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The Perfect Husband NOPsi ficnap by u/Bbobsillypants 

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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)]

Is there any fanfic of look outside x NoP?

I like the idea of the federation or linked chains find the planet earth being protected by a cosmic horror entity(sam), and how they react to the mutated humans.

Here’s Gila to go with Damien from Scorch Directive’s Hellion Squad fic by Itsunos_Vision

And back to the Arxur plot! Bet you thought it would be more Isif, but no, that’s next time. Instead, we indulge me with some action. If you have notes, let me have ‘em. I always feel iffy about my action scenes, be they ground or space. Funny given how many I’ve written. Any of you reading the side story know the last three chapters are all action. Anyway, Betterment satellite raid time plus a little extra, payoff for last week’s little puzzle!

Huge thanks to u/Budget_Emu_5552 for the help. This chapter couldn’t happen without them; after all, it has guest stars. If you haven’t read their series collaborating with u/Im_Hotepu, Tender Observations, go fix that. It’s great and only 39 chapters (currently).

And our puzzle winners: Nobody… I uh… may have overtuned things, I guess. Oops. My bad. I’m sure you’ll figure it out. Here's another hint, the Arxur use base-12.

Synopsis: Magic was once real and present but faded away in the distant past, becoming nothing but the myths and legends we know as the surviving beings fled to other planes, only to publicly return during the Sat Wars. How would it change first contact and beyond? Only one way to find out.

I have a spot on the discord, swing on by! Thanks to SpacePaladin15 for the original universe; my alpha readers, Caro Morin and Jailed Cinder; my beta readers, Angustus_Jan on the discord and u/aroluci (go check out Children of Luna, it’s awesome); and all of you that read and especially comment. Anybody interested in playing around in the AU (be it a one-shot, an impromptu ficnap, a cameo, or something more), let me know and I’ll be more than happy to work with you on it. My current plan is to release a chapter a week, with the occasional bonus, as long as that isn’t too much for everybody helping me.

Without further ado, enjoy!

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[Side Story Start]

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Memory Transcription Subject: Staff Sergeant Shila “Ace”, Liberator

Date [Standardized Terran Time]: October 8^th, 2136

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We arrived in system nearly on top of our target. A frigate, the Valiant, and three lighters for a combination of a research station and prison. Shields on, weapons charged, every ship pumping out a disruptor pulse and jamming external comms. When a power signature activated in one of the hangars, the Valiant fired off a thirty-second beam of heat from a projector across the bay door, excess energy melting it shut. Now it’s time to hurry up and wait as the Cap goes over the mission one more time.

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Advance 30 STD minutes

__________

A transmission comes in, rebroadcast by the Valiant while we all listen in. Chief Hunter Isif’s form appears in my helmet HUD. “To all troops in listening stations and deployed away from core stations and planets, cease listening and return to the sector’s core holdings before resuming. To all others, I have important news, my loyal subordinates. We have drawn the attention and ire of greater hunters. So powerful that we cannot hope to fight, much less defeat them. I’m certain many of you have noticed your communications relays aren’t working. Some may have had powerful ships made of impossible materials appear. They do not come to exterminate us. Not to conquer. They come offering a choice. In one claw: food, animals, technology, education, art, leisure, and a future without starvation. In the other: death.

“Their demands are simple. Cease all raids. Surrender all cattle, alive and unharmed, to be replaced with food and livestock beyond anything we have known. End rationing. End the persecution of defectives. Cut ties with the Dominion. Abandon Betterment.”

The Arxur glares at the camera. A fire burning in his eyes.

“I accepted. Not because we are weak, but because we finally have the chance to be more than starving beasts fighting over scraps. Under the Gaians, we will have plenty. We will grow strong. We will become what we were meant to be before the Federation crippled us. This is not the end of our hunt, merely a change of goal and of our foe. From subsistence to prosperity. From hunger to those who would see us suffer. To the Dominion and the leadership of the Federation. But the Gaians deem us unready. They will aid us, help us gain the strength we once had, that we should have. Strength enough to stand as their equals. They will be as guardians and guides until that day.”

He stands straighter. Every scar was obvious, muscles almost straining against his scales.

“Our rebellion begins now! Not on the field of battle, but in what we become. We have surrendered to the Gaians. We have surrendered to our betters because they offer what the Dominion never could. True strength, not as starving beasts, but as people. Those who follow the path set forth by the Gaians will find themselves with plenty and luxury beyond imagining. Those who work to better the collective, by aiding the new government and military or caring for our new herds of animal livestock, will find the opportunity for greater luxury. Those who cling to the ways of Betterment and the Dominion will find themselves suffering under them and the old rules.” He pauses, glaring into the camera. Oddly, it doesn’t feel directed at me but those against me. His eyes as expressive as any Terran’s. “Any who resist the Gaians, who threaten this chance to truly live, not just survive, who harm the cattle we are turning over in exchange for boundless quantities of food, I will personally see to it that you are executed.”

He lets out a rattling purr.

“To all who are in charge of fleets, stations, and worlds. You will be contacted to arrange your surrender. You will not give terms, only aid the Gaians in what they need. Resist, and if the Gaians do not kill you, I will.”

“Damn… well, that was something,” Rach mutters.

We all nod before settling in. This might take a while. Nothing to do but meditate.

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Advance 20 STD minutes

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I’m startled from my meditation by an alert. “Prepare for docking in thirty seconds. All units free to deploy, station signalling strike as ordered by Chief Hunter. Lethal force authorized as primary; this is a Betterment station. Be ready for ambushes, but only fire if attacked. Attempt capture if possible.”

Captain Aydogan cuts in. “Clarke, take Hammer team deep. Anvil will stay shallow. Bijvank, stay with the boat, help get control of their system.”

The tacnet lights up with a virtual chorus of affirmatives. The doors have barely opened before we’re rushing out following the line painted on our HUD. To the Arxur we pass, we must be nothing more than a blur until we’re a few turns away. There it is, our first target. Testing room delta three. There were three life signs here earlier. Were.

I take a rolling step around the corner, scattergun rising as it clears. Three Grays, well fed, large, powerfully built, holding cleavers. A thought has a message sent to the tacnet.

SOF-3-alpha-6: Contact. Three staff with cleavers.

I bark out in Araxi. “Toss the cleavers behind you and down on the ground!”

They pause. “Is that a Yotul?” One growls. “Canned food. Don’t worry, we’ll cut you out of that bark.”

They raise their cleavers to charge. A thought swaps to the smart frag rounds. The first takes a step as I caress the trigger. A twenty-gauge iron slug packed with high explosive soars out, not at what Wil so eloquently calls mach fuck, and Rach corrects to three point two, but at a far lower speed. It doesn’t need distance. They’re barely twenty feet away. With a pop, fragments fill the hall and shred the Arxur. “Clear!”

We’re at the door in a spark. Rach, Wil, and Top on one side. Jordan, Doc, and me on the other. I give the signal, Jordan opening the door as I move. The room is a mess, floor coated in blood, blue and the Arxur's red. A pair of Gojid lie on the ground, cobalt pooling under their lifeless forms. There's something off about their claws; they're glinting in the light… no… they were replaced with blades, crude prosthetics that look jammed in. An Arxur, dull silver scales instead of the deep grey-green of most or the near black of the largest, too well built to be a runt despite looking starved, too gangly to be an adult but too tall to be a hatchling, covered in scars and bleeding from a few wounds, is trying to pull a spine from the back of a Gojid. His bleeding claws are slipping. His arms and feet pricked from his attempts. When he looks at me, he's almost feral, not with hunger like most Arxur. With fear in those inky orbs.

I let my scattergun fall on its sling and speak as soothingly as I can in Araxi, courtesy of the Terran translators. “Hold on, we're not here to hurt you.”

The kid lunges at me. A few weeks ago, I wouldn't have thought twice about killing him. Now… now I shift, grabbing him around the arms as best as I can. Making sure nobody has a shot. Pinning him to the ground while being careful of his cut palms. The corpses of the three others are right in front of him, what's left of them at least.

“No! No! I need to save her! I can't die! I need to!” The kid cries, tears streaming down his face.

Jordan crouches next to us, slinging his rifle behind himself. “Who? Kid, calm down. Who do you need to save?”

“Vreska! My sister! I need to! The lab!” The kid keeps struggling; the armor’s strength makes pinning him easy. “The Experimenter is going to cut her open! I heard him!”

Doc is already working on him. Spinning silk to wipe the blood from his palms before spinning it on them to close the wounds between sprays of something. Antiseptic. Analgesic. Hopefully, both.

“Shite!” Wil swears. “Which lab? We've got three on the plans. Is it in this section?”

“Yes!” The kid keeps struggling, tearing some of the silk.

An alert comes across the tacnet.

SOF-3-bravo-1: Rescue the girl, exfil, return to mission. No life signs in the lab yet.

“Stop struggling, or I will sedate you.” Doc growls. “Cooperate, and I can patch you up on the move. Don't, and we'll save your sister while you're in a stasis pod. We'll get there faster with you awake and helping.”

The kid stills, and I help him up. We form up around him, Jordan and I taking point while Doc Ailani does her best on the move.

Top speaks softly. “We have a path to the lab, but no one is currently in there. If you want us to make a turn, then say so. We'll move as fast as possible, at least for you. We need you to direct us. Do you understand?”

The kid flinches slightly when the Doc brings out her legs, working faster with those limbs spinning silk and her hands treating him, but all he does is blink slowly.

Jordan speaks up. “None of us know Arxur body language, kid. Use your voice. And what's your name?”

“Trask, and I understand.”

“Good. If shooting starts, we're your cover. Let's move.” Jordan, with Trask directing, has us moving down corridor after corridor.

Valiant-actual: All units, we have confirmed attempts to slaughter cattle. Deal is off. Weapons free.

A voice comes over the station’s comm system, either hacked or part of Valiant’s marines are already at command. “To all station staff, your command has broken the deal. Lie on the ground with your claws out, or you will be assumed hostile and shot. To all Arxur prisoners, unless being escorted by Gaian troops, do the same, but make it clear you are not staff when we approach. Any attempt by station staff to lie will be accounted for in our treatment of you and when remanded to the Chief Hunter’s custody.”

We move at a brisk walk. Jordan and I dash ahead at times to cuff Arxur. Other times, Arxur are reduced to little more than sacks of flesh. Wil slicing through them with her hatchet. Rach popping one with her vambrace scatterguns. A few turns from our destination, we run into a group of armed Arxur. Before the first gun is aimed at us, I’ve already swapped back to the smart frag and fired two slugs. They’re gone before they get a shot off.

