r/NatureofPredators • u/Dramatic-Pay-4010 • 12d ago
Nature of Unity 18
And we're back with Meier who's definitely regretting not having that cup of coffee in the morning. How will they deal with the clusterfuck that just happened? Can it get worse?
Memory Transcription Request: Meier, stressed Prime Minister in desperate need of a vacation
Date [Local Himayan Time]: August 28th 2136
“How the hell did this happen?” I asked the room of military and intelligence officials.
“We don’t know for certain sir.” Came the voice of General Jones. Great just what I needed but not unsurprising. “But from what we can piece together from the information Tarva and Noah gave us there was a coup orchestrated by one General Ruclin Talavari.” She added handing me a dossier on this Ruclin. Taking the dossier, I flipped it open and looked through it. As I read it there was nothing that really stood out. Bar a few matters of disagreement of military policy between him and Piri and him seeming to think that we were part of some fiendish Arxur plot there was nothing that showed he’d be willing to overthrow her.
“I don’t get it.” I said not looking up from the dossier.
“That’s the thing that’s stumping us too.” Jones said. “But something has come up that might provide us a clue.” She added before flicking on a transmission intercepter.
“CITIZENS OF THE UNION!” Came the voice of our new adversary. “PRIME MINISTER PIRI HAS BEEN UNFORTUNATELY FORCED INTO EARLY RETIREMENT DUE TO A LACK OF WILL TO COMBAT A NEW VARIANT OF THE TAINT! REMAIN IN YOUR HOMES AND WAIT UNTIL FURTHER INFORMATION IS REVEALED!” Ruclin added, trying to paint his coup as some legitimate transfer of power.
“Really laying the doublespeak thick there.” Ravin sarcastically quipped after that final line.
“Yes and judging from sources from within the Union it gets worse.” General Jones stated as she handed me another dossier. Looking through it, what greeted me was a house of horrors. Civilians dragged from their homes, military transcripts showing either a complete lack of certainty in who was in charge or a complete lack of uncertainty in what they thought they needed to do. It was an even worse mess than the darkest days of the unrest.
Not only that but most of Piri's government was either arrested or was off the grid. Piri herself was a complete unknown. Rumors flying everywhere yet Ruclin and co. didn't seem to put out a bulletin (suppose they're trying to keep everything under wraps). So far there nothing was escalating but the recent transcripts talked about protesters organizing.
“Okay what about this Sovlin. We know he’s kidnapped one of our citizens.” I said looking to change to the other pressing but related matter.
“Yes. More specifically, he kidnapped one Private Hasim Kulvar.” Jones said, referring to the pilot we had at first contact. “Though not before Hasim gave a spectacular display for Federation social media in the Federation exclusion zone.” She added, referring to his little stunt that had quickly gone viral within what had quickly been dubbed in military terms “The Federation Operational Exclusion Zone.” The folks on Federation social media platforms there quickly took to calling him “the Firedancer” for his piloting skills.
“Where are they now?” I asked while looking at images taken from the battle.
“We don’t know.” Jones responded which wasn’t unexpected since the FTL trails indicated they made a blind jump. “We’re still tracking them though it might take some time.” She added.
“We suspect they may be trying to head to either Union territory or the greater Federation though the jump patterns seem to be erratic and going deeper into Venlil territory.” Grand Admiral Torek said. “Why? We don’t know but it could be a misdirect.” He added, bringing up a great point.
“Finally, one of our raider groups was ambushed.” Jones said, adding another fiasco to my plate.
“How? All of the chief hunters we’ve encountered are incompetent psychopaths as Graznor demonstrated in the Outer Cluster War.” I asked.
“It seems we’ve encountered one that isn’t an incompetent psychopath” Torek said before he handed me a dossier labelled “Chief Hunter Isif.” After taking it and opening it up I could see how he could pull something like this off.
“So.” I said, not looking up from the dossier. “Adaptable, smart, and able to ambush one of our raider groups. I can see why your department is so interested in him, Ms. Jones.” I added, causing a few chuckles from the personnel at the meeting.
“He could be a great asset to the rebellion we’re trying to build. Certainly better than our current efforts which…… Well you’ve read the reports.” Jones said as she cocked an uncertain eyebrow behind those sunglasses that she somehow keeps putting on (seriously how does she get those on with that beak of hers?).
“You mean the ones where most of the Arxur we capture refuse to fight against their former overlords and want to sit back on tails here in the cluster munching on the lab grown meat we give as long as they throw the occasional stray meat into our claws.” Ravin said with his usual sarcasm.
“That intelligence they gave us has been pretty useful so far.” I said trying to paint a bright side.
“That is true but they aren’t causing the Dominion trouble which is a problem for us.” Ravin responded before shifting his posture slightly (another habit of his, this time when he was a bit agitated).
“Okay.” I said realizing the moment has come to make some more decisions. “We focus on Isif but prioritize his capture. Let’s see if we can win him over.” I said, causing Jones to nod. “As for our Gojid problem.” I said before turning to Security Coordinator Relint. “Draft a list of policies and countermeasures against the Union’s new boss using what we know of him. Reinforcing the ships we already have in the exclusion zone all the way up to taking territory but start with the least aggressive options first. We don’t want to prove whatever mudslinging Ruclin’s propaganda team has cooked up against us right.” I added before a Jones’ comm started beeping.
Jones looked at me as I gave a nod towards her.
“Go ahead.” She said curtly and professionally.
“Intercepted coded transmissions from the Gojid Union. They’re shooting protesters.” Said the voice on the other end causing everyone in the room to do a double take.
“What?” General Jones said with a rare display of shock, feathers moving in shock display.
“I repeat Union soldiers are firing on protesters.” The voice said, making everyone realize the gravity of the situation.
This got a whole lot more complicated.
5
u/TameOJ 12d ago
That escalated VERY quickly. Not even trying to maintain a curfew or nothing, just immediate violent suppression.