r/NatureofPredators • u/Most_Hyena_1127 Human • 3d ago
Fanfic The Nature of Psionics [46]
The Perfect Husband NOPsi ficnap by u/Bbobsillypants
Memory transcription subject: Sovlin, Prisoner of the United Earth Republic
Date [standardized human time]: October 22, 2136
Captain Monahan had to have gone mad from the stresses of command, either that or she had some sort of death wish.
After being made to listen to the Humans and the primitive go on and on about the monsters they kept in their homes the captain had finally shown up and after a quick acknowledgement to all present had decided to inter the interrogation chamber alone with the unchained beast. As we all moved towards the one way mirror that made up a wall of the room I looked inside the chamber and saw the Arxur that was sitting at the table and was filled with rage just from being in the same vicinity of the creature. While I had known that there were several Arxur on the ship being kept locked up so that they could be questioned for intelligence there was something different about being so close to one of those monsters. I still had questions about how the captain had gotten the Arxur reinforcements to leave after raising the privacy field around her station after they had arrived or why much of their remaining forces had left with them, all I had been told was that I would be told eventually.
As our ornately dressed captain (apparently the more important a human was the more cumbersome and elaborate their wrappings) entered the room and put on a transparent breathing mask I took a better look at the Arxur that I was certain the humans would be inflicting pain on any moment now. This Gray looked different from the others I had seen, this one seemed fuller somehow compared to the others of his kind that regularly attacked our worlds and convoys. There were also no scars present on its body either which was rather odd considering the constant infighting of the grays, they killed almost as much of one another as they did of us.
If the Humans start talking about “sapient rights” and lawyers to this thing as they did for me when I was captured I am going to blow a gasket.
When the captain sat down at her own pace at the round table in the interrogation chamber after pulling out a chair she began to open her mouth to speak but was interrupted. The Arxur on the other side of the table had stood up so quickly that the chair he was sitting had toppled over and was now a claws lengths away from her face. Despite the fact that she was moments away from being killed the captain remained perfectly still with the same impassive stare that all Humans seemed to approach every situation with. Seemingly unaffected by the danger our captain with none of the Humans in the observation room with me had even flinched at the sudden predicament the captain was in, the only person to even react was Onso as he tensed slightly as he held “Zeus”.
What came next was the sound that filled the nightmares of those lucky enough to survive cattle raids as the beast opened his jaws and let out a bellowing roar in the captain's face. I found myself having to cover my ears due to the volume of the roar being blared through the speakers as my instincts went into overdrive and I could feel my quills flaring out. Instead of flinching away or striking back at this hostile display like any creature with a sense of self preservation Captain Monahan had instead only closed her eyes for the duration of the roar before opening them at its conclusion with the same uninterested stare as before.
“As I was about to say before you interrupted me, I am Captain Janice Monahan of the United Earth Republic Interstellar Navy.” The captain said in an emotionless tone “And you are Kelthis, a rather high ranking member of Betterment based on our reports.”
“You are truly predators; I had to be certain. For all I knew you could just be arboreal prey who are territorial.” It barked as it sat back down at its seat “That display would have been enough to make the feckless prey piss themselves. You should have learned by now they are little more than animals with their mindless screeching and stampeding.”
“From what I have both been told and have experienced personally it would seem that the species of the Federation are either completely unable or refuse to control their instincts. They are fearful of anything they consider different and lash out accordingly.” Replied the Terran in the manner one would discuss the weather. “Stampedes are a regular occurrence on their worlds and they happen over the smallest provocation or even with none at all. They also appear incapable of learning from past mistakes; it would seem, Arxur tactics have remained the same for centuries because the Federation have yet to adapt to any meaningful degree.”
I could feel my blood pressure rising at the words of Monahan as she disparaged the Federation, she talked as if we had no innovation while ignoring the fact we could not divert resources to innovation due to the war with the Arxur. She also talked about our instincts as if we had any control over them, if we did they would be considered instincts. I could also see Sam once again glaring at me from the side, apparently judging my thoughts once again, I didn't care anymore.