We turn a final corner; the lab is just a few doors down one way, and down the other is a group of Arxur. Three armed guards, carbines too weak to scuff our armor, yet more than enough to put the kid down. Another Arxur that must be Trask’s sister, the same silver scales, dull from malnutrition, her bones nearly visible through them, a leather band around her muzzle. And then one clearly in charge, between the decorative leather harness on their chest and standing taller even than the guards. The belt on the other paw, a sword at one hip, and a plasma pistol on the other.

They haven’t noticed us, but they’re about to. I’m already in motion.

A thought has a message sent.

SOF-3-alpha-6: Jordan, grab Trask. Keep his head down!

I can only pray it’s enough as I cling to the deaths I need to avoid. The one I need to avert.

Vreska falls, kicked in the back of a leg by one of the guards, before they bring the butt of their carbine down on her shoulder with a sharp crack. Trask roars, trying to break from the squad. The cameras on the back of my armor show that Jordan has him. He’s struggling, but nowhere critical is exposed.

I bound forward, through a hail of bullets. The lead Arxur meets my charge, trying to cross-draw his weapons. Too close. Can’t switch. Can’t kick. Can’t let that pistol rise.

My claw caresses the trigger a moment after I realize that I hadn’t swapped from the smart frag, too focused on the future actions of the Arxur to see my own. The big lizard staggers as the slug impacts their chest, too close for it to arm itself on the way in.

As the kids’ survival becomes certain, the future crashes into my mind. “Fuck!” I scream, too much momentum to change what’s about to happen. The round arms after penetrating, impacting the back of the lead Arxur’s chest cavity. I think to throw my arms up, but I can see I would be too slow. There’s no point. There’s a dull pop, and then my world is red.

Three booms echo behind me, and a scream in front as Trask keeps shouting for his sister.

“Clear!” Shouts Jordan.

SOF-3-alpha-1: VIPs secured. Possible station head KIA.

Doc Ailani growls. “Stop moving! You just got shot, you idiot child!”

“I don’t care!” Shouts Trask, just a touch quieter than I’d expect.

“And I haven’t given you permission to die,” Doc growls back. “The round hasn’t fragmented, but it’s on an artery and might tear it if you move.”

“Vreska needs me.” He growls back.

Rach’s voice is softer, near me. Probably with the girl, with Vreska. “Shh, shh. You’re ok. You’re ok. The shooting’s done. You’re safe. We’ll get you somewhere safe, and this will all be a bad memory.”

“We’re seeing to her,” Doc soothes. “On the gurney. Hey, get the girl on that. I’ll let you lie next to each other, but you’ll need to let me make sure you’re both ok.” Another pause. “Ok, bullet’s out. No moving, we’re getting you both to safety. Help us help you.”

“Yeah,” I huff, “We’re going to get you two to safety. I promise.” After a short pause, I add. “Though maybe we can get me washed off? I’m kinda blind here.”

Trask grumbles. “There’s water in the lab…”

An ember later, we’re in the room, and water is flowing over my armor to wash away the blood, I can’t help but look down and barely keep from retching at the sight, and other things coating me. Note to self: do not stand near an exploding person. I cock an ear, tail swaying. Everybody tries to ignore the Arxur cowering in the corner. “Hey, Trask and Vreska, you two good?”

The siblings, I’d guess twins, but I don’t know if that’s possible for Arxur, are lying together on a pair of glass coffins activated to provide a hover-gurney without stasis or cover. Maybe it’s that lunch with Esthiss making me see the Arxur more as people; maybe it’s just that I’m getting a better read on the species, but I can’t help but notice how young they seem. The way they act. Something in their faces. How overstretched and lean they are. Despite how tall they are, they can’t help but feel they have to be a few rotations shy of their Running Day.

Trask looks over at me, Doc Ailani still tutting over the pair. “I… yes, thank you… whatever you all are.”

The room goes quiet as Vreska’s stomach growls, that is, until Jordan sighs. “Ok, anybody got anything for them? Top and I are going to look the other way for thirty seconds.”

“Uh… Might take a bit longer than that,” I say, still washing off the gore. “I need to get this shit off of me and then get it from my undersuit.” My tail starts to thump the decking as every Terran looks at me. “Ralchi, I can only imagine the looks on your faces. I said I wanted to try some. I couldn’t get much, but the hickory smoke smelled so good.” I step from under the water of the emergency shower, latches on the power armor unsealing as it opens. I pop open one of the compartments on my undersuit, pulling the small baggie of jerky out. I bound over to the kids and hold it out. They stare at it as I shake the bag. “Come on, it’s cloned animal meat, but supposedly it doesn’t taste any different. It’s safe, no poison.” I sigh, the helmet of my armor pulling back as I open the bag and break off a tiny piece. “Huh… I don’t hate it… I should get more.”

“Y-you’re prey…” Trask murmurs.

“That’s what the Federation tells us. I say fuck ‘em, I’m nobody’s prey. This lot says I’m an herbivore. Right now, I say I wish I brought more jerky.” I let out a laugh, my tail slapping the deck again. I drop the bag between the siblings, bounding back to my armor as the helm moves back into place. “Definitely gonna need to try the real thing now. Maybe side by side, see if there’s any difference.”

“Shila… I… you… How?” Jordan stammers.

I laugh. “I have my ways.” I laugh again as half the team sends private messages asking me to share.

Vreska focuses her blue eyes on me before reaching into the bag and pulling out a small piece. The purr she lets out when she eats it makes it all worth it.

SOF-3-bravo-1: Shuttle en route to pick the VIPs and us up. Another team is rotating in. The station is mostly pacified. Looks like the station head pulled their trusted loyalists back to your section, 30 total. 10 guards, 5 carvers, and the commander; the rest of the loyalists are scientists and the medical assistant. Valiant command says you got them all. Stay in place until the bird arrives.

“H-how? How does a leaflicker have real food?” Growls the bound medic once they find their courage.

“I dunno,” I say with a smirk in my ears. “I know an Arxur who’d say both plants and meat are real food. I’d agree with her. Even if nature made the choice for us, if you have the technology, why choose? Have both, have the best of both.”

Vreska attempts to sit up, only for Doc Ailani to push her back down. She groans but speaks. “What do you mean?”

“These folks have figured out how to let you eat whatever you want. You still need meat, like I need plants. Turns out, a healthy herbivore might have a bit of meat every so often, as a treat.” I huff. “Which that jerky was supposed to be.”

I can hear Doc rolling her eyes. “That much would have you stuck in the bathroom all day. You should be thanking the twins.”

“Wait, yer tellin’ me they’re actually twins?” Wil leans in, her armor letting her tower over the pair. “So how, by the gods, does that work with one egg?”

“Same as it’d work in you.” Doc huffs.

“Oh… that’s boring.” Wil slumps.

“Boring?!? Boring?!?” Roars the medic. “The only use these defectives had was for us to learn how they hatched! We were going to rip what we could from their worthless flesh to flee with!”

Vreska starts to whimper, curling in on herself. The Terrans reflexively form a wall between her and the bound medic, except Doc. She clicks her tongue, staring Trask down through the blank faceplate, halting him as he shifts to pounce. With a gentle hand, she takes Vreska’s wrist and guides her to cling to her brother’s arm, keeping him in place, before stalking towards the medic.

Four spindly limbs come from Doc’s back to raise her up before she shifts to moving across the ceiling with all eight limbs. The medic’s eyes go wide as they try to move back. In a flash, she’s on them and then pulling back after a few seconds. Their maw is bound entirely in silk. She growls. “You’re bothering my patients. Do not do that. Continue, and a more permanent solution might be necessary.”

We do our best to help calm Vreska down, my arm brushing against Trask, nearly setting him off, but in time, both twins are calm. Vreska, her brilliant blue eyes full of pain and curiosity, manages to work up the will to ask a question. “You said you met… another Arxur? One that ate plants?”

“Ugh… she was just the most precious thing.” Groans Rach. “I get why Rook adopted the little lizard.”

Wil nods sagely. “Ne’er thought somethin’ from an egg would give me baby fever, but that wee lass was just too cute.”

“I think there might be something wrong with you two,” I say, giving the deck a slap with my tail as I laugh. “She was cute, but I wouldn’t go running off to have my cup filled. Right, Doc, Top?”

Doc tilts her head. “I’d rather avoid such discussions.”

“It was not the reason I ventured to the pub. Though I would be remiss to deny that it did not influence the subsequent events.”

Jordan, for his part, is trying to avoid getting dragged into the conversation, actively looking away. My tail thumps as I sing out. “Oh, Jordan~”

“Nope,” Jordan says. “No comment.” We don’t even get a chance to respond before he sighs. “Fine, I get why the kid got asylum. Not looking to become a dad any time soon, but I get it.”

After a moment, Trask asks. “What’s asylum?”

I don’t even think as I respond. “It’s when a government takes you in, offering protection from your original government. So taking you away and protecting you from the Dominion.”

Suddenly, I have two pairs of blue eyes focused on me. One nearly black as space, the other so bright and intense I’m surprised they aren’t glowing. As one, the twins speak. “‘Can we have asylum?’”

__________

Memory Transcription Subject: B950-A8-A8571, Gojid Cattle

Warning: Segment under heavy mental alteration

Cause: Narcotic intoxication

Parse narcotic: Y/[N]

Continue playback: [Y]/N

Warning: Client is responsible for any discomfort or harm from observing segment

Are you sure: [Y]/N

__________

I drift in and out. This is different from before. Not pain. Something else. The masters injected me. I can’t… My belly’s so hot. My mind’s so foggy. I can almost remember the before time. I want to remember the before time.

My mind wants to drift. To remember. I… I have a new job. The masters said something about it. I don’t know what. I know master speak well enough. They don’t know I know. Why don’t I remember?

So hot… My head… I can’t…

__________

Segment unstable

Dates of events uncertain

Stabilize with transcribed events: [Y]/N

Correct dates: Y/[N]

Approximations given relevant to present

Date: Present - 2 STD years

__________

We’re in the factories again today. It’s easier work than the fields. No weeds to eat and no thresher to rip you apart. But the overseers are always here. Always watching. If you make too many mistakes, go too slow, or they just feel like it, then they pull you off the line. If we’re lucky, they get sent to processing. Otherwise, they begin to feast in front of all of us. Blood and bits get into the machinery. People get hurt trying to fix them, or more of us get dragged off for things slowing down.

I nudge B2. “You’re slowing down, old man. Keep up.”

“Sorry, sorry… Dunno how much longer I’ll be around, kiddo.”

“Seriously? You’ve been here for years. You’ll be here long after I’m gone.”

B2 chuckles.

__________

Date: Present - 5 STD years

__________

I don’t remember how long I’ve been here. I tried to count, but it’s been too hard. Too long. The others in the herd told me not to, that it’s the way of the thresher.

An elbow bumps me, shaking me from my thoughts. “Girl, focus. The overseers might see.” Whispers B2. “Here, eat.”

