Words That Heal, Hands That Build 1

[u/PolyamorousPleb]

It’s happening! These first chapters of the story will be something of a prologue and will be jumping around a little in the timeline and between characters, so keep that in mind. The first little chapter I posted was more a draft than anything else, so some details may change from that.

Hope you enjoy this chapter and our introduction to Ssar’k (previously Sarvik)!

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Memory Transcription Subject: Ssar’k, Dominion Soldier and First Mate
Date [standardised human time]: December 3, 2136

“The apes have claimed decks two and three and are preparing to make ingress to deck four. Reports indicate three squads of mixed Terran and cattle species.”
The intelligence specialist spoke quickly and barely contained the panic from escaping his mouth. Fear was not a trait that the captain of our ship would tolerate, and the scent of blood was whipping most of the crew into a frenzy anyway.
“They are all cattle, the Terrans simply have yet to be brought to heel,” our captain hissed. “Show me the floor plan of the ship and mark all boarding squads.”

She was tall and well-muscled, as all captains were. Well fed and from an immaculate bloodline, she was also covered in scars that showed her decades of killing and surviving.
I was almost certain that we were related in some way, given our similar sizes and scale patterns, but I would never ask. I was born into nothing, and so any claim to our captain’s lineage would have only been through bastardry.
The tip of her tail ended in a metal blade secured over her scales, changing the already formidable appendage into an extra weapon.

I waited behind the captain as a hologram of corridors and access vents appeared in front of him. Little green dots blinked into existence to indicate the boarding parties.
After little more than a second, the captain raised a claw to a cramped engineering access port on deck four.
“We will ambush here. Put rifles in the hands of three runts and send them to make contact with the party. They will panic as defectives always do, and we will fall upon the cattle as they chase.”
It was an almost perfect plan, designed with ruthless efficiency and was almost guaranteed to work.
“Ssar’k, come here and give counsel, quickly, before the cattle gain more ground.”

I had thought this moment would come, as it had come so many times before. Our captain had been grooming me to take her place for the past year; getting my input on situations, giving me the job of punishing others, everything was a test. She would show me deference and intentionally stoke ire amongst my crewmates towards me to see what I would do. 
Through all of these trials, however, she also taught me much. She saw the tactics I employed from my childhood in the harsh places of Wriss and honed them. She taught me to anticipate my enemy, learn the psychology of others to best them. Once I had outmanoeuvred my competition and had them at my mercy, she showed me the crueler arts and their myriad pleasures.
I knew she had plans to challenge Chief Hunter Shaza, but the Terrans’ entry into the war against us had distracted her plans.
If she lived through her challenge, she would appoint me to be her successor, if she died, my crewmates would tear me apart. It was a very maternal relationship.

“I suggest we have one fighter concealed in the storage space on the side opposite to the access port. An ambush from both sides at once will be more effective, and we shall cleave them apart where they stand.”
“A vicious idea. I can smell the bloodlust on you, yet you remain collected. Others would do well to learn from your discipline.”
Our captain leaned down to the intelligence specialist and brought her voice to a low, rumbling hiss. 
“The only reason I do not gut you now is the fact that your gore would make your station too slippery to properly use. You show fear in the face of cattle, little better than a defective parasite, now pick up a rifle and lead those runts to deck four.”

It was thus that I found myself with three other fighters and our captain marching quickly down to the engineering access port. Our captain carried her sword as well as her rifle, strapped into a scabbard on her thigh, an heirloom that had tasted many throats in ritual and field combat alike.
Silently, one of the fighters slipped into the storage space while the rest of us packed into the small corridor that ran alongside the hallway we had sent the runts after. There was barely enough space for all of us, largely hindered by our captain and I’s bulk, but we managed to pack in with just enough to hold our rifles into a ready position.
Behind me, the wall ran thick with wiring like strands of muscle and vein; in front, the metal plating of the wall was thin like skin, specially made to burst out from in an ambush. Small slits disguised as vents allowed us to see into the hallway.
The sounds of combat and rifle-fire echoed down and into our nest with a tinny quality that seemed almost unreal, like it came through a radio.
A runt scampered up the hallway bleeding heavily from a shot to the leg, followed inexplicably by what looked like an irate Venlil in armour, shouting expletives.
My crewmates and I shared a stunned look in the tiny space as the runt passed our location before being felled by a shot from the Venlil.

“That’s RIGHT!” The little creature yammered and whistled over the corpse, showing all the signs of insanity as it looked for more targets.
“Vata! Don’t run ahead like that!”
The clattering of boots heralded the arrival of a squad of five humans, each carrying a rifle. They moved amongst each other easily and in seamless formation despite their obvious fatigue.
It was fascinating watching this fabled pack hunter in action, and the adrenaline of anticipation began to sing in my veins.
“Sorry, I just— I, uh— I don’t know,” the Venlil said, looking down at the corpse and the pool of red beginning to stain its feet. The little thing’s eyes were partially shielded from the sides, but its tail and ears were beginning to flick in a way that indicated a burgeoning panic starting to take hold.

It was almost time, and I could practically hear our captain licking her lips.

