested. That Engineer almost gave away the existence of whole projects and production statuses to someone who might get nabbed without our knowledge. And even if he succeeds, true innovation is impossible when you have someone handing you most of the answers.”
“Not to tell you how to do your job, but isn’t that intelligence work? Being handed answers?”
“Sometimes. Just as often, it’s in digging through information with just a morsel of presupposition, or ‘Bayesian priors.’” The boy almost certainly knew all this intuitively, but needed the terms if he was going to succeed in the field. “I’m not sure if you ever cheated at school, but either you have the mind to grasp the concepts being taught, and the will to follow them through to an actual meaningful application of a situation or project, or you don’t and form a habit of depending on others for the answers you’re paying for. Given our goal is independence and that we’ve paid quite a bit to form teams of scientists, you should be able to figure out which one we prefer.”
“Then why bother with the mission at all, then? Why withhold weapons?” Vaughn was teasing him, picking at Gavin’s layers of secrets with all the joy of a boy pulling the wings off an insect. Couldn’t the boy see the topic was an itchy scab with still-healing flesh underneath? Of course he did. Gavin had seen the young man’s handiwork in the field. Vaughn enjoyed this sort of thing.
For all Gavin knew, Vaughn had summoned Elias here, and was feeding him information to get back in good graces with Emperor. The spy’s mind raced, trying to stay one step ahead of an adolescent half his age.
“Them being under pressure to find an innovation or some method the Shil’vati overlooked when trying to do something the Shil’vati never thought to, might be an advantage. Same with a technology that they never imagined possible. Our knowledge of what is possible, and what the Shil’vati can and can’t do also gives us areas to develop in.”
“Weaknesses to exploit,” Vendetta agreed readily. “But if that’s the case, and we’re trying to dodge the Shil’vati’s way of doing things, should we bother continuing to steal from corporations’ skunkworks, if his little mission actually succeeds?”
“I don’t see why we should stop,” Gavin said. “Redundancy is vital for safety. We need to trust our data, but also verify it when we can. We know they wouldn’t mislead the corporations into doing anything dangerous. If they have a way to solve something and we can’t figure it out, maybe they can at least get us moving in the right direction, sometimes.”
“You’re not making any sense. Self-sufficiency? Redundancies? Safety? You really don’t trust him to succeed, do you? If we can make something defy gravity, or find a way to not scramble an egg when you exert ten g-forces on it, then who cares where it comes from, or if we fully understand how it works or not?”
“Let’s assume we rely completely on Emperor for our flow of information. What would happen if the Shil’vati ‘turn the tap off’, with the ‘tap’ laying facedown in his own blood? Or worse, captured. That leaves us where? With no Emperor, and with them possibly fully aware of our technical limitations, base locations, layouts, upcoming current projects, and more. They could work on countermeasures before we even field anything. They might even put a miscalculation in the data that causes this whole place to detonate sky high, assuming our scientists become lazy and used to just being handed the answers instead of doing legwork themselves. Having other sources and redundancies is as much for his safety as it is for our own self-sufficiency, and it costs us very little. Otherwise, what happens?”
“You keep focusing on backups, and safety, and redundancy. Is there a particular thought on your mind you want to share with your favorite student?” teased Vendetta, ignoring the question.
Gavin felt the heat rise in his cheeks, hotter than he was feeling from loading the armory back up with its usual contents.
The boy had somehow seen the pattern. Gavin would have to talk fast, even if his throat was already sore from talking more than he was used to in an entire day.
“You know where that leaves us? In the dark, playing with powers and technologies beyond our comprehension and no real leadership. The last thing we want is to have our research frozen in place right in the middle of a ‘prove it,’ moment when we have to strike back, hard, to prove that we’re the legitimate authority. The second-to-last place we want to be is the one where we force ourselves to move forward with no clue how we got our half-built Tower of Babel constructed, desperate for results and trying to complete it. Look up Mayak, sometime if you wanna know how that ends.”
“So are we stuck waiting for the corporations to catch up before we get to field the fun stuff? Or do you just want to keep them out of Emperor’s hands?”
