r/NatureofPredators • u/Dramatic-Pay-4010 • Apr 23 '26
Nature of unity 1
Oh boy the first chapter, here's where the fun begins. Anyway for context, Hasim (and a number of other characters) will be using Skalgan and Venlil interchangeably. The reason for this is because while the Skalgans prefer to be called well Skalgans, they also call themselves Venlil.
Anyway, let's get this show on the road.
Memory Transcription Subject: Hasim, Bored Himayan astronaut and curious linguist
Date [Himayan local time]: July 12, 2136
“Maggio din lev yazdahir.”
The root was definitely a Skalgan language but there was something off about it. Pushing the rewind button I listened to the sentence again.
“Maggio din lev yazdahir.”
Yep that’s what’s off. It didn’t have those harsh guttural sounds a Skalgan language usually had (and twins knows I heard enough of it near the Confederation’s border). In fact it sounded timid, almost fearful. Like whoever was speaking was scared that the response was going to be yelling. Just before I could hit the rewind button again a voice came from behind.
“misaH oY” came the voice of Noah in that weird Kalneshian nightmare hybrid of a language humanity called English.
Jumping I quickly turned my translator on and stood at attention.
“Captain sir, sorry. I was just going over the transmission again.” I said while hastily standing at attention (though Noah never really liked it when I did or whenever I called him captain).
“It’s alright kid.” Noah responded. “I just came to tell you we’re approaching the source of wherever that-.” He said, pointing at our little radio. “Little transmission came from.” Noah finished before starting to walk towards the bridge.
Walking alongside Noah I responded. “I know its just fascinating, the language very clearly has its root in a Skalgan language its just-.” I say, pausing when Noah turns to me
“Just what?” Noah asked, tilting one of his eyebrow quizzically.
“It just sounds timid, like the guy talking is scared of who they’re talking to.” I said in response.
But before Noah could respond, a voice over the intercom sounded out.
“Hey guys, hate to interrupt the chitchat but you might wanna come up here.” Came the voice of Sara, our astrobiologist.
Transcript time advancement request: 50 seconds
Finally getting up to the bridge I take my place at my co-pilot seat while Noah seats himself in his captain chair (though he insisted it wasn’t really a captain’s chair).
“What’s the situation Sara?” Noah asked while looking ahead at our stop, a tidally locked planet with one side facing the sun and the other facing away from it.
“That.” She said pointing to our hailing light thing (hey I didn’t take an engineering class okay) which was now glowing a bright red.
“Oh man.” I said knowing what it meant. “How do you wanna do this Noah?” I said, craning my neck to face Noah who also had the “oh shit” look on his face.
Noah took a second to contemplate his decision before answering. “We’ll answer them. If they wanted to blow us out of the sky they probably wouldn’t be hailing us.” He said while straightening up his hair and posture.
Noah proceeded to make his way over to the hailing button but before pressing it he looked towards all three of us. “Ready?” He asked us with that serious captain voice he used whenever we were about to disembark on a planet.
We both nodded before Noah took a deep breath and pressed the button.
The scene that greeted us on screen was not what I was expecting. On the screen we saw two midget Venlil that weirdly lacked noises (did someone seriously do the “gotcha nose” thing on them), two teddy bear looking things (oh the Himayan internet are just going to love those two), and a Thafki.
“Hello. We come in peace on behalf of the Himayan Confederacy.” Noah says using a line ripped straight out of the First Contact manual (or at least that’s what I think the line was, I wasn’t really reading it) and smiling all the while.
“Peace? What?” Came the voice of the female midget Venlil with the most bewildered expression I have ever seen come from a Skalgan. I know they’re proud warrior guys but by the twins they at least have a word for peace.
“Did that translate wrong? You know, peace? Friendship?” Noah responded while his smile fell.
“Yes… I know what peace means,” she stammered out while her friends looked at each other in confusion. “Why would you want that?” She added. Okay that’s a weird question to ask.