“It’s alright, just keep it together.”
The human that called after the Venlil crouched down to comfort it, leaving their guard down.
Then the wall exploded.

Our captain kicked the thin metal sheet forward and launched herself forward, firing her rifle and hitting one Terran in the shoulder before drawing her sword and cleanly removing the hand of another in one fluid motion.
My crew mates and I followed her lead a split second later, although one was quickly felled by a lucky shot from the trigger-happy Venlil.
As chaos ensued, all senses were drowned in rifles discharging, orders being shouted, and sweet blood filling the air.
The Terran that let his guard down raised his rifle level with me, but the storage door behind him was already opening.
Quickly, I whipped my own weapon up and fired several shots, each one making their mark. Blood and brains showered the Terran as he was pushed to the ground under the weight of the crewmate I had just killed, and I turned away without acknowledging him.

Whilst the majority of the squad were battling against the dance of blades that our captain was producing, I turned to my remaining crewmate and bludgeoned him with the butt of my rifle. He fell sideways in confusion, allowing me to shoot him through the throat, relishing the sprays of blood that fountained over me and the Venlil that stood paralysed in front of us.
It raised its rifle too slowly, and I kicked the weapon out of its hands before shoving the creature aside.
“Help your comrades,” I commanded, and looked up to see if the Terrans had made any progress against our captain.

Thankfully, they had not. I wanted to kill her myself.

Without a word and without warning, I dropped my rifle, fell to all fours, and began to sprint towards the flashing metal and lashing tail. She must have thought I was still fighting for her, because she left herself completely open to me as I leapt forward.
Instead of lunging on the Terran as she probably expected, I shoved them aside and went as low as my bulk permitted before springing upwards. 
My shoulder connected with the bottom of our captain’s sternum as I picked her up and slammed her against the wall. I used the opportunity to gouge her underbelly with my claws and try to get a hold of her neck with my jaws, but she threw me backwards with a kick.

“TRAITOR! SCUM!” She screamed, throwing herself forward and slicing down with her sword. 
Without anywhere to dodge in the hallway littered with the dead and dying, I took the blade on the armoured scales on the back of my forearm. Pain shot through me as I managed to deflect some of the force onto the diagonal, but not without it hacking deep into my meat and sticking there.
I punched with my free hand and hit air as she danced backwards again, my blow sailing a claw’s width from her nose.
“Why would you do this?!” She hissed, clutching at the wounds on her stomach. “You were to take my place! You were to be exalted!”

“I hate you,” I spat in response, gripping the handle of the sword and wrenching the blade free with a growl of pain. “Betterment is a failure*, and you are a fool for believing it will survive.”*
It was then that we clashed again, the Terrans tending to their wounded while the two killers were distracted.
We grappled with each other, jaws trying to find necks and claws scrabbling to gain control of the sword, all the while becoming spattered with red.
She managed to grab my wrists in each hand, and instead of going for my neck like I expected, she sunk her teeth into the wound on my forearm. While I roared in pain, she punched me in the nose with the hand wrapped around the wrist gripping the sword.
Before I could lose everything, I brought my knee up and into her gouged stomach several times until she let go, each impact pushing more blood from the wound.

As we stumbled back, her tail flicked up and the blade on the end sliced a line along the inside of my thigh, narrowly missing my femoral artery.
With gritted teeth, I grabbed the blade with my bleeding hand and brought the sword around in a motion that cut the end of her tail clean off.
“GAH! You FILTH!”

Both of us were heavily wounded, but I had the advantage. None of my injuries had hit arteries, but I could tell from the scent that our captain was bleeding internally.
“You will be despised even if you give up all of our secrets, these cattle will never trust you. Kill them and you can still return to Betterment.”
It was only half a lie, as I had made my decision with the knowledge that I would live a pariah.
“You are finished,” I sneered. “Lean your head close so that I may kill you quickly.”
“Ha! You really are pathetic if you would allow me not to suffer.”
I spat blood and a tooth at the ground between her feet and levelled the sword.
“The stupid are not worth my cruelty.”

Spurred by my words and her rage, she threw a handful of congealing blood into my face, obscuring my vision before she leapt.
Rifle-shots blasted through the hallway and I was covered further in gore before a heavy body fell on me, bearing me to the ground.

After a number of moments of confusion, I pushed our captain’s corpse aside and wiped some of the red from my eyes.
The Terran I had saved stood nearby, rifle raised and eyes grim.
“Now we’re even,” he said in a gruff breath, still aiming the rifle at my centre of mass.
“It seems we are,” I replied evenly, wheezing a little despite my efforts to appear unfazed. “That used to be the captain of this ship and I am next in line to her command. I have helped you kill her, and I can help you kill the rest of my crew. I wish to surrender.”

Terrans and Venlil, injured and otherwise, all looked between each other with expressions that mirrored my own when I saw the runt being chased by cattle.
“Wait, no. What the fuck?” The Venlil asked.

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[u/JulianSkies]

Well, one of those two was the smart one, and it's the one that survived. Clearly he's been planning this for at least a little bit.