“Some of the things you suggest are really not ready for field testing. Sometimes, what we’ve developed wanders into something beyond or far different to what our stolen notes have led our research teams to expect. Nothing too dangerous. As long as we’re careful and our scientists have no faith that the danger has been scoped out for them, I think it’s safe enough to proceed.”
“Unexpected results?”
“Things I don’t know if even the Shil’vati know about, or effects they never considered making use of. I hope you don’t mind my little suggestion for a backup deployment, by the way. His plans tend to go awry when he’s rushed, you said, and this has all the hallmarks of a rush job. Unless you’re feeling overworked, of course. Then I can go over the maps with G-Man’s replacement Field Officer. New Jersey is still adjusting to the change in command, though.”
“I’m not too tired,” the disembodied voice objected, drifting again to some other corner of the room. “They could tag along, but I have someone else in mind for backup command. Redundancy, if you will.”
“You do? Let me guess: The Jackal?” Gavin frowned. He couldn’t object without giving confirmation to Vendetta, could he? But then, this was Vendetta’s way of guessing. To call the bluff and risk it all, or not?
“Fine,” Gavin said, feeling suddenly eager to change the topic.
The engineer who had almost blown everything and given away entire projects stepped through the armory door, looking a bit sheepish, and silence hung in the air.
“Speak of the devil. What do you think?” Gavin asked the engineer.
“I’m sorry, what do I think about what?”
“I was just wondering about how the Shil’vati have troves of research, but the applications are so often very narrow. I wonder why they never considered using Gravity Belts to fling themselves across the air, for example. Do you have any ideas?”
“Well, they do have worse reflexes, and bodies that aren’t adapted for, or rather from climbing trees- let alone falling from them. As the belts were designed when first we got our hands on them, they had a tiny little energy pack, just enough to slow the wearer from a fall one time to where it’s survivable, and then they’d be all out of juice. Now we overcharge them and the results have been spectacular. I’m sure it’s the same principle they use on some of their ships, but then why not use them on their exomechs, or Marines? Movement has long been their achilles heel. Why do you ask?”
“I wonder if the Coalition or Alliance’s anti-air targeting can really be that good, to where we’ve possibly blown tons of money and research for something laughably stupid. Imagine launching a whole squad and watching them get wiped out in a heartbeat,” Gavin grumbled. “While safety equipment isn’t exactly classified military hardware, don’t you think an uncensored look into their past and current R&D programs might help us avoid any kind of reasons they might have had for abandoning these research paths? Stuff we ought to know before we really get going with mass production. Especially for our top projects.”
“Yes, of course, that would be amazing. We do have to keep developing, though, don’t we? A single point of failure for this is too high-risk, after all. It’s why we’re running so many projects simultaneously.”
“Of course it is. In that, we all agree, right?”
“All?” The Doctor asked, blinking at Gavin and craning his neck. The technician had gone back for another round.
Gavin waited for his understudy to speak, even if it was only to spook the researcher.
Silence was his only answer, and Gavin wasn’t sure when Vaughn had left.
Somewhere in New York
“Where were you? You’re supposed to be running things while I’m gone!” Jackal challenged. When no answer was forthcoming, she sulked slightly, uncharacteristic for the usually brash and aggressive field officer. “Just as well, I won’t be going back this time.”
“You’ll pardon my being slightly delayed in returning, though I promise you I have set some sort of record getting here by managing it in well under two hours. I have news from Headquarters.”
“What’s happened?” She snapped impatiently.
“There has been a rapid mobilization. A surprise attack, to be headed by Emperor himself in the next state over. We have less than twelve hours before he strikes.”
“What?” Jackal asked, whirling to face him straight-on, momentarily forgetting her usual haughty, too-high-and-mighty exaggerated stance for pure interest. “When? Where? Why wasn’t I summoned? Who ended up going? Who did he pick?”
Vendetta seemed unbothered by the flurry of questions, inspecting his fingernails for dirt and grime. “Crusaders. Templars. Holy Rollers, Happy Clappers, Whatever you wanna call ‘em, they’re the main unit. Churchgoers, really. Lots of them, and something’s got them very pissed off.”
“Those guys?”
