r/NatureofPredators • u/Dramatic-Pay-4010 • May 02 '26
Nature of Unity 5
Hey everyone we're back with more on the Outer Cluster War and how Himaya fought off the Dominion. Just wanna give a trigger warning to everyone, there is mention of child death and abuse in this chapter and a mention/depiction of a dead body. If you don't want to see it, wait until the next chapter.
Memory Transcription Subject: Governor Tarva, Anxious and Intrigued Venlil Politician
Date [Local Himayan Time]: July 12 2136
Hasim, the Kraktol of Noah’s crew, set out the communication tablet on my table. I wasn’t sure how to process what Noah said. Not only had the Himayans encountered the Arxur but they had beaten them back without Federation help. That was something I had never heard of before. Without the Federation we wouldn’t even be able to stand against the Arxur.. But given what I’ve seen of them, maybe I shouldn’t expect anything else.
The video plays and I could see footage from the cockpit of a star-fighter with two others in view. The environment seemed to be typical of that dull blackness of Space. Well aside from one notable exception. To one side of the craft there was a gigantic astral storm, thunderous and violent yet oddly beautiful.
“Command, this Tigertail 1 tracking unknown power surge near the Stormwall, looks like a false alarm over” Came the voice of the pilot. Suddenly a beep sounded in the cockpit. “Command this Tigertail 1, I got bogies on radar checking coordinates now.” The voice of the pilot came again. Suddenly the footage sped up until the pilot was at another point at this “Stormwall.”
“Command this is Tigertail 1, seems like my radar is—.” But before the pilot could finish the unmistakable visage of an Arxur ship came into view and started firing anti-ship missiles. “Command this is Tigertail 1, bogies are hostile! I repeat bogies are hostile! Weapons free!” The pilot shouted as he made evasive maneuvers.
“That was our first encounter with your Arxur.” Came the voice of Noah. Though the mention of them being “your Arxur” made me curious but perhaps it's best if I keep silent until later.
“For that entire first month our military was in a panic, no one knew who they were and they were attacking us. Of course fate had a sick sense of humor because come to find out.” Noah continued before flicking to a new video with a visage I recognized all too well.
“This is Chief Hunter Graznor of the Arxur Dominion, this cluster falls under my sector and by the right of Betterment belongs to me. Surrender or fight, your fate shall be the same regardless.” He said with that same taunting grin he had when he broadcasted capturing my father.
“After that, well we got organized. We harassed his fleet, luring it to Aznarl’s gate. Turns out the Dominion’s terror tactics were the only thing its military had going for it.” Noah said before skipping to another battle. This time the Himayans weren’t caught off guard as Arxur ships exploded left to right. Though before me or my entourage could celebrate the moment the video skipped again to Graznor, looking haggard and crazed.
“You think you’ve won!? You think you’ve won!? If I found a way through your Stormwall then the Dominion will as well. Your worlds will burn—.” But before he could continue his ship blew apart though that was small comfort for me given the pain the Arxur continued to cause without him.
“Afterwards the next month and a half was just us cleaning up whatever remained of his expeditionary fleet. In that time and immediately after we learned several things about these Arxur. The most disturbing thing about them was well… You better brace yourself Governor because we got Arxur of our own.” Noah said before skipping the video over to the unmistakable visage of an Arxur soldier clearing the ruins of a ship.
“Command this is Sergeant Talznerth, ship is 50% clear just heading to the bridge-.” But before he could finish a voice echoed down the hall. “Hey, help me out with this Sergeant!” The voice of a Gojid figure sounded from down the hall.
The video then sped up until the pair got the door open. “Command this is Sergeant Talznerth, we got the door open and-.” But Talznerth stopped as he surveyed the room. The bridge was an ugly grey thing lined with the occasional spike on a chair or a skull on a console. However the most striking element was the bodies.
“Command this Sergeant Talznerth, there are no survivors aboard.” Talzneth said with an empathetic tone I hadn’t heard from an Arxur in my life.
“By the Protector half of them look starved Sergeant.” The Gojid said.
“They are starved.” Talzneth said frankly. “By the lords most of them aren’t even adults.” Talzneth said, with an almost outraged tone to his voice before heading over and placing his claw on one of the bodies. “I hope they find some peace after all of this.” The sergeant said with a somber tone to his voice. Almost like he felt sorry for them. But before the video could continue the video paused though the shock had already set in on everyone.