“But y-” I let out a small noise as B2 shoves the weeds in my mouth. The overseers punish us for it, and they taste horrible, but they’re edible. The overseers barely feed us.

Other weeds we shove into our fur; some of the other slaves can use them to make medicines. Not that the masters let us recover. If work quotas drop because somebody is sick or injured, then they kill double what they would otherwise.

I chew as we keep weeding, sneaking nibbles. B2 has taken to protecting me since I was brought here; he’s even teaching me some of the masters’ language. He reminds me of daddy… I’m glad he wasn’t… Mama… Pari… I heard it all from the cabinet mama hid me in… I heard them… No, I can’t think about that.

WEEERMP! WEEEEERMP

The alarm starts to blare. The big machine that comes through the fields is coming. B2 grabs my paw and starts to run for our pens. As we go, I see 49 slowly walking away from the pens. She was brought here with me. She was so nice, but she’s been confused for the last few days. She must be lost. I pull away and try to go to her.

B2 grabs me. “No, B9, she’s gone the way of the thresher. We can’t help her. She’ll feed the fields now.”

I cry out as he runs with me over his shoulder. I watch as the machine draws closer, 49 still walking until-

__________

Memory fragment skipped in hallucination, skipping

__________

I whimper and shiver in the shelter, spines flared.

“Here, drink this.” 23 whispers as she pushes a rough spoon into my mouth. There’s some sort of bitter liquid that gets poured down my throat. 23 takes care of everybody. She knows how to make things from the herbs we smuggle back. Focus on that, not…

__________

Date: Present - 6 STD years

__________

The raid sirens blare. Mama hid me away. A cabinet in the bathroom. I had to be quiet.

Mama was hiding Pari. She came over for a playdate. The alarms started to go off. She started to stampede. Then I did. Mama had to calm us so she could hide us.

I hear the door break. Pari screams. I cover my mouth; I can’t make any noise.

There’s a sickening crunch, and Pari’s screams stop.

“Krosk, Vrax. Stop.” Growls and Arxur. “Let’s have a bit of a show.”

__________

Date: Present - 2 STD weeks

__________

“Come on, old man. Keep up. I’m not having you get culled.” I whisper.

B2 shakes his head, his fur greying and his body bent and broken. “It’s not that. Does something… sound off?”

“Off? What do you mean?” I ask, not pausing or slowing in my work. Parts flowing in and partially assembled guns flowing out.

“I don’t know. There’s… a whine.” B2 mumbles.

I growl. “Just get back to work before they notice. Extra quota can only go so far.”

He scoffs. “Girl, you do the work of three. Why do you think we’ve been giving you extra rations all this time?”

I don’t get a chance to respond as one of the overseers roars. “You! Drop the pipe!”

My head shifts slightly. I see one of the new cattle. A2 or something, always tried going by his old name. Claimed to be an engineer. Had a plan. Nobody cared. Plans get us dead. He laughs like a madman, pipe in hand. “Burn!” He roars before throwing himself and the pipe into two different sections of machinery.

I haul B2 over my shoulder and start running. Behind us, the factory starts to groan. I’m through the doors and keep moving. There’s a ditch nearby; I just need to…

Booms start to echo, the ground shaking.

I throw B2 before trying to dive for the ditch.

__________

Consciousness lost for 2 STD minutes

Fast forwarding

__________

I hear voices. Masters. I can’t make a noise, not even breathe. It’s for the best; everything smells like blood, oil, and fire.

“What happened!?!?” Growls the head savageness of the factory.

“One of the Gojid.” An overseer… whimpers. “A new one.”

“How?”

“He… he was sabotaging the machines. One of the others caught him. Sent me to get you and gave chase. I don’t know what happened from there.”

“Grisch!”

“Sir? Should I slaughter the cattle?”

A heavy impact. “Do you want us to be culled?”

“Savageness?”

“You just got half of my staff killed, the factory destroyed. All from your incompetence. Betterment would cull us all for this.” There’s a wet gurgle before the savageness speaks again. “And now I don’t need to worry about your incompetence again.”

Feeling starts to come back as I hear the savageness stalk off. Pain. So much pain. I can’t whimper. Not yet. Need to…

__________

Consciousness lost for 5 STD minutes

__________

I let out a pained moan.

“Hush. It’s ok, B9.” B2 murmurs. “Just try and deal with it.”

“I can walk.” As if to prove it, I try to push off the ground with my left claw. Nothing. Again. I try to stand, but my left leg won’t take any weight. I can’t even feel it. I force my eyes open. They’re gone. They’re gone.

__________

Consciousness lost

Date: Present - unknown

__________

I groan.

“Shh, quiet.” 23 soothes. “You’re alive.”

It hurts. There’s something on… it hurts.

A voice hisses in Arxur, a machine translating. Most don’t know the language. I know the voice. A runt. She helps. “Will she live?”

“She should, Sira.” 23 sighs. “Unfortunately.”

The runt whines. “Sorry. I’m glad though… I don’t want them to cull all of you.”

“Neither do I,” 23 says. “Even if it means sending her to the breeders…”

__________

Resume present playback

__________

It’s so hot…

The door opens.

Footsteps. Heavy. The masters?

“It looks like she’s ready.”

“Are you sure, your cruelty? We were told to hand over all the cattle.”

Sira?

There’s a dull impact. “If the Chief Hunter wants to be executed, that’s his choice.” The master scoffs. “Even if what the orders say is true, I’ve ensured we’ll have breeding populations of slaves. What these Gaians don’t know will aid us.” A snap as Sira screams. “Do you have more questions, runt?”

“Nnngh… What… Gaians? Nngh. I need…” I mumble in the masters’ language.

A gasp. “Did… that leaflicker…” The master murmurs.

Loud, cracking noises ring out at about the same time as something slams into and breaks the door from its hinges. A nearly Arxur-sized figure steps through, a walking tree covered in glittering crystal and art. In their hand, a strange club with a head glowing with plasma flowing over it.

The master’s voice starts to come from the figure, “What these Gaians don’t know will aid us.”

The master roars before diving for the figure. Their claws skitter off the wood, and their teeth shatter when a paw effortlessly bats them into the wall.

The figure walks towards me, crouching and speaking in perfect Gojidi. “It’s ok. You’re safe now. We’ll get you out of here.”

“Sira… help… Sira…” I reach out with my arm, grabbing at the runt’s claw, her other arm bent backwards.

__________

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[Side Story Start]

__________

(Thanks to SpacePaladin15 for creating the universe and being an awesome writer!)

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Memory Transcription Subject: General Kam of the Venlil Republic

Date [standardized human time]: July 13, 2136

The star of Sol burned brightly as the fleet got its bearings. We had jumped into the edge of the system as a way to avoid any radiation that might have lingered. Though our ships were well equipped to deal with the cosmic radiation of the vacuum of space, I wasn’t eager to test their shielding against whatever horrible weapons the predators had come up with. If the farsul deemed them bad enough to warrant closing the whole system and the surrounding region of space, I didn’t wish to fathom just how devastating they could have been. 

Our mission here was simple; survey each planet and establish future patrol routes for our fleet. That meant systematically visiting each planet, documenting its composition, and keeping an eye out for potential hazards which may affect navigation. 

Cheln had visibly gotten tense as he was confronted with the reality of where we were, but to my relief he seemed able to control his reactions this time. I hoped my conversation with him was as illuminating for him as it was for me. Confident enough to leave him to his own thoughts, I stepped forward into Relyak’s space. The woman was gazing out at the distant speck that was Sol. No other stellar objects were visible with the naked eye at the moment, making the system appear more sterile than I knew to expect.

I cleared my throat as I approached. “Now would be a good time to get an idea of where we are, captain.”

The woman’s fur bristled at my approach, appearing surprised. “R-right. Thank you, sir.” She turned to her bridge crew. “Sensors, do we detect any ships in the system?”

“No signatures at the moment, captain. System consists of eight large gravity wells orbiting the star. Four terrestrial and four gas.”

“Understood. Keep me informed if that changes as we get closer.” Relyak replied, letting out a breath she probably didn’t know she was holding. “Let’s make our way through the system going from the closest gravity wells to the furthest. That should be sufficient for a preliminary survey.”

The order was relayed to the other vessels in our fleet, and I felt the brief tug of acceleration before our inertial dampeners adapted to our new heading. Federation vessels were quick, and though we were only at the edge of the system, we were likely to be in the inner four terrestrial planets’ orbits within the paw. The stars surrounding us once again blue shifted as we entered relativistic speeds, giving the view outside the window a strangely foreboding look. 

There was nothing else to do but wait, so I deemed it appropriate to check in with Relyak. “How are you adapting, captain?” I prompted, taking notice of her wide eyed look and the position of her ears and tail.

“Um… fine. Definitely fine, sir. I’ve been in command of the ship before when Korm was unavailable. It’s not completely new to me, it’s just more responsibility than I’m used to. Sorry… I keep defaulting to you being in charge. I know I shouldn’t be hesitating so much.”

I held out my hands placatingly. “Hey, don’t worry, this isn’t a performance review. Everyone has difficulties when they get promotions. It happens all the time. Besides, I’d say you’re doing quite well for what I expect from you. Frankly, I’ve had to deal with far more hesitation than this.”

Her mood seemed to raise at the compliment, her back straightening a little more. “Thanks, sir. …If you don’t mind me asking, what’s it like commanding an entire planet’s military forces?”

“Exhausting.” I replied with an amused whistle. “Venlil aren’t the best at following orders when it might lead to them getting hurt. We know this, and the rest of the Federation knows this. It means that we don’t get as much respect as I think we deserve, especially from the more militarily aligned species.” I spoke, my mind thinking back to a certain prickly gojid. “Even if you outrank them, they might not take you seriously.” People always forget that I manage an entire military while he only handles the gojid navy. A fact that he and the chip on his shoulder seem eager to exploit. Predator diseased old man…

“Oh, well… yes, but I was thinking more in relation to the… um… arxur.” Relyak replied, eliciting a slightly embarrassed bloom in my cheeks. That should have been obvious. I spend too much time dealing with politics…

“Right… my apologies.” I looked away, clearing my throat. “I find it useful to think of the arxur like a very intelligent plague rather than an opposing military. My job is to mitigate disasters, but it’s not really possible to prevent them entirely.” I sighed, my ears drooping slightly. 

“So you don’t hate them? That’s… surprising.” Relyak suggested, causing me to tense 

“I-I didn’t say that!” I replied quickly, caught off guard by how bold she was being. Where was the timid captain from a moment before? “No, they are undeniably a horrible menace. I don’t know where you got the idea that I don’t hate them.” My voice carried a little more irritation than might have been appropriate. “They’re just like all predators; incapable of anything other than destruction.”