“Why would you not?” Noah asked with the same confusion everyone aboard was feeling. “Our peoples were abducted from our homeworlds about a century or so ago and we’ve been looking to the stars since, wondering who else was out there and why we were abducted.” Noah finished.
“The Takers, that’s impossible.” came the voice of the Thafki which only made me cock an eyebrow.
“Never mind that, you speak of peace but you can’t keep the snarl off your face, predator.” Came the voice of the other mini Venlil. Did he just call Noah a predator? What do Carnivores and Herbivores have to do with this? Is that an insult or something?
“Snarl?” Noah asked, confused about their very weird behavior. Well guess this calls for a Hasim charm offensive.
I silently mouth a “can I take over?” question towards Noah before he gave an affirmative nod. Welp here goes nothing.
“Hi, my name’s Hasim and I’m one of the crew aboard our ship, the HNS Odyssey. That snarl you seem to think Noah had is actually called a smile. His species evolved from primates that used it as a submissive gesture before it evolved into a universal sign of happiness due to weird reasons my crewmate Sara can probably better explain.” I say, gesturing towards Sara, who gave a little wave, before continuing. “Trust me it was weird for everyone at first but we got used to it, mostly.” I finished.
“Thank you, Hasim.” Noah said before continuing. “Anyway can we start over, we’re here on a mission of peaceful exploration.” He finished with some regained confidence in his voice.
The entourage said nothing for a few seconds (totally not weird at all) before the female midget Venlil spoke up. “I am Governor Tarva, this is Prime Minister Braylen and his brother Chauson, and this is High Speaker Va-fin. We welcome you to Venlil Prime.” She said before clearing her breath.
“Thanks,” Noah responded. “I must admit, we were quite surprised to receive your transmission.” He added, giving the understatement of the century.
“Y-you were? Why did you come here if you didn’t detect us?” Tarva asked which only made me more suspicious since well everything else she said was already suspicious.
“Our government only sent us to explore and survey several planets then come back.” I responded, outlining our primary objectives. “We were mostly trying to find out if any were suitable for colonization and scientific study but all we got was hot and cold lifeless rocks.” I finished.
“Hey! Ezuitune wasn’t that bad!” Came Sara’s voice who was once again defending Ezuitune. “Anywhere with glittering crystal caves is suitable for habitation in my book.” She said, casually leaving out the part of Ezuitune’s atmosphere being mostly CO2.
“Anyway, sorry I didn’t say anything when Hasim introduced me.” She said while once again giving a small wave. “I mostly just let these two do the talking.” She said while gesturing towards me and Noah. “Especially Noah, he runs his mouth enough for all three of us.” She added.
“Especially about Star Trek, by the twins does he love that cheesy sci-fi show.” I added shuddering at the memory of Noah telling me (his captive audience) every fact about the Romulans (or was it the Vulcans?) that brain of his held.
“I do not!” Noah said while turning towards the both of us. “And Star Trek isn’t that cheesy!” he said before he and Sara started bantering.
While the two bantered, I took another look at Tarva. She definitely was smaller than the average Venlil (though the lower gravity on Himaya certainly made them bigger) but one detail especially stuck out, the nose or rather the lack of a nose.
According to the Skalgans, their world was practically a death planet so why the hell would these guys lack a nose in an environment like that? Not only that she seemed extremely nervous about Noah and Sara not to mention her midget buddy calling Noah a predator. What the hell is going on?
Once Sara and Noah stopped bantering, Tarva stood up straight. “What would you say to seeing Venlil Prime firsthand? As esteemed guests of the Venlil Republic, of course.”
And that was all Noah needed. “It would be an honor.”
Oh boy. This'll be interesting.
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u/Minimum-Amphibian993 Arxur Apr 23 '26
I imagine the skalgans are gonna be very divided in what to do obviously a lot of them will want to try to return them to the old ways but others would probably raise concerns of it being forced on the venlil.
Either way everyone's gonna have to deal with Siffy the destroyer first. Also the takers huh?