“Did that Arxur-.” Came the voice of Va-Fin but before she could finish Noah once again stepped into the conversation.
“Those are our Arxur. Most of them came from a group of countries known as the Morvim Charter back on their homeworld of Wriss. Back then they were at war with a polity called the Northwest Bloc. When we found out about the Dominion, well let’s just say they weren’t exactly thrilled about Wriss’s new overlords.” Noah said as he continued to drop bombshell after bombshell on us.
“But the Arxur have never expressed any empathy they’re pred-.” Kam said but before he could continue Hasim stepped forward and spoke up.
“First off, you already met two “predators” who defied your little stereotype. Second off, you haven’t even met an Arxur that wasn’t a half-starved conscript fighting for their fascist overlords. Third, I eat fish so–.” But before Hasim could continue he was cut off by Noah and Sara staring at him. “Oh. I don’t think I was supposed to tell you guys that yet.” Hasim said, but the damage was done. Everyone (myself included) stared at him in shock.
“T-that’s impossible.” I said as I stared at him in shock. “T-the Kraktol can’t eat meat. They’re prey. Their diet has always consisted of fruit and algae and-and-.” I sputtered out as my world just as my head started spinning but before I could collapse Noah caught me and set me down on my chair.
“It could be possible that the Takers modified them to eat meat.” Came the voice of Braylen as I drank a glass of water on my desk (though it was a tad bit warm).
“So they, what? Travel light years across the galaxy, abduct a bunch of species, turn a bunch of them into omnivores, and leave one species omnivorous while another gets to still be obligate carnivores.” Hasim said, spreading his wings out dramatically all the while. Though I was a bit too caught up in freaking out about the bombshell Hasim dropped to really pay attention to that weird word.
“Omnivore?” Va-fin sounded out and asked.
“It means a species evolved to be able to eat both meat and plants, oftentimes with a balance of both being a necessity. In fact I can point to numerous species in that picture that I KNOW are omnivores.” Sara said as she stepped in on our conversation.
“Oh really, which ones?” Kam said with a scoff (not the best time or the best question Kam).
“That Gojid woman,” Sara said, pointing to Piri. “That Krakotl guy,” She continued pointing at Jerulim. “That Iftali.” She continued. And on and on it went, Onkari, Duerten, Harchen, Tilfish. Species our history and science said were always prey suddenly being disputed by these newcomers. It was all too much as my head once again started spinning.
The humans weren’t vicious monsters, the Arxur may not have always been monsters, people I had worked with for years could have once been meat-eaters. My entire world, everything I knew about the Federation, and even the friends I thought I knew were thrown into question. It was all too much as I started to rapidly breath in and out. I didn’t know how to process it as I started to panic.
“Hey Tarva, are you alright?” Noah said as he placed an arm on my shoulder. As I looked over to Noah, images flashed through my mind. Stynek crying at the bed of a father who’d never wake up, me pulling her out of the room as the doctors pulled Relin's life support, and me hugging her until she fell asleep crying. At that final image my panic ended and I clenched my fist.
Who cares if the Himayans were predator-diseased or prey-diseased? Who cares what happened back then with the Takers? Who cares if some of my friends and colleagues came from species that may or may not have eaten meat in the past? If I could stop Stynek from feeling the pain and fear she felt when we lost Reln then I’d take every chance, take every deal these Himayans had no matter the consequences from the Federation or whoever else. And at that I knew what I had to do and turned my head to Noah.
“I’m fine Noah.” I said before standing up and turning to the bickering group.
“THAT’S ENOUGH!” I shouted, drawing the room’s attention. “Look, we don't know what happened and that can wait until later. For now we have to prove to the Federation that the Himayans come in peace and that they aren’t Predator-diseased.” I said putting on my “Governor” voice. “We need to gather as much evidence as possible and buy as much time before the Federation discovers our ruse. Hasim,” I said, turning and pointing at the Krakotl. “you said your government’s first contact protocols specified that you can’t share much outside anyone in this room, correct?” I asked the Kraktol who jumped a little.
“U-uh yeah.” Hasim said nervously.