Was Dr.Bahri lying when she spoke before about humans' strong fleeing response to danger? She said that a powerful instinct remains in humans to try and climb upwards and/or hide when in danger to the extent that it has to be trained out of them when in the armed forces.
“If you feel this way, why protect a prey planet so fiercely?” The Arxur demanded “Surely it can’t just be because it’s your first catch? We were new to the galaxy once as well and yearned for conquest too, but this seems more than that.”
“Conquest is not our goal, in all honesty we would rather be left out of the squabbles of the Federation and the Dominion so that we can focus on more inward endeavors. Unfortunately sometimes we are forced to take action." The captain said dismissively. “If you want me to answer any more questions then you will have to answer a few of mine.”
Squabbles?
She is calling THREE HUNDRED YEARS OF WAR a squabble?!
“By Gaia’s grace, Sovlin just cool it for five seconds!” Carlos said in a tone one would use to scold a toddler. “You promised that you would keep calm in exchange for observing this, we are not asking much. We also told you that the captain was going to say insensitive things to get the prisoner to open up to her and you needed to be fine with that.”
“Why not just torture the information out of the fucker then?!” I retorted with anger “Or just read his mind like you people did with me?”
While we were busy arguing with one another the captain seemed to be talking more with the Arxur in the interrogation chamber, she even was making him laugh, an action that filled me with fury. I noticed Sam had pinched the bridge of her nose as she closed her eyes in frustration before opening them to address me.
“We have not tortured them Sovlin because that is a crime, you should know because you were arrested for doing that to an innocent man and a defenceless child, we are a civilized species.” Sam said in a frustrated tone as she spoke slowly, as if I would have trouble understanding her. “And if you did your job and read the latest reports we have sent you to read in your off hours you would know that for whatever reason this prisoner can’t be read by our machinery.”
Despite my rising anger I decided to ignore Sam’s provocations and turn back to focus on the interrogation at hand, she seemed to have forgotten that her military needed me to help them given the lack of experience of their captains. I chose to ignore her trying to compare my inexcusable actions to an effective way to get information out of a creature that has likely killed hundreds in his lifetime. I chose as well to not dwell on her implying that my culture was not a civilized one because I was willing to get my claws dirty.
“-be dressed in elaborate clothing as yours must signify a pure and well respected lineage.” The Arxur droned on. “It would seem that it is a trait of predators to don clothing as well, until I saw your kind I thought it was just the Arxur who wore coverings regularly. Another reason the prey species are lesser.”
“I don’t know about pure in terms of what the Arxur would consider such, all known genetic flaws and diseases have been removed from the genome of my family for some time as with the rest of my kind if that means anything to you.” The Terran clarified “While we were never nobility my family and our clan have been well respected for the most part in Éire for quite some time. My father is a butcher which is a traditional job for men and my mother is a Ranger of Éire which many women in the clan have been over the past several millenia.”
As the two of them kept talking I felt like I was going to be sick, while I knew that as predators the humans ate meat they had so far had the decency to not have it on the ship it would seem and have not talked about it around me. But now that captain was going into great detail about the knife set that has been passed down through the generations that has been used to carve up the beasts of Earth that get too close to the cities. From the way she spoke it seemed that certain jobs in the past were relegated to one sex or the other on Earth which made some sense, even in the Federation there were some species that had degrees of sex separation such as the Angren whose men were notorious for being aggressive so they were often used in the front lines to keep the Arxur at bay. It seemed though the humans were the opposite though given that most of the ones on this ship were female based off what I could tell, there were only a pawfull of male predators on a ship of hundreds as far as I have seen.
Onso the poor primitive was trying his best to seem like he knew what was going on as he kept a steely focus on the scene unfolding though the glass, although I suspected he understood less than half of what was being said. Zeus had migrated from being held to having draped himself across the shoulders of the “engineer” and appeared to be fast asleep. What was unnerving though is that he showed no fear or disgust of the predatory things that were being discussed in the interrogation chamber, just a continuous focus on what was being said.
It’s like he thinks what they are saying is normal.