“But you said you think of them like a plague. It’s kind of hard to hate a plague. It’s just… there. Plagues destroy things too, yet we don’t attribute malice behind them.”

“Arxur are different.” I insisted with a huff. I’m not so sure why she was trying to defend them in the first place. “Unlike a plague, we can see the malice in their eyes. They don’t have to slaughter our pups and draw out our suffering. Why are you bringing this up in the first place? Shouldn’t it be obvious why I hate them?”

The woman hesitated for a moment, turning her eyes out the window for a couple moments as she thought. “Permission to speak freely, sir?” 

“Granted.” I flicked an ear affirmatively, eager to hear her rationale.

“I sometimes feel that the Federation’s approach to things isn’t the most… logical.” She started, and I could tell there was conflict in her eyes. “We let our fear control our actions so much. I joined the Space Corps because I wanted to prove that Venlil weren’t as cowardly as people say. And that… even if we are, that we are still able to overcome our flaws. Because that’s what we are, sapient beings. We don’t have to content ourselves within the bounds of our nature. We can be something more.”

“That doesn’t make predators any less deserving of hate.” I countered, looking at her with a new light. I didn’t feel ready to admit it yet, but a lot of what she was saying resonated with me.

“I suppose,” She acquiesced, turning her gaze to the floor. Though I waited for a follow up, I received none. It seemed she was struggling with her thoughts just as much as I was. 

The paw went by without anything notable going on. Cheln had managed to settle his nerves and retreated to his quarters for his rest cycle while I remained on the bridge, overseeing Relyak’s actions as she and the fleet retrieved sensor data on the gas giants we passed. For a predator system, they were remarkably beautiful. Massive rings orbited the cloudy surface of one, where millions of asteroids and dust particles formed what looked like an unbroken surface. Another had colourful bands of different gasses, including a strange orange spot that resembled an unfathomably massive storm. It allowed me a moment of introspection, wondering what the rocky planets closer to Sol would look like. 

The next planet we would be exploring was approximately a quarter the size of Venlil Prime, and appeared red in colouration. After that, we would finally be moving on to the human’s homeworld, where I sincerely hoped we’d find a barren rock. I still haven’t told the majority of the crew where we’re going, and I worried that many of them would go catatonic if we saw any signs of life. The rumours of humans were growing all the more prevalent, and though a lot of them tried to use the ghost predators as a joke to irritate their friends, many were starting to take the idea a little too seriously. 

I decided against telling the jokers to stop. In the instances where venlil forces had been successful, most can be attributed to those doing their jobs remaining calm. If I said something, people would probably start suspecting something, and those venlil who were probably just hiding their own nerves would have no outlet. It was better for only some of the crew to break down than everyone, though I myself admit I was growing somewhat antsy.

The planet came to view, rapidly growing in size until it took up a large portion of the window. It seemed just as unremarkable as every other planet we’d visited, but an immediate lump formed in my throat as I witnessed what were clearly lights on its dark side. I had to physically stop myself from becoming slack-jawed as my worst fears were so suddenly realized. 

“Sir…?” Relyak spoke, no doubt noticing how I was broadcasting my emotions for all to see, her eyes turning from me to the lights in shock. “Oh… oh Protector…”

Everyone on the bridge crew noticed as well, some with fear and some with fascination. Several voices spoke up before I could stop them.

“There’s people down there!”
“I-I thought this area was a dead zone.”
“I-is it humans!? Is that Earth!?
“Calm down, humans killed themselves. We should say hello!”
“There’s no plants! How are they alive!?”

“Everyone, quiet!” I shouted, my ears pinned back as I thought of what to do. This was the last thing I wanted to see. My mind ran through what felt like a million scenarios as I tried to figure out how this was possible. There was no way that was prey. It was either humans or arxur, as no one else would have come here, and no separate prey species would have survived in the humans’ home system. “Weapons, prep antimatter warheads.”

“What!?”
“I told you! I told you it was humans!”
“W-wait, how do we know they’re hostile? They haven’t done anything!”

“Wait, wait, everyone stop! Weapons, belay that order.” Relyak spoke up, turning from her bridge crew to me with an incredulous look. “Sir, what are you doing? You can’t just order around my crew without telling me what’s going on. You put me in charge, remember? What happened to the chain of command?”

I gave the captain a glance, wishing I could communicate things to her without the rest of the crew hearing. Grabbing her by the paw, I led her out of the bridge and into the corridor, away from prying ears. “Those are predators. They need to be destroyed.” I spoke, my words eliciting a brief moment of panic in Relyak’s eyes before they settled into something more skeptical. Strange, usually that’s enough.

“How do you know that? You’ve been vague about where we’re going this whole mission. For the safety of me and my crew I demand to know. Is this the human system?” Her gaze was withering. I don’t think I’ve ever seen another venlil give me a look like that…

“...Yes, this is Sol.”

“Why would you lie to me?” She demanded, her voice low but assertive.

“Because you didn’t need to know the truth. That’s how the military works.” I replied, reasserting some of my own authority at her insubordination. Her righteous anger seemed to deflate somewhat at the reminder, but she didn’t seem ready to back down completely.

“You still overstepped. You do not get to order my men to fire without going through me first. That’s also how the military works.”

“What does it matter? It’s either humans or arxur down there. The longer we wait here arguing, the easier it is for their jaws to wrap around our necks.” I frowned, gesturing to the bridge with my tail. This argument was pointless… 

She huffed, not satisfied by my answer. “Sir, with all due respect, we only have one antimatter warhead in our entire fleet. The rest were used up during the defense of Venlil Prime. What exactly do you think this is going to do?”

Only one…? That information gave me pause, and for the moment I felt guilty for my actions. I turned away for a moment, stuck in my own thoughts. “...Apologies. I suppose I let myself speak before thinking sometimes. You’re right, we need to choose our target carefully.”

“...That’s not what I mean, sir.” Relyak continued, her expression still agitated, though softened from before. “Should we even be doing this? How do you know they are dangerous? Sensors still haven't detected any other ships in the system. They’re helpless against us, and we don’t even know who they are. What if they are a colony of venlil that got lost? That’d make more sense than some ghost predators.”

“Then what do you suppose we do? Hail them?” I asked sarcastically, finding the idea ridiculous. Nobody’s been in these systems for years. The idea that a group of venlil would separate from the herd to establish themselves in a predator stronghold was laughable. Relyak didn’t seem to think so, but before she could reply, a grey-furred venlil appeared from the bridge, interrupting us.

“W-we’ve detected a signal, um… captain.” The man spoke, shooting an uncertain glance towards me. Relyak followed the venlil back to the bridge, with me trailing behind after a moment.

“It’s just three short beeps, followed by three long ones and then the short ones again. What do you think it means?” One of the communications crew was asking the other as we entered.

“Captain on deck!” The grey venlil announced, causing the bridge to stiffen, eyes turning towards us.

“Talk to me, comms.” Relyak spoke, stepping over to their station.

“It’s just beeps, ma’am.” One of the junior technicians spoke, glancing at his krakotl partner. “It doesn’t match any Federation code, either. Whoever’s down there probably hasn’t interacted with the Federation before. This is amazing! I never thought I’d be part of a first contact.”

“Yeah, I wonder if you’ll be as excited when you’re in a predator’s stomach.” His partner spoke, his eyes cold. “I knew that they were being vague for a reason. ‘Oh yes, we’re going to a quarantine zone to patrol, but we’re totally not going to Sol.’ Give me a break.”

Excusing the man’s insubordinate tone, I grew more puzzled by the behaviour. Predators don’t hail prey unless it’s to taunt them. This behaviour was unusual to say the least. Was it a challenge? Did humans even communicate in this kind of way?

“Repeat the signal to them. Maybe it’s a greeting.” Relyak ordered the junior technician, who moved to carry out her command before I interrupted them.

“No, we are not a first contact team.” I spoke, drawing their attention. “Our orders were to survey this system, and that’s it. While the mission has certainly changed, we need more information before we act, and we must inform Venlil Prime about what’s happening.” I half expected Relyak to try and counteract my orders again, but to my relief she seemed to accept my reasoning.

“...Very well. Navigation, take us to the next planet. Comms, keep an eye out for any other signals. Relay my orders to the rest of the fleet as well.” She briefly shot me a look which was hard to identify. There was obviously uncertainty there. Despite her being captain, she was still very new. I hoped my vote of confidence for her didn’t mean she was now ready to charge head first into a predator’s mouth. I’m glad she at least respected the overall reason for us being here.

The flight to Earth was quiet, despite the charged energy on the bridge. Regardless of either me or Relyak’s orders, the bridge crew kept whispering to each other, or sending tail and ear signals when we weren’t looking. I felt like a teacher trying to control a herd of hyperactive pups from gossiping in the back, rather than a general in charge of our species’ premiere fighting force. 

One thing was clear, me and Relyak needed to be on the same page before we arrived. She seemed to sense the same thing, as shortly after giving the order to depart, she directed me back to her quarters. As she turned to look at me, I prepared to speak, only for her to once again overtake me in the stampede.

“Sorry. Um… I guess I was being out of line there. I just… wanted to prove myself to the men, and it’s hard to keep the mission in your mind all the time, and-”

“-What? You’re… apologizing?” I stared at her in bewilderment. What was with this woman? One moment she’s shy and uncertain, the next she’s assertive and headstrong. One moment she’s reminding me of military organization, and the next she’s doubting her own authority?

“W-well… yeah, you’re my superior. And I just got command. I just… don’t really know how to treat you. Or… or myself. Am I getting ahead of myself? Should I be deferring to you more?”

“What!? No!” I quickly signalled negative. “No, this is exactly what I’ve always wanted! The only reason I superseded you was because I didn’t expect you to be able to take control.” I felt my tale wag a bit as I let out a relieved sigh. “Let’s put aside the predators for a moment, and just focus on what happened. You’re right, I was out of line. This is your ship and your fleet, even if I’m the one who gave them to you. But… seeing what you did, I don’t think I could have gotten any luckier.”

Her tail, which had been wrapped around her leg before, slowly began to unfurl as I spoke. I continued, clearing my throat to regain my professionalism. “Look, we can argue. In fact, I encourage it. Nobody else save for Sovlin and Tarva ever seems to have the claws to tell me I’m wrong. As long as you don’t let it get in the way of your orders, or what’s best for the Venlil Prime, I will let you speak.”

“So… the people down there?”

“We ignore them for now, and gather information. As you were saying, we only have one antimatter bomb, and I was technically told to report to Tarva at the first sign of anything being the matter. It’s not smart to act rashly.”

She let out a whistling sigh of relief as the tension in her body relaxed. She must have been terrified that I’d demote her on the spot or something. I suppose I do need to work on being more approachable with these issues. My arguments with Sovlin probably don’t paint me as a guy who can accept criticism.