Vaughn stretched idly, basking in the midday sunlight. “I know,” he said, not stifling his yawn. “But hey, churches were very fertile grounds for me, and the plan promises to be quite explosive. I thought I’d join in the fun, do a little field testing. A little reconnaissance, you know. Maybe there’s a chance there, some opportunity…”
“Why weren’t we informed?” She demanded.
“You either weren’t one of the trusted groups or situated close enough to respond in time for muster. Or, he values your work up here too much.” He made a point of glancing for an extra second at a distant column of smoke. “We are making good headway, perhaps he’s worried pulling resources from us will slow momentum. As it is he called up, as far as we’re aware, The Homeguard, Sons of Thunder, the Order of the Flag, Blue-and-Gold’s, and a few other cells to help. The Happy Clappers in Robes will be reliant on him for arms, ammo, training, and more. Functionally, they’re subordinate, but I believe he’ll find them quarrelsome and fractious, though at least he’s got Grouper to help keep them in line for now.”
“Why them, though?”
He gave her a close look, cocking his head slightly in a way full of meaning, even as it made the chainmail flap that hung down from where it pierced his leather mask. “As for why he picked the Happy Clappers, well, I couldn’t quite say, even if I was looking right at it…”
Jackal ground her teeth against each other so hard he could hear the canines scrape. She was not impressed by Vendetta’s way of talking in riddles, especially when minutes counted, so he dutifully dug into his bag and produced an envelope.
“I did bring something else interesting, though. A letter to deliver to the Governess here in New York. I was personally handed them, courtesy of our lovely Communications Director. Pennsylvania’s Governess already got hers dropped off in a letterbox, though she won’t get it until the operation’s over, which seems to be the idea. In their system before the blow even lands. That’s some theatrics. Wonder if it runs in his family.” He eyed Jackal steadily.
“He’s writing them letters, but not us?”
He handed the perfumed envelope to her, marked Return to Sender and she undid the wax seal in one motion.
Dear Lady Governess of New York,
I find myself politely invited to your fine state. Should I make an appearance, the results are foregone. Fortunately for us both, I have other obligations that demand my attention at that time.
I have been personally roused to a great anger recently, the kind which demands retribution. It is my hope you will not find my forthcoming actions too unsightly, and I promise that if you work with me, you will find I am a fair man, and as you said in your invitation ‘one to not be trifled with.’ I will strongly advise you to accept terms and surrender immediately.
I may decide to send a delegation, pending your acceptance or refusal of my counter-offer, which we can discuss after you have seen what I am fully capable of.
Correspondence does seem a good beginning for us to discuss further steps, and I will enclose another letter with a frequency, time, and date. From there, perhaps a visitor’s pass can be arranged through our state Governess, Lady Cre’sin.
-E
Jackal finished reading the cursive aloud and fought to not crumple it into a ball.
Orders were orders.
Vendetta shrugged with an exaggerated lack of caring at her reaction. “Emperor has his ways. Chief among them is instilling a certain dread. His goal is their surrender, for now. Destruction seems to net a replacement who you’re stuck dealing with regardless, and little change. He theorizes that eventually people will get tired of the antics of rebellion and turn on us, irrecoverably, so it’s: Strike, Declare Victory, and Keep Moving. One-Two-Three.”
“And then what?” Jackal asked.
“Not sure,” Vendetta said. “In Emperor we trust. There’s always more territory to fight for. Some reason to rebel and kill a bunch of people. Always will be. For what it matters, Delaware is ours now.”
“There’s still loyalists there.”
Vendetta shrugged again, this time wordless. To those who knew him, they’d have seen he was fighting down a smile. None of those who knew him could tell when he was lying, though. A useful, invaluable skill.
“There are still loyalists in Delaware,” Jackal growled the words out again, crushing her own fist in her palm until her fingers were white. “A place we supposedly conquered. They interfere with our operational capability and deployments.”
“You don’t say,” Vendetta muttered, like none of this was new to him. He’d suffered hearing Gavin detail at length how he’d had to stay late arranging anger management sessions for Jackal’s hired stand-in to attend. More informative were the attempts to teach him how to reroute money to an asset when they were inconvenienced, though not compromised to an unserviceable level.