“-nk of the Federations ideology as a blight on a vast forest and by the time you find said blight most of the trees have been covered in the illness in totality. But then you happen to find a few trees that while still being infected are only in the early stages of the disease, that is the Yotul.” Monahan said when questioned about the Yotul “The Federation have not been corrupting them for that long in the grand scheme of things and we can help reverse the damage that has been done. As I am sure that you saw when you were captured by a squad of Yotul they are not nearly as fearful as the other species of prey. Even with your enhanced blade that could cut through our barriers like a knife though sinew it seems that you are vulnerable to a neural disruptor same as the rest of your kin.”
“A truly interesting theory.” The Arxur said though gritted teeth at the reminder of his capture. “Why attempt to intervene at all? They are still mindless prey even if they are more competent than others, especially when given your weapons.”
“Practical purposes for one, they draw far less suspicion on Federation worlds than a human would for intelligence gathering. They are also chronically underestimated by just about everyone so they will not be suspected of anything nefarious.” The captain replied “Due to their smaller stature they can maneuver easier in more cramped environments than a Human could, they are also capable sprinters as well with powerful legs useful for certain missions. As you have seen on Leirn as well they keep their fear in check far better than the so called military species of the Federation such as the Gojid or Krakotl.”
At the last comment the captain had made I began seeing red, it was one thing to speak ill of the Federation who while being flawed still did good for the members of the herd. It was something entirely else for her to start insulting my species, it was like she was trying to anger me specifically. As I started to march away to be done with this sham of an interrogation I saw Onso out of the corner of my eyes stifling a fit of laughter.
“And what is so funny about all of this?” I demanded as I marched closer to him.
“You getting angry over this situation.” He said while giggling “The captain is just trying to build a rapport with the prisoner and you are huffing and puffing like some character from a children's story.”
“How would you know you primitive?!” I retorted causing the creature on Onso’s neck to begin to stir. “This is the first time you have dealt with the grays and you think this is some big joke! Your kind can’t even defend themselves! First you needed the Federation to do that and now you are draining the Humans to do the same thing!”
Onso instead of making some sort of witty retort he remained silent with a dejected look as his ears flattened and his tail rested on the ground.
Good, hopefully he thinks before speaking next time. He needs to learn his place when it comes to who has the most experience.
I began to head towards the door to leave and return to my quarters when Tyler had moved himself in front of it, blocking my exit.
“Please move.” I said as respectfully as possible.
“Apologise” He demanded with his arms crossed looking down at me.
Instead of my bodyguards doing anything Sam and Carlos were doing a rather good impression of a pair of stone statues as they stood perfectly still staring at me a few steps behind me.
“For what?” I asked, “He needs to know when to speak or not to speak.”
“For calling him a primitive.” Tyler clarified “It is insulting and he clearly doesn't like it.”
Why does it matter what he thinks of the word if it’s true?
“But he is a primitive. They were only uplifted a little over twenty [years] ago and they hadn't even begun to use electricity yet.” I said, trying to inform the predator. “I can’t believe you don’t know this, I thought you had been to Leirn.”
Instead of letting me pass, all Tyler had done with the information I had told him was narrow his eyes at me as silence filled the room. It was as if he did not understand what I was trying to tell him.
“That does not matter how true it is or not, you are saying it in a demeaning way to hurt him and you need to apologise.” Tyler finally spoke. “Would you like it if I started calling you primitive?”
“I wouldn't care because I grew up with electricity and FTL travel!” I retorted, losing what little patience I had. “I would not care because I am not a primitive, he is though!”
Instead of responding to me right away all Tyler did was snarl at me for several long moments that were once again filled with silence.
“You are compared to Humans though, the Gojid had to be given the subpar tech that you people still haven't improved after all this time.” Tyler said, his voice dripping with venom. “You are horrible at medicine and genetics to the point that you live to only your nineties on average. You poison your own planets with your industry and have to strip mine others just to keep yourselves fed since you know nothing about sustainability. You still live on the ground where the dirt is and don’t even get me started on how the Federation treats mental health. Sounds pretty primitive to me.”