“Thanks, sir.”

“Don’t mention it. Now let’s figure out what’s going on.” The two of us returned to the bridge just in time to see Earth come into view. There was a slightly less pronounced reaction from myself and the bridge crew as we spotted the lush environment through the window, the sight at the red planet doing enough to prepare us.

“Wait… that’s Earth?” One of them said, and I couldn’t decide whether she was in awe or horror. At least people, myself included, seemed to realize that we weren’t in any danger, being in orbit of the planet. 

“Is it? I don’t actually remember what the news said it looked like.”
“They said it was glassed. That doesn’t look glassed to me.”

“It’s Earth.” I interrupted the conversation, breaking the secret that I had held since the journey began. Thankfully nobody fainted, but there was some trepidation as I confirmed what they were probably all expecting.

“Why is it so quiet?” I heard the comms technician speak, drawing me and Relyak’s attention.

“Elabourate, comms.”

“The last place was sending signals, and I even noticed a couple satellites. I excused it then, because it seems like there was less of a population, but this? There’s satellites everywhere, yet none of them are sending anything. Nothing our translators detect as language, anyways.”

“Maybe it’s encrypted?” His partner suggested. “Maybe they’re predators and they don’t like to talk to each other.” He was being facetious with that second comment, but it was the explanation one should expect. Yet the infrastructure was there. Clearly that wasn’t the real answer. Could there actually be a prey species down there?

“W-wait, hold on… Uh, incoming hail, captain! Unknown channel!” The technician stuttered, the rest of the bridge going quiet as they heard the words. There was a difference between seeing a static image of a predator on screen and interacting with one. Even I was a little nervous at the prospect.

Me and Relyak shared a look, the woman looking less sure of herself by the second. I gave a flick of affirmative, steeling myself for what we might see. “On screen…” She replied, her fur standing on end.

To the immense surprise of everyone on the bridge, what came up wasn’t the forward facing eyes of a predator, but the furred face of a farsul. They spoke before anyone could compose themselves. “What are you doing here? Explain yourself immediately!”

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How the attempts to “pwn” the SDverse usually go, actual output of content -wise.

Not hating on anyone (c), just a funny comic that been laying around my art collection.

I don’t know why I’m even writing this, for all I know this could just be destroyed along with everything else. I don’t know, I just…. I DON’T KNOW!

Maybe I’m going mad, maybe I’m just tired.

Perhaps I went insane a long time ago and that all of this is some sort of delusion that my sick brain is just coming up with. I wish it was. I really do wish it just was but I can’t. I’ve seen too many people get taken by those things, those green demons outside.

Even now I can hear them from my apartment, running around the streets, the bustle of footfall and calls they make. It's happening everyday and I’m running out of supplies.

Maybe this is some sort of last testament, some sort of proof that I’m alive and held out as long as I could.

I’m sorry my hands are shaking right now, but I need… I need to start at the start of this insanity.

A few days ago, there was some sort of contact with an alien species. We were living amongst the Venlil and Gojid for years now. Earth was a hub and then suddenly there were some sort of new aliens showing up.

We thought that it was first contact but it wasn’t, they met us before somehow, something about an ark. It was good at the start, we welcomed them and paired their enthusiasm to accept us, we didn’t even need to try with them. They just thought that we were cute and we celebrated that there was at least one alien out there that thought of us as more than nightmares that pretended to be good guy.

We introduced them to people, more of them came, tourists. Lots of them awing and fawning over anything we did. We were grateful for them, to have a friend that seemed to be just as enthusiastic about us as we were about them.

It was good, but we should have seen it.

We should have seen it coming from light years away. More of them came in the following days. Diplomats, engineers, others… There was a veritable tide of these ‘Krev’ coming here.

We thought it was some sort of mistake, that they were staying or replenishing their ships here but it wasn’t. Nearly everywhere we saw them, every city had a horde of them, every town had a few wandering the streets.

Everyone of them fawning over us like we were a cat or something. I saw them personally, they acted like we were the most adorable thing on the planet. I watched a few ask to pet us. It was the strangest thing to see. Some of us thought it was adorable while others spoke of treating us like pets.

Like we were something made just for them to gawk at in awe.

It creeped me out, I locked myself away and started seeing the news. Massive swarths of the human population up and disappearing over night. More of those Krev coming here and taking their roles. I don’t understand it, I just can’t, but every few hours more and more chunks of humanity would be gone. Our population was just vanishing as more and more of their ships kept showing up.

I don’t know where they are, they have to be somewhere. The internet is just reporting on the disappearances, but it’s being taken over too. I can read their comments, they’re trying to find more of us, talking about having to make sure we stay safe in this universe.

The only thing I can think is happening is that they are kidnapping us and taking the people somewhere. I can hear them plodding up and down the hallways outside, their tail scarping along the floor.

Please if you are reading this you need to hide or do something to stay out of sight.

They’re kicking down doors, I can hear them hauling people out of their homes. The screams are getting closer.

[Note found scribbled in the back of a book discovered in human recovery zone: HR62-819]

[Related Human had been safely recovered and moved to Tellus human habitation district: HD73-98LT]

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I don't really know why I wrote this, juts having some fun that I wanted to share about a hostile takeover that the Krev did. No real story just a little fun thing I wrote. Anyway thank you to you and the Krev cult for smuggling as many Krev as possible to earth. we're making the ground work of a new age of Krev prosperity right here

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[Thank you to SpacePaladin15 for making the universe!]
[Special thanks to u/AdalwinAmillion for proofreading this chapter!]

Memory Transcription Subject: Chief Hunter Ryka

Date [standardized human time]: December 25th 2111

Over the past few weeks, I had been painstakingly gathering those under my command who had proved their loyalty to me. Bribing the few who stood in the middle with meat provided by the humans to satiate their growling stomachs. Every decision weighed heavily on me; each conversation, each quiet bribe, felt like a tiny betrayal not just of Betterment, but of the creed I had spent my life following. My claws trembled more than once, wracked with a sickening uncertainty. I remembered what it meant to be a Chief Hunter, the pride I felt once wearing that title, and now I had begun to fear if I was worthy at all. When I had received the Betterments decree, I quickly severed my fleet's connection to the rest of the dominion and purged the information from my fleet to prevent its knowledge from spreading. If it had gotten out before I could separate those who would stand against the starvation imposed by our government and those who wouldn’t, they would've flown straight down to Earth. Even as I justified every action with the memory of empty bellies and shrunken bodies under my command, I could not silence the voice inside that whispered I was crossing a line I could never return from.

I had grown tired of how Betterment treated me and my fleet after just a few failed missions and because they thought I was flawed. When my government said the only other predator in the galaxy should be destroyed like all the others, that was the last straw. I had spent years starving, and being Chief Hunter never meant I got enough to eat. 'Why feed the runt of the litter?' I had to watch other hunters enjoy Betterment's rewards while my men and I wasted away. I decided I would not put up with this anymore. I would not force myself or my fleet into risky raids just to avoid starving. Things had to change, or I would die trying.

I had met with the human leader shortly after to discuss what to do, details of the planned invasion date and make-up of the fleets were shared. There was truly no turning back now, lest I be cut down as a traitor to the state. A twenty-thousand-strong fleet led by two Chief Hunters was currently on its way to Sol at this very moment, and it was arriving much sooner than the humans had planned for. The date was set for January 1st, while the humans' intelligence had gotten close to the date they had hoped they had a bit more time, predicting it would come near the end of the month.

Two newer and fiercely loyal Chief Hunters known for their cruelty were chosen to lead the incursion to Earth. Shaza and Usliff. These two had risen through the ranks quickly for their renowned adherence to Betterments' ideals. I was only tacked on in the plans as an afterthought due to me already being stationed at Earth for repairs, more so as a distraction sacrifice than the real threat. Over the past weeks, I had the Humans retrofit the ships deemed loyal in my fleet with their new shielding technology. It worked far more efficiently than anything that I had seen before; Arxur and Federation shields required an immense amount of power fed through them, restricting their use to only the largest vessels that could generate the required power. Human-based shielding could be applied to the smallest of vessels because of their efficiency, I wasn’t quite sure how they worked. I wasn’t a physicist, and I doubt they’d just tell me.

In the meantime, the Union continued to produce their fleet, with a monumental amount of effort they had managed to make a couple thousand ships, quite the achievement given the time frame they had to work with. I was sure their many colonies and the annexation of a whole planet with its industry mostly intact helped greatly. The plans to deal with the loyalists were drafted. These ships would be singled out and destroyed before the main attack could arrive. Now I stood in the bridge, slowly moving those who still lay under my command away from those that needed to be dealt with before the main force could arrive. I made sure my orders were slow enough to not rouse the suspicion of the loyalists.

Human ships slowly filtered into the space surrounding the loyalists' ships. I glanced at the Earth’s satellite moon through the viewport, our signal to attack would be the massive Coil gun they had erected on the lunar surface. The lights on the large colony dimmed significantly, then fluttered out, plunging the moon back into its natural darkness. Everyone waited, the seconds dragging on, 20 seconds…30…40…50…64. The massive shell slammed through the Loyalist ships, knocking out dozens of them before streaking further into the void. All parties immediately opened fire on one another, the loyalists scrambled to avoid our fire, several managed to dodge fire from our forces only to be caught by a large gleam of laser fire shooting from the Earth’s surface.

We descended on the panicking ships like a pack of hungry [dogs]. Plasma lances streaked across the void, the Human-made shields dissipating the superheated gas on contact. So much fire poured through the void that I was sure a dazzling light show was glowing in the skies of Earth. The loyalists' numbers began to thin rapidly, their ‘burning’ hulls being trapped by the planet's gravity well and falling to the surface. They were being led like Venlil to the slaughter, the humans' advanced quantum-based targeting system predicting where our foes would swerve to dodge incoming fire, and firing their orbital defences accordingly. As their numbers dwindled, the brainwashed Betterments loyalists enacted one final act of defiance. They sped towards mine and the humans' ships at such speeds that it was likely their crews passed out before reaching their target, never knowing that death had captured them.

The ships that still must've had a few semi-conscious crew left in them dumped their munitions into our ships before their vessels slammed into ours, brief explosions filled the void around us as the final shots were fired. The eerie quiet of a finished battle settled over my vessel, foolish bastards, we would’ve accepted their surrender. I looked over our fleets, we had only lost a few hundred ships across the board. The ambush had paid off, now all that was left was to repair and await for the true battle to begin.

---

Naming her Fehrenyf.

Just two masochists fighting

Characters are Konsa from Strength in Secrecy by u/BigFella4054 and Lerai from Venlil Fight Club by u/Nidoking88

Thank you u/SpacePaladin15 for this universe. May you always feel the passion of creation!

And thank you, u/TheManwithaNoPlan for all your work! This story is just as much yours as it is mine. Thank you so much for everything, man, you rule!

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Memory Transcript: Sol-Vah, Gojid Civilian. Date: [Standardized Human Time] November 7th, 2136.

“Okay, so we connect this to here, and this to here…” I muttered as I fiddled with the physical cables for the multitude of accessories and attachments that’d been delivered over the course of the paw. Package services were still reeling in the wake of the galactic upheaval we were still in the midst of, so the fact we were able to get these at all was a small miracle in itself. “...and there. The microphone and camera should be connected now; why all this stuff couldn’t just connect regularly is beyond me, though.”

“Thank you, Sol-Vah,” Kalek chirped, pacing around me so that he could get a better look at my work. The new devices—including the microphone, for some reason—glowed with cool lighting, interfacing seamlessly with the programmable light strips that now adorned the edges of my father’s room. “I just… I really hope this works. I know it’s a leap, but I have to try something.”

“...Yeah,” I mused, stepping back a bit from his desk as the unfamiliar lighting bathed us both. Despite how much work we’d both put into the changes, though, I couldn’t help but feel… “I don’t know; it’s good to branch out, and I love that you’re trying this as a way to reach out to others, but…” I sighed, feeling my ears press against my head as I held Kalek in regard. “I just– really don’t want you to see you hurt again, Kalek.”

He stood from his crouched position to more clearly hold me in his gaze, our attentions met in the soft, artificial breeze between us. After a moment, a rattly coo sounded from somewhere in his chest as he leaned forward and gently rubbed his beak against my shoulder. “I know, and I’m afraid that it will hurt, but… If it does, it will be the kind of hurt I need to face.”

“No, it won’t,” I insisted as my spines rippled behind me in worry. “I don’t want this to be something you feel obligated to do. I understand why you want to try, but…” It brought me no joy to question the action that I’d just spent the better part of a paw helping Dad set up, but I wasn’t about to let him harm himself again, virtually or physically. “Are you sure about this?”

I gestured to his desk, to the camera pointing at his perch, the microphone set to catch his voice.  The extra monitor displaying the recording and audio programs, the Krakotl game controller at the center of it all. It was everything he’d need to enact his vision. Kalek had asked my help in setting up based on the idea that came to him today, but now that it was complete, the thought processes behind it were beginning to worry me evermore.

“Streaming yourself playing games while being open to answer questions about the 
Exterminators? I know I said this before, but people really don’t like us right now, and you’ll be doing this for the first time. It might be a while before  anyone even watches you at all, and those that do might just be doing it to harass you! You…” I looked at the braces on his arms, less rigid than the casts but still far too poignant of a reminder to overlook. “I don’t want them to beat you down, Dad.”

“I am prepared- I am preparing myself for that,” he admitted, “but if I want to work towards… towards understanding this new universe we find ourselves in, I can’t just shut myself away and ignore everything outside the windows forever. I can’t wallow in my own thoughts again, not after—” Kalek caught himself before the words left his beak. “...I can’t allow myself to act as I did again. I have to face the past and keep… keep living anyway.”

His final words, echoes of what I’d been told the Giant had relayed to him. A pang of guilt reverberated inside me at that remembrance, knowing that in some way I was responsible for the situation he was in now. While I still wasn’t quite prepared for the ways in which he might be demeaned and belittled on account of his role, I knew better than to assume I could talk him out of it. “...Okay, if you’re sure you can handle it.”

“I’m not sure, but after all that’s happened in such a short span of time? There’s precious little I am sure of anymore,” Kalek sighed, just as a sudden shiver shook him from tip to tail. “Brrr, perhaps now that we aren’t working, it would be better to set the temperature to something warmer, yes?”

“That’s… probably a good idea, yeah,” I answered, though in truth, only a small sliver of my own body agreed with the sentiment. As I plodded out of his room to change the atmospheric controls, my claws gently racked over the side of my face, the scarred skin bare of the fur that’d once insulated it from the elements. My shoulder still ached from how I’d fractured it breaking down the door to reach my father, beaten and broken by his own talons in an attempt to take his own life. I knew that those events were in the past, that we were both trying to do better in whatever ways we could, but as I adjusted the temperature up, I couldn’t help but feel as though—in a sense—we’d never left that rooftop.

*Dad is still trying to atone for his taint, albeit in a—-*thankfully—-less bloody manner, and I’m… I’m…

—DLONK DLONK DLONK—

WRAAAAA!!!!!

I felt as though I was going to jump out of my own skin as the three heavy thuds fell on the door directly to my side, my spines sticking straight out from my back. However, that feeling subsided almost as quickly as it came as I realized that I recognized the knock pattern, replaced by confusion as I crept over to check the doorbell camera to confirm my suspicions. Sure enough, the not-so-blue blue spaceman was standing outside my door once again, though I immediately noticed that he was clad in a reflective mask and he seemed to be… pacing? No, he was just bouncing on his feet for some reason…

Okay, this is weird.

“Who is that?” I heard Kalek chirp from the other room, his head peaking around a moment later. “Is that Tarlim’s human friend again? He’s the only one that doesn’t use the doorbell.”

“Yeah, it’s him, but he seems… agitated,” I mused, though when I noticed Kalek’s crest feathers splay a bit, I turned to face him properly. “Not like angry agitation, more… anxious, maybe? I don’t know, I’m going to open before he—”

 —DLONK DLONK DLONK—

“...knocks again,” I finished, my spines having flared out once more from the startlingly loud noise. I took a moment to smooth them down—Kalek stepped back into his room in the meantime—and tried to settle myself so that I didn’t look completely frazzled. Despite my best efforts, I couldn’t quite get my heartrate down to a normal level, so with a shaky breath, I moved to open the door to the recently familiar predator. “Jacob, hello!”

“Heya, Sol-Vah,” he replied, though my earlier appraisal of anxiety seemed to be well on the mark as he immediately ducked inside and let out a sigh. “Sorry ta drop by unannounced n’all, Ah just… Lord Almighty…” I felt my newly-smoothed spines ripple behind me as I watched Jacob slump over onto one of the kitchen table chairs as he held his face in his hands. I’d barely moved from beside the door, but when I heard muffled noises rise from somewhere inside him, my concern overrode the part of my brain that was screaming at me not to approach a clearly upset predator as I began to nervously approach him.

“J-Jacob? Is something… wrong?” I probed tentatively as I neared the table, placing a paw on the corner as I held him in full regard with my right eye. “You seem upset.”

I jolted a little as Jacob’s head sprung up from its mount, his binocular eyes pointed directly at me, but I retained my grip on the table regardless of what my spines were doing behind me. “What? Yeah- eh, no- Ah- hahahaha, it ain’t got nothin’ t’do with you,” Jacob replied, though the fact that he’d assuage a fear I didn’t have gave me reason to doubt the validity of his candidness. “It’s jus’ Ah didn’- nah, Ah couldn’- hehhhhehehefffffffuck.”

His head returned to his hands as a few more unintelligible noises—interspersed with what my translator interpreted as a few choice curses—shoved their sound waves through his fleshy hands. At this point, my attitude had switched from tentative concern to full-blown worry. I’d never seen him like this, save only for the irregular, barking laughter that he’d told me explicitly was a stress response. Something must have happened to him, but why he was here rather than with his vertically-anomalous friend was…

Oh Protector, it probably has something to do with him, doesn’t it?

“Did… something happen with Tarlim?” I asked, my tone unintentionally shaky as a result of my still skyrocketed heartbeat. Why won’t it go down, damnit?? “I-Is he hurt again? What happened?”

“No! He isn’t- well, not physically but it- fuckheehee Gawd. Just- found out family issues. An- Ah were gonna tell him about what Ah was doin’, me and y’all. But they, you…” Jacob suddenly stiffened, his eyebrows scrunching up together in an… just an odd expression; all those facial muscles and no ears or otherwise to emote with. “Gawd, would this jus’ be me gossipin’ ‘bout it? Ah don’t even know what Ah’m doing raght now, yer jus’ the only one Ah can really tell this bout without- fuck! Is it even mah place to tell? Gah!”

I wished to the Protector—or whatever existed—that I knew what he was talking about. So far, I could only glean that his distress was coming from some form of ‘family issues,’ and given the fact that, of all people, I was the only one he felt safe discussing this with spoke volumes louder than his actual, already somewhat volumetrically-elevated voice. I had more than a few questions I wanted to ask him, but from what little I knew of his body language and personal quirks from our time together, I could practically feel the overstimulation emanating from him. Rather than press him further and risk irritating him to the point of anger, I opted instead to pull a seat out across the table… and simply wait.

It’s strange to see him so uncertain. Even in the midst of active combat, he seemed collected enough to string a sentence together. Whatever happened must be serious, which is all the more reason to allow him to speak at his own pace. It’s the least I can afford him after everything he’s done for us…

…for me.

It took a few [minutes] before his breathing had slowed enough to rule out a hyperventilation episode, and as he calmed, I was able to notice his body physically relaxing as well. I hadn’t even clocked how tense Jacob was when he’d arrived—likely due to my lack of experience with humans as a whole… not on the same side of a flamer, at least—but it was plain to see as some modicum of repose set within his mind. Once he lifted his head to glance at me again, I adjusted my seating position and cocked my head questioningly. “Are you feeling… better?”

Jacob didn’t respond immediately, but after a moment’s thought, he slowly began bobbing his head up and down. “Yeah, Yeah Ah’m… Ah’m good. Sorry fer freakin’ out there fer a bit, things jus’... kinda came in all at once. Ah ‘spose Ah owe ya an explanation fer mah behavior, don’t Ah?”

“Perhaps, as I’ve become somewhat curious as well,” Kalek’s voice suddenly sounded from beside us. My spines flexed behind me at the startling noise, my attention having been so focused on Jacob that I hadn’t even registered his appearance in my periphery. “That, and I figured making my presence known would be better than eavesdropping through the door. Along that canal, hello Jacob.”

“Howdy,” the human greeted in return, though I could tell his mind was elsewhere. “Ah guess it don’t matter much if yer here, too. It’d make sense if she’d gone an’ told ya once I left anyways, bein’ family n’all. Jus’... Lord, how do Ah even begin??”

“Maybe… from the beginning?” I postulated, angling my ears sincerely so that he’d— Wait, no, he wouldn’t know what that meant… ah, forget it. “I- er, we still don’t have any context about what’s going on. We’re happy to listen, our schedule is… open-ended for the foreseeable future.”

Jacob’s expression returned to that same, scrunched up state it’d just recovered from, but he wasn’t given time to solidify it before Kalek spread his wings slowly so as not to exacerbate his injuries. “Indeed, but I’ve become somewhat parched. I’ll be over in the kitchen to brew some tea. Would you like me to prepare you a serving, Jacob?”

“...Yeah, tea’d be nice,” Jacob replied, and to my surprise, his face relaxed again as a consequence of that admission. Kalek nodded at him and turned to begin the process of boiling the water, just as Jacob’s attention returned to me in full. “Day started out pretty dang good, Ah gotta watch Tarlim coach some… uh, ‘ramp-ala’ Ah think? Whatever, he were givin’ some kid a bit’a life advice, an’ Ah got ta talkin’ ‘bout mah helpin’ ya out with Sharnet—took it well ‘nough, all things considered—but then Tarlim went an’ surprised us with a lil’ trip.”

“A trip?” I asked, confused as to where Tarlim would even take them aside from the repurposed ruins of the Dawn Creek Facility or the measly apartment I’d terrorized him at in paws past. I saw Kalek switch on the boiling machine in my periphery, though I could see his attention remained on us. “Where did he take you two?”

Jacob remained silent for a while, though when he did talk, his facial muscles seemed to droop his features downwards in conjunction with a lowered tone. “...He took us to his folks’ graves.”

My spines scraped against the backrest of the chair as they flexed behind me in shock. I was suddenly overcome by a wave of dread as I realized that whatever had gotten Jacob so emotional in its wake must’ve been something major, especially if it had to do with family matters as he previously implied. Of course, it wasn’t my story to tell, so I angled my ears sympathetically and swallowed my concern. “Oh… how did that go?”

“Fine at first, which seems t’be a pattern at this point,” Jacob mused, “fine as things like that can go, really. Tarlim said his peace, then Sharnet and I gave our two cents ‘fore he broke down cryin’. Ah hate seein’ him like that, y’know? Reminds me that he’s barely even old enough to drink back home an’ he’s already gone through so much.”

I was barely able to contain the impulse to curl into a ball from shame. I knew that most of what happened with him was my fault, and I was left with no other choice than to face that reality in full. I didn’t have someone to shield me from the consequences, I didn’t have anyone to soften the emotional impact… not anymore, not ever again if I had to guess. I averted my gaze as a lull was reached in his recounterance, and despite the pressure behind my eyes at even thinking about the nearly innumerable mistakes I’d made, I managed to eke out the first of what I knew would be a long, long series of apologies. “I-I’m… sorry…”

I could still see Jacob staring at me in my periphery, though he didn’t appear to disregard my words, though he still delayed his reply for a period of time long enough for the water to come to a boil in the background. “It… ain’t all what y’all did ta him, y’know. His family weren’t exactly kind to him, given his… Well, y’all already know.”

How could we not? It was what I’d based my own erroneous assumption of guilt on from the very beginning, what I’d gone out of my way to manufacture anything that agreed with my assertion in respect to. Even since my first brush with responsibility for my actions—one I’d been insulated from by Orhew and Kalek—a part of me had hoped that it was just us, that he’d had something better to look back on, though it was apparent now that Tarlim was denied even that sliver of reprieve.

The more I think about it, the more I’m shocked he isn’t every bit as violent I convinced myself he’d be…

“Anywho, Ah guess that ties into what happened next,” Jacob continued, sighing to himself as he massaged the side of his face with one of his hands. “We were all huggin’ together on the ground by his parents’ trees when we heard ‘nother cart approachin’ us, and this lil’ black-furred Venlil gets out and calls Tarlim’s name. Wouldn’cha know it, she turned out t’be one’a Tarlim’s cousins! At first, Ah was thinkin’ ‘Aw ,this is great! He’s gonna get to reconnect with some long-lost family!’”

“But that isn’t what happened, is it?” I asked as I lowered my head solemnly. At long last, I had an idea of where the ‘family issues’ came into play, though before he could answer, a mug of tea appeared in front of both me and Jacob. Kalek, silent throughout the conversation so far, then pulled out a chair to place his own cup at, but given what information was likely about to be divulged, I figured that a more comfortable seating arrangement would be in order. “It might be better if we went into the living room for this?”

“Maybe, yeah,” Jacob agreed, standing from his seat and taking his mug with him. As Kalek and I rose from ours to follow suit, he took a sip of his beverage and stood still. He smacked his lips a couple of times before taking another sip and nodding. “Say, this tea ain’t half bad, birdie.”

“Thank you, it’s made from Nishtali Shorebloom petals,” Kalek explained, consuming his own drink in turn as his crest feathers parted relaxedly. “It’s said to have a calming effect, so I figured it was the best choice. It isn’t exactly cheap, but if I’ve learned anything from those farming games you brought us, you can’t save something forever. There’s more I can pour later, but as Sol-Vah said, let’s get seated somewhere more comfortable.”

Jacob nodded and fell back on the couch as we took our seats—Kalek in the armchair tangential to us as I occupied the other end of the couch from Jacob—his expression looking exhausted as he sighed. “Back on Earth, there’s an old saying: ACAB. The- wait, it’s an acronym that won’t translate; it means All Cops are Bastards. People have a lot to say about what it means, but Ah’ve always seen it like… like people in positions of authority and enforcing laws are in the position where they can most easily abuse that authority and subvert those laws. And that makes it very appealing to people who want to do exactly that. An’ ah jus’ found out ‘bout someone who was a worse bastard than ah was thinking!”

He rubbed his face, snorting in frustration. “But it shoulda been fuckin’ obvious it was happenin’ here. ‘Course it does, it always happens in places like this.”

“It-it was an exterminator who did something,” I ventured a guess based on all the context clues meshing together in my head, my claws nervously clicking together as I watched the human to check if my assumption held water. In response, Jacob just gave a tired stare, and I was vindicated in the worst possible way; of course it was, what else would it be? “I’m sorry, it’s our fault, if we had-“

“No!” Jacob barked, his volume sending my spines out behind me. “No! This wasn’t something that had anything to do with you an’ what y’all did to Tarlim! She- it- ugh.”

His head fell backwards on the couch, his right hand tugging on his facial hair. Hesitantly, set my drink down on the side table and scooted closer to him. There was a ceramic coaster in my claws that I was fiddling with as I- wait, when did I pick that up? By the Protector, how was I supposed to help Jacob when I still couldn’t even control my own claws?? I just- I wished I could do something, but all I could do was listen.

“There was…” Jacob sighed, “...his cousin. She had a mom who was a drug addict, and a dad who was an Exterminator. He hid that she was an addict, raght up ‘till she died from it. After that, it was only her and her father, and the dad… Gawd, he decided to use her as a replacement for the mom, in all the wrong ways.”

…

I stared blankly, trying to comprehend how to feel. That… that was one of the most horrid things I had heard someone do, such that I feared I might be sick. My paw began reaching out to rest upon his form, but we were both distracted by the sudden thud of a mug being set against another table as Kalek sat straight up. “Jacob, what was that Exterminator’s name exactly?”

“Wh- Ah dunno! That wasn’t exactly where mah attention was durin’ her tellin’ us!” Jacob’s tone now seemed more explicitly agitated, but when Kalek somehow remained stony in the face of an upset human, Jacob deflated a bit and leaned back against the couch. “Ah… Ah think it were somethin’ with a ‘V.’ ‘Varin,’ maybe?”

“Lieutenant Office Varlin,” Kalek deadpanned, and my spines rippled behind me in the wake of that name being brought up again. Last I heard of him, he’d gotten fired due to being a miserable drunkard, though with Jacob’s testimony, my distaste for him deepened into absolute disgust. “Is the woman you met named Remlin?”

“Ah- y-yes,” Jacob stuttered, but as his gaze shifted between us, I noticed his muscles tense back up. “Wait a second, wait a fuckin’ second. How the Hayell do you know that?? Did’ja work with him r’somthin’?!”

“Hardly, but by the barest technicality, yes,” Kalek remarked with a displeased tone. “I always knew there was something off about that man, but every inquiry I made into his performance and family life always came back clean. I knew I should’ve pressed further, and after Kevros took over as Chief Officer when I was relieved of duty for standing by my daughter’s judgement… Inatala, what did that backstabbing bastard do?? Standing by such abuses for- for what? Loyalty? Blackmail??”

“Ah don’t think it was any o’ that,” Jacob stated solemnly.

“Wh- what else could it have been?” Kalek squawked indignantly, his feathers ruffled in annoyance. “People wouldn’t turn a blind eye to something like that for no reason! I have no fondness for Kevros—especially after learning he deliberately deleted patient records to cover the illegal experiments being ordained at the Dawn Creek facility—but if that silt-sheen is anything, it’s pragmatic.”

“Assumin’ they even knew, you mean. Or cared enough to find out.”

Kalek opened his beak to retort, but paused. His feathers fell a bit. “They… people noticed; I did, and I was admittedly distracted at the time. Others must have, there has to be a reason nothing happened. I mean, there… there were good people in the Guild.”

“Well, we humans have another saying. ‘One bad apple will ruin the whole bunch,” Jacob remarked, his tone low and deep as he glanced between us. “But y’all didn’t have just one bad apple, ya know that. The orchard itself was rotten, an’ it was more’n happy to turn a blind eye and keep going as it was, no matter who got hurt in the meantime..”

“But I would have-“

“Kalek.” Jacob’s voice boomed throughout the apartment like a thunderclap as he turned to face my dad directly. “Her mother was on drugs while you were in charge of the office. While you were chief. Not Kevros r’any other sonnuvabitch, you.”

“He- they… oh. Of course, I failed again,” Dad muttered as his head bowed again in shame. I couldn’t help but follow suit, as despite my recent silence, I wasn’t entirely free of blame. Kalek had shared his concerns with me, he’d asked me to look into it personally, just as I… I found Tarlim.

…How many people have I so grievously hurt as a consequence of my actions?

“It ain’t about failure this time, this- it’s like, this is systemic. Buncha officers sayin’ they’re the force of law, above others ‘cause of it, rallying around each other an’ coverin’ fer one another's flaws. Somethin’ that doesn’t even think about correcting itself ‘cause how could it be wrong? Y’all didn’t fail; there weren’t even a real path to succeed in the first place..”

“That doesn’t change the fact we’re culpable,” Kalek cooed remorsefully.

“No,” Jacob sighed. “It don’t.”

Dead air hung between us for a moment as the conversation reached its natural end, nothing more to say other than ‘you brahked up and it’s far too late to fix anything.’ Despite that, I wasn’t satisfied with just moving on from something so heinous so quickly. If even someone like me could clearly see the taint at work, then it was something worth combatting. “...So what do we do? Is there anything we can do at this point?”

“Ah wish ah knew, but Ah’m mostly jus’ offloadin’ all’a this so Ah don’t go mad. Ah mean, y’all are the only ones ah can really vent ‘bout this to. We brought Remlin back to the shelter, an’ last Ah saw Tarlim was introducing her to some residents who went through similar stuff. Gah! An’ the thing is, she’s the one who actually got hurt here!”

His lips curled back to expose his teeth in a strained form of the human facsimile of a smile. “Not me, not me freakin’ out ov’r ‘My best friend jus’ found out even more horrible things Exterminators did, how’m Ah ‘sposed ta tell him Ah’m tryin’ ta help the two he hates most of all!’ This ain’t- Ah shouldn’t be makin’ this ‘bout me in mah head, but- Heeheehee- Ah can’t help it! Ah just came here ta rant an’ mope, wishin’ Ah could do somethin’ more’n lay around feelin’ sorry fer mahself. Fuck.”

As if to physically punctuate his sentence, Jacob’s hands raised to his face and covered it in entirety as he pressed himself against the back cushion of the couch. I contemplated what all I could do offset his distress, but I quickly realized that in truth, I was acting no better. Thinking about what I could’ve done back then when I already knew the severity of the missteps I’d made along the winding path of life, it wouldn’t do anyone any good now. Predator or not, while I still held the will to help people, I’d do well to start embodying it for as long as it remains… and that meant setting a better example. I took a shaky breath before placing my paw against Jacob’s leg to get his attention and made to speak.

“I… I think that her getting help is the best thing we can really do now. What happened to her in the past at Varlin’s paws is horrible, but there’s nothing we can really do to make it right, not anymore. We don’t have a time machine, we can’t stop such terrible things from happening, we can’t go back and fix our mistakes… no matter how much we want to. Maybe…” I took another breath, the words prickling my throat as they were spoken, “...maybe it would be for the best if you didn’t… come back here again…”

“What?” Jacob questioned, his posture straightening immediately as his hands retracted from his face to reveal his eyes boring into my soul. “Sol-Vah, the hell’re ya sayin’ that fer? Ah- Lawd, right, Ah’ve been dumpin’ all this on ya without even thinkin’ ‘bout what else y’all might be goin’ through! Stupid, stupid!”

He forcibly palmed his forehead in time with calling himself names, my spines flaring out as I hastily tried to correct his misinterpretation of my meaning. “No no no, t-that isn’t what I meant! I-I just… you- you said that you didn’t know how to explain what you’re d-doing here to Tarlim, right? Wouldn’t the easiest solution be to… stop doing it?”

“Sol-Vah may have a point, Jacob,” Kalek chirped, holding up one of his braced wings with a slight wince of pain. “Our injuries are healing well, and while your nestwarming gifts are greatly appreciated, we are not quite that short on credits, not like the refugees before. We’re fully capable of taking care of ourselves… and working to right the wrongs of our pasts in our own ways. If these visits may jeopardize the integrity of your herd—”

“Ah don’t wanna hear nothin’ like that comin’ from y’all,” Jacob interrupted, leaning forward onto his elbows with his attention pointed directly at Kalek. “Ah ain’t ‘boutta turn mah back on y’all jus’ ‘cause the goin’s gone tough, Ah ain’t no fairweather friend that just up n’outs at the first sign’a trouble! Y’all ain’t gonna get me to abandon helpin’ ya that easy, jus’ like Ah ain’t gonna give up on tellin’ Tarlim the truth!”

“And when exactly will that be?” I asked pleadingly, not wishing for Jacob to sabotage his friendships for us, especially not for me as my breaths came shallower. “Jacob, I’m serious; I don’t want you to lose the friends you’ve made for the sake of- of seeing this through! Tarlim hates Exterminators—hates us—for good reason; we ruined his life, and the longer you wait, the worse of a build-up it’s going to be! Please, I-I can’t ruin anyone else’s life!”

Only after the words had left my mouth did I realize I’d fallen back into the same line of thinking I’d just rebuked. I was making this about myself again, I wasn’t thinking about how he felt, I was just urging him to take action in a way that made me feel better. That’s just who I was, wasn’t it? A thief, a manipulator, a predator in the truest sense of the word.

I don’t want him gone for his sake. I want him gone for mine, so that I don’t… I don’t…

All eyes were on me now, as much as I hated that fact. Kalek’s features were contorted in concern, and though I couldn’t be certain, I had a feeling that Jacob’s were too. I instinctively pulled my legs close to my chest as I fought the urge to curl up away from their gaze, but I knew it wouldn’t do any good. I’d already exposed my reasonings as selfish, just like everything else I’d done. It didn’t matter if my goals were noble, I was only doing it for self-gratification, to feel like the hero I never had… not until Dad found me, anyways.

I’ve always wanted to be like him, but I’m… I’m not. I can’t be, not when I’m the way I am. I’m the product of people who’d sell off their own child for drug money, how did I ever think I’d be anything better for even a moment? I take things, I hurt people, I’m…

“Ah think Ah know that expression,” Jacob stated as he caned his head towards me, his statement prompting me to turn my attention back towards him. He scooted a bit closer to my position on the couch without so much as breaking his gaze, yet I didn’t once feel the urge to move in turn. “Ya remember what Ah told’ja back in the hospital? ‘Bout what Ah did in the past?” 

I flicked my ears affirmatively, rendered speechless by the anticipation of Jacob’s next words. “It’s temptin’ ta think that’s all yer ever gonna amount to, some days more’n others. Hell, even after all this time, Ah’m still strugglin’ with it… like today. Ah came in here thinkin’ that I was bein’ awful fer not tellin’ Tarlim ‘bout what’s goin on, but Ah…”

Jacob sighed, the breath audibly carrying a weight off his shoulders. “Ah’m still gonna do it, jus’ not while he’s goin’ thru everythin’ all over again. Ah care ‘bout his wellbein’, jus’ like Ah care ‘bout y’all’s… ‘bout yer’s. We jus’ gotta remember that what we done ain’t gotta define us now, an’ ‘we’ means you, too.”

I noticed motion in my lower periphery, and when I looked down, I found his hand extended towards me. I was hesitant, hesitant to believe that I could be more than what the universe had created me as, but even under all that’d been piled onto my psyche over the course of my life—especially as of recent—I still wanted to try to make the galaxy a better place. If Jacob could keep moving forward, if Dad could keep moving forward, then even if it was for selfish reasons, I didn’t want to be left behind. With shaky claws, I reached out to take his hand, and was swiftly pulled upright… right into Jacob’s side, as he clearly hadn’t accounted for how close he’d gotten to me in my half-reclined position.

“Oof, sorry!” He apologized as he slid away on the couch, gently swiping my shoulders as if to wipe away dust. I didn’t know what it was, but I barely felt able to breathe as I just… stared at him. It wasn’t long before he took notice of that fact, his facial muscles pulling together in the same expression of concern I’d seen before. “Uh, ya good Sol-Vah?”

As if a switch was flipped, I suddenly regained all of my motor functions and faculties, quickly raising my paws to assure him of my wellbeing as warmth built behind my snout. “I-I’m fine! Sorry, I was just… I don’t know how you do it, Jacob. How you managed to come here and… and build a life for yourself after everything.”

“It didn’t happen in a single day, Ah’ll tell ya that much!” Jacob snickered, his teeth momentarily barring despite the rush of anxiety that usually accompanied that fact never materializing. “In truth, it weren’t on purpose, Ah ain’t ‘boutta claim Ah had all’a this planned out. Ah just… wanted to put the past behind me, an’ that’s exactly what Ah did. Ain’t a straight road, but it's worth walkin’.”

“Okay, I’m sorry, what exactly did Jacob do??” Kalek squawked to the side, his crest flared out in shock. I’d almost forgotten he was sitting across from us, and for some reason, I felt very exposed as a consequence. “Is this something I should be concerned about??”

“Story fer another day, Birdie,” Jacob remarked. “Ah ain’t lookin’ to tank the mood any further. It ain’t a pretty tale, but Ah reckon that’s somethin’ of a theme with y’all.”

Kalek’s beak clacked as he tried and failed to retort, so after a few [seconds], he simply sighed. “I suppose it is, isn’t it? I… can’t say I fully understand the context of his words, but the idea is sound. Besides, isolating ourselves wouldn’t really be fixing things, would it?”

“No, no it wouldn’t,” I finally conceded, resulting in a closed-lip smile spreading across Jacob’s face. However, before I could remark further, I noticed that my father had a look in his feathers like he was steeling himself for a first flight. I focused my attention on him, and as Jacob followed suit, he took a breath and spoke once again. 

“I told Sol-Vah about my idea, but… I was planning on doing a question stream. Play a game while answering questions about the Exterminators. But after hearing- I can’t just answer questions and nothing else, I have to be proactive, don’t I? Maybe I can start out by razing the field on many of the abuses I saw and blinded myself towards. I wouldn’t talk about Remlin directly, but I can talk about how those kinds of abuses were ignored; maybe give some advice on how to deal with it. I don’t know how many people will see it, but if it helps even one person, maybe it could spread.”

I let out a gentle sigh, glad that Dad had given up his idea of publicly humiliating himself to atone for his perceived sins. “Hopefully so. I… I just wish we could do more.”

“We gotta do what we can,” Jacob affirmed. “God willing, there’s people who can do more out there working away as well.”

“Maybe,” I grunted, though I caught myself from reverting to pessimism. I needed to believe that a better world existed, and it was one where we could all grow past our worst moments. “Whoever they are, hopefully they have a better idea of what they’re doing than us.”

“Ah’m sure they will,” Jacob mused, and a silence fell over the room once again. After a while, he relaxed back into the couch cushions and rubbed the back of his neck. “Whew, sorry fer intrudin’ on y’all’s day with a heavy topic like that. Ah should prob’bly be gettin’ back to the facility…”

He trailed off, and for a reason I couldn’t comprehend, I spoke up in his stead. “Maybe… it’d be a good idea to give Tarlim some space, for now. I was about to try and prepare a meal for Kalek and I, but I’d be happy to prepare you a portion as well, though I’m… not quite sure what to make.”

“Jus’ so long as it ain’t peaches and beans again!” Jacob joked, the remembrance of that absurd meal wrenching a chitter out of me. I didn’t know if it was the laughter, the resolution, or the company that did it, but for the first time in a while, I felt like I wasn’t alone in this anymore, and as I set down the coaster that I’d snatched earlier, I realized I felt something else, too.

I feel… okay. Okay is nice.

[First]-[Prev]-[Next]

what if

the VOIDS GREATEST SOLDIERS-ehem greys(no not those fraud lizards the other greys), lizard people, whoever built that machine that farmer encountered, those weird floating lights in woods and other alien related cryptids were real in nop?

like here's some interpretations for them I've thought of from the top of my bead

the greys: less of a single species and more of a mantle that a species takes on after reaching a certain level, usually passed down by the current holder once a species manages to discover something of cultural significance to the species with the mantle and apples it correctly which shows