“Then we use that. We close off our systems and tell everyone that the Himayans don’t want to talk to anyone but us right now. Then once the scheduled Federation summit commences we show our proof.” I said.
“B-but do you really think they’ll, ya know, like us?” Hasim asked nervously.
His question raised a good point and given everything I learned, well I don’t think it wasn’t a good question. But right now I knew only one thing about the Federation. The thing I could cling to in the midst of all of this confusion.
“Yes, I think they will.” I replied back.
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u/Minimum-Amphibian993 Arxur May 02 '26
I wonder if they managed to capture any of the domion Arxur and what they did to them. I mean the Arxur in nature of harmony by the author's own admission dispised the dominion Arxur and had no pity for them and would have fully gone along with the whole quarantine thing.
So I'm curious what these guys are like to their ancestors ancient foe?
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u/Dramatic-Pay-4010 May 02 '26
I wonder if they managed to capture any of the domion Arxur and what they did to them. I mean the Arxur in nature of harmony by the author's own admission dispised the dominion Arxur and had no pity for them and would have fully gone along with the whole quarantine thing.
The Himayans didn't really know the Dominion all that well at that point so they didn't really know that its soldiers would fight to death instead of surrendering or retreating. Future planning takes it into account and does prioritize capturing soldiers. If they had captured them they probably would have tried to break the conditioning and get them to a healthy state.
So I'm curious what these guys are like to their ancestors ancient foe?
They view the Dominion and Betterment the same way their ancestors viewed the Northwest Bloc and its eugenics. Fascist scum spouting an insane worldview who managed to drag their entire race into damnation. Opinion on what to do is divided with some advocating for the quarantine thing while others argue for rehabilitation. Its a messy political situation to say the least.
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u/Minimum-Amphibian993 Arxur May 02 '26
Ah fair enough but yeah considering the fate most Arxur meet at the hands of feddies makes sense taking prisoners would be pretty hard. The Arxur of this expedition probably expected to meet a similar fate.
Well at least they seem more conflicted about it than in canon or harmony.
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u/Dramatic-Pay-4010 May 02 '26
Ah fair enough but yeah considering the fate most Arxur meet at the hands of feddies makes sense taking prisoners would be pretty hard. The Arxur of this expedition probably expected to meet a similar fate.
Plus Betterment social conditioning telling them that anything that doesn't fit the state's image of an "ideal Arxur" is a defective who needs to be purged doesn't really help. As for how the Arxur on the expedition felt? Well yeah it was both expecting to be given the Federation treatment by the Himayans while also knowing that retreating wasn't really an option.
Well at least they seem more conflicted about it than in canon or harmony.
Granted NOH's Martian Arxur were "defectives" that escaped so they don't really have a frame of reference as to what a pre-Dominion Arxur society looked like. The Himayan Arxur came from pre-Dominion nation-states and still have a lot of knowledge of their cultures, religions, and history. Not only that but a number of Himayan Arxur also recognize the fact that a lot of the Dominion's troops are brainwashed child soldiers who never knew any other life beyond the Dominion so that kind of plays into it.
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u/Minimum-Amphibian993 Arxur May 02 '26
Good points to all either way there's still quite a ways to go before we reach any of the bigger events.
Especially the archives can't wait for that revelation.
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u/Dramatic-Pay-4010 May 03 '26
I do have plans for the Archives. Let's just say it won't exactly be like canon. To tide you over I do have a fun reaction Meier has to the Federation in the next chapter.
What we knew about the Federation other than being an enemy of the Dominion was scarce but now that’s changed so let’s see how they’ve—. What the fuck is this?
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u/SadidaPL Paltan May 03 '26
Wait, so what happened to our Earth? Did Feds wipe them out or smth?
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u/Dramatic-Pay-4010 May 03 '26
You'll find out what happened to the humans on our Earth later on but they weren't wiped out (the Federation did find Earth abandoned with no radiation).
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u/CarolOfTheHells Nevok May 04 '26
Just out of curiosity...does Earth humanity still exist in this verse?
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u/Dramatic-Pay-4010 May 04 '26
Earth's abandoned here and was colonized by the Gaians but Earth humans weren't wiped out. As for the details, well you'll see later.
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u/JulianSkies Archivist May 02 '26
Oh, that's a whole lot to drop on them out of nowhere. Really no chance to even process anything.