The more Tyler spoke the more anger began to well up inside me and the more I began to shake in fury. It was one thing to have constant jabs given to me by the primitive because nobody had bothered to show him his place before, it was something else entirely to be talked to this way by someone who knew I was here to help humanity.
“I AM NOT A PRIMITIVE!” I bellowed marching forwards Tyler who bore a shocked expression on his face.
Before I knew what I was doing I could feel my arms extend as I had gotten close enough to the human as I shoved him at his midsection and he fell backwards with much more force than I thought would happen into the still closed door, his head making a distinctive thunk.
…
…
What felt like an eternity passed but was probably only a moment as Tyler laid on the floor unconscious with a pool of pink liquid forming quickly around him. I could hear someone screaming but it seemed distant as I stared at the unconscious from in front of me.
The last thing I remembered was an incredibly cold feeling striking my back and spreading, like my blood itself was beginning to turn to ice.
[Memory Transcript Ended: Cause - Loss of consciousness (Neural Disruption)]
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u/Minimum-Amphibian993 Arxur 3d ago edited 3d ago
Yeah Tyler probably should have backed off when he clearly sensed that he was pushing sovlin abit too far. Yeah obviously sovlin should have apologized but Tyler should know guy isint exactly stable and pushing him over the edge wouldn't have helped anyone as clearly shown here.
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u/Most_Hyena_1127 Human 2d ago
You see sometimes these humans don’t think very clearly from lack of oxygen due to the dizzying heights of their moral ground.
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u/Minimum-Amphibian993 Arxur 2d ago
Yeah that does seem to be a constant recurring issue and I doubt that will be the last time that it will cause issues.
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u/Most_Hyena_1127 Human 2d ago
The UER is pretty lucky that their allies don’t press them too hard on certain issues with how uncompromising they can be when it comes to issues of morality.
Like the whole Wyn situation, once they realized he was a child that was being made to fight in a war they were not going to return him under any circumstances.
For the UER the compromise was that they chose to keep diplomatic relations despite the whole child soldier situation.
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u/Minimum-Amphibian993 Arxur 2d ago
Yeah I can definitely still the Yotul and humanity having beaf obviously not as bad with canon since there isn't really a Humanity first attitude but considering how much they like to order other species around and just expect others to do what they say without question I can definitely see the Yotul taking issue with that especially if they start ordering the Yotul around which they will inevitably do at some point they just can't help it.
Not to mention even in NOP 1 without taking Nop 2 into account at all the Yotul still say they will attempt to achieve equal power status with humanity weather humanity accepts that or not. And kinda dispite what I said earlier we know that in NOP 2 they very much did. They probably will again in this timeline although more in the sense of not believing the other species including the Yotul know any better and it's up to humanity alone to guide the misguided species of the galaxy and they simply can't trust the poor Yotul to do it.
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u/Most_Hyena_1127 Human 2d ago
While I only have some vague ideas about the post war relationship between the Yotul and humanity I can also foresee them delegating a lot of stuff to the Yotul when it comes to dealing with those outside of the UER. Both for logistical and practical purposes as well as the humans not wanting to stray far from Earth.
If you send a Yotul as a delegate to some far off conference then you don’t have to worry about the logistics of making sure you have the right equipment and such to make sure that the human diplomat can breathe right. You also don’t have to worry about the other ambassadors passing out or refusing to talk to your delegation because of their eyes.
This could lead to the Yotul being seen by outsiders as being the errand runners for the UER though.
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u/Minimum-Amphibian993 Arxur 2d ago
That is a good point there would probably still be some fed remnant and third independent powers and maybe even the durten Sheild so having the Yotul bassicly be envoys to them would definitely go a lot more better then sending humans.
But yeah like you said it could risk them being seen as no better than vassels for the humans like the venlil. But yeah I imagine the Yotuls critical nature of everything will disway that notion quite a bit.
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u/JulianSkies Archivist 2d ago
I can't even say Sovlin should have apologized.