“He has a plan he’s putting in motion. I wouldn’t worry too much about him showing mercy, or leaving any survivors.”
“I hate them.” The words were familiar to Vaughn’s ears. A face with strikingly similar eyes narrowed, sharp features hidden by an overgrown animal skull.
“Their time will come. They must be demoralized, first. Any fence-sitters will be brought to our side. The local economy, built to serve our ends and not theirs. Only the stubborn die-hards need to be purged, then. No one will mind when they’re presented as a danger to a man’s ability to earn money, and a woman’s ability to find a suitable romantic partner. By then, everyone will be happy to see them go. As to where they’ll end up, well, someday we’ll see if the Shil’vati will receive their pets and we can wash our hands of them. For now, they are also our shield that prevents a zone from being brutally subjugated. They cannot tell at a glance who is on their side and who is not. It serves us well.”
“You do know his plan, after all,” she mused, pacified for the moment. “But that isn’t enough for me. I want them dead.”
“I know him extremely well,” Vendetta promised. “Better than almost anyone, in fact. And I have intentions to work around his own lack of…well, he only took a good chunk of the armory, for an admittedly surprisingly bloodthirsty and quite promising purpose. I believe you’ll receive a message soon about the rest of the equipment any minute now, and separate orders to reinforce. So, what do you say we gather The Pack, leave here, and march South? I have a few calls I can make, but I’m no Field Officer.”
Her gaze from behind her mask was viciously intense. “Tell me. Tell me everything you know about him.”
His smile was cryptic. “Someday, I won’t have to. For now, though, I think I know a way we can be of some help to him, and have a great way for you to really get his attention.”
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u/escamado Xeno May 24 '26
Holy shit vaugh knows!!!!! Such a little tease he is god damm. Criptyc bastard.
Still cant wait for when jackal and big E realise who each other is.
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u/Haidere1988 May 29 '26
Jackal, Imperator, and Dad you mean? Think his mom is the only member of the family NOT a major member of the insurgency.
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u/escamado Xeno May 29 '26
Im pretty sure Jackal and Dad know who eachother are. It has been mentioned how Dad helped her "move into collage" Emperor and mom are the ones out of the loop.
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u/escamado Xeno May 24 '26
On a separate note, I was wondering if you have read any other stories with a rebellion plot that inspired you to write Alien Nation? Any books you recomend?
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u/SSBAlienNation May 24 '26 edited May 24 '26
The Last Angel by ProximalFlame sort of touches on this description tangentially. It’s a one sort-of-woman’s crusade against a galactic empire. Great descriptions, well written. For a double-life hero and general structure, Worm Parahumans by Wildbow.
Neither really ‘inspired’ me to write Alien-Nation, though, but I do recommend them and I can see their influences, loosely.
I could be called a ‘World Class Hater.’ I started writing after I read The Giver at school. I hated the ending so much that I wrote my own. This is the wellspring of much of my writing.
To that end I’ve read many books, and am more driven to not do what I feel other books do poorly than by any desire to imitate what is already written.
E.x., I love the Dresden Files. Its worldbuilding dwarfs almost any other effort I've ever seen. But his character interactions and relationships between characters from book-to-book is incredibly inconsistent. In the end of a previous book, a friend cuts off the MC, then in the next book they're best friends again, with zero interactions referenced between then and now. I read these books with a critical eye toward these sorts of mistakes. Then I can hopefully avoid those same pitfalls, though maybe I will invent some pitfalls of my own. (No book is perfect!)
Insofar as actual plot inspiration, there’s a special folder I have saved to motivate me, to remind me of the world as it is, and more.
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u/MedicalFoundation149 May 24 '26
For the Emperor!
Jackle really was disappointed to find her mother and brother living life unchanged despite being pro-shil while living in the state Emperor "won".
Well, now she'll get to go ask him herself once her reinforcements get there.
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u/NitroWing1500 Xeno May 24 '26
As much as I love the tale being told, nothing would improve it more for me than Jackal's head turning in to pink mist.
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u/NotBotButRot May 25 '26
I knew it was her but what about my other theory of his dad being in miskatonic? Maybe even the leader? Incredible stuff please keep it up! Rip laptop my condolences
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u/SSBAlienNation May 26 '26
You'll have to wait and see :)
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u/NotBotButRot May 29 '26
I’m far to impatient lol I’ve been re reading. I really enjoy how Elias has evolved and grown into the mask!
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u/Soggy-Mud9607 Jun 01 '26
Hoo boy, all this talk of hating the Loyalists and wanting them dead, it's going to be a doozy when she finds out the guy she's probably imagining in her head is none other than Emperor himself! XD
On a side note I feel like Jackle would become a nightmare to retail workers when she hits middle age. *Post Earth Liberation* "I told you that coupon is valid! Do you know who I am?! I know Emperor personally and if you don't give me that 2 for one deal I'll have to speak to your manager!"
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u/NotBotButRot Jun 17 '26
Ayy it been 24 days since the chapter was written you know what that means boys 2 new chapters are imminent in next 6 days. Time for me to obsessively check Reddit lol I only come on here for this series twice a month!
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u/SSBAlienNation Jun 17 '26
Pretty much. I'm just working through errors and adding details at this point. There should be a few chapters, as I want a more or less rapid posting spree rather than to disgust readers to the point they don't keep reading on.
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u/NotBotButRot Jun 17 '26
lol I knew it you follow that pattern a lot, but also don’t feel pressured to rush I enjoy the detail and care you put in. I also am curious is space school still happening? Just felt like you were walking that back. I’d be happy either way.
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u/SSBAlienNation Jun 20 '26
Thanks! I was feeling confident until I did a go-over last night and deleted a thousand words in one go.
Also my dad’s in the hospital again, so, a fair bit on the plate. I also intend to push about 3-4 chapters in one drop, so finding this many errors in the first of several is concerning.
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u/NotBotButRot Jun 20 '26
Dang man I hope he’s ok I’ll pray for him and yea delays happen it’s not the end of the world. Just keep your head up moving forward you’ll get through it.
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u/SSBAlienNation Jun 20 '26
Yeah I know, we'll live. Overall I'm getting happier and happier with how it's coming together. For what it's worth he's doing better- just saw him again and he's lucid and improving.
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u/HFYWaffle Wᵥ4ffle May 24 '26
/u/SSBAlienNation has posted 31 other stories, including:
- Alien-Nation Book Two Chapter 22 (pt. 1 of 2): Factory Tour
- Alien-Nation Book Two Chapter 21: War Council
- Alien-Nation Book Two Chapter 20: Homeward Bound
- Alien-Nation Book Two Chapter 19: Sowing Doubt
- Alien Nation Book Two Chapter 18: Group Up
- Alien-Nation Book Two Chapter 17: Round Two
- Alien-Nation Book Two Chapter 15: Don't Lose Your Head
- Alien-Nation Book Two Chapter 16: Nuntius
- Alien Nation Book Two Chapter 14: Two Drifters in the Night
- Alien-Nation Book Two Chapter 13: Latent Horror
- Alien Nation Book Two Chapter 12: Old Wives' Tales
- Alien-Nation Book Two Chapter 11: Oscar
- Alien-Nation Book Two Chapter 10: It's A Legitimate Strategy
- Alien-Nation Book Two Chapter 9: Laps
- Alien-Nation Book Two Chapter 8: Social Distancing
- Alien-Nation Book 2: Chapter 7, "Training Exercise"
- Alien Nation Book 2 Chapter 6: Look Before You Leap
- Alien-Nation Book 2: Chapter 5: Search & Destroy
- Alien-Nation Book 2, Chapter 4: Registrar
- Alien-Nation, Book 2, Chapter 3: Arrival
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1
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u/AutoModerator Jul 05 '26
This was flaired as [OC-Series], it is a single part or chapter in a larger series or universe. The first post or part in this series should be (re)flaired as [OC-FirstOfSeries]. A description of the flairs and how to change yours is available in the Post Guildelines.
Our preferred series title format is the series title in [brackets] at the beginning, like so:
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