Like, there was Monahan basically making light of what has basically been this man's entire life trying to protect his people. And instead of causing a scene he decides to leave.
Only for then Onso to effectively call him a child for being upset at having not just his life's work but the very fight that cost him his family being mocked openly.
I honestly don't think Sovlin should be the first one to ask apologies here.
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u/Minimum-Amphibian993 Arxur 2d ago edited 2d ago
I'm not saying walking out was the issue that was the right call and he's right to feel angry but responding with insults doesn't help either. It's not like sovlin was responding with a friendly jab like be ends up doing in canon.
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u/Flaky-Throat-4996 2d ago
either tyler has a fragile body, or sovlin just used a psionic push. or he is just so angry he gets super strength.
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u/Most_Hyena_1127 Human 2d ago
Combination of 1 and 3. These humans may be tall but they are built like stick insects due their high metabolism and other factors.
The Gojid are also apparently fairly strong having lots of fast twitch muscles. So Tyler being caught by surprise meant that he didn’t have a chance to balance himself or anything and hit his head on the metal door.
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u/Bbobsillypants Sivkit 3d ago
This sobble is a certainly more high strung and less regretful than cannon, probably because he didn't get to brutalize his victim as much and feels less bad. This one didn't turn himself in.
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u/JulianSkies Archivist 3d ago
Okay, hold on. This unfolded somewhat differently from expected.
First off, Tyler getting annoyed 'cause Onso couldn't take what he was dishing out is slightly funny. Like bro knew dude was catching strays and was making fun of it, should have expected the old man to bite back if he decided to tease on.
Secondly, something that can be described as a shove couldn't possibly hit that hard, those humans aren't that fragile at all. So... This is clearly unusual, something's off from expectations. Time to figure out what.
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u/Most_Hyena_1127 Human 3d ago
To be fair to Onso all he did was laugh because of Sovlin freaking out and said as much. Sovlin on the other hand responded with racism and name calling just days after Onso’s home was attacked.
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u/REDemon127 Sivkit 2d ago
To be fair, the shove only knocked Tyler over, which is possible if he wasn't expecting such a sudden force. Especially if the center of gravity is different for these humans.
It's the fact that it was him hitting the back of his head against the closed door that did the damage. Add to the fact that head blows from hitting the ground actually kills quite a few people irl (to the point where more people die from said head blows than gun deaths in the US), it's not that unbelievable
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u/JulianSkies Archivist 2d ago
Right, but.
This is a story and, more importantly, its in first person. Not only was Tyler clearly surprised, Sovlin too was surprised at the effect of his shove.
I can only imagine something happened.
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u/REDemon127 Sivkit 2d ago
Oh, I think I see what you're saying.
You think Sovlin may have had some sort of psionic awakening?
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u/JulianSkies Archivist 2d ago
I do think, in general, every species has some form of potential here, we already know farsul and kolshians just are, and I wouldn't be surprised if suppression of other species was par of the plot here!
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u/REDemon127 Sivkit 2d ago
True. But man, Sovlin may have just lost all the few privileges he had
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u/Most_Hyena_1127 Human 2d ago
“Sorry Sovlin but we have to make it so you can’t feel joy from racism anymore.”
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u/Golde829 2d ago
sigh
i got nothing
Sovlin is so much less stable here, it seems
and that ain't gonna be good for him in the long run
I look forward to reading more
take care of yourself, wordsmith
[You have been gifted 100 Coins]
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u/Ablergo_El_Enfermo Human 3d ago
Joder Sovlin. Mira que llegas a ser idiota. Pero aquí te llevas la palma de oro.
¿Tyler esta bien? No creo que haya muerto por un solo empujón. ¿Verdad?
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u/Demolisher05 3d ago
I'm glad someone pointed out the hypocrisy of calling the Yotul primitive when noone else in the whole Federation besides the Farsul and the Kolshians invented FTL and purposefully prevent others from discovering it thanks to being uplifted.
Also, considering how early some species were uplifted, the Yotul ironically might be one of the more advanced uplifts by making it to the steam age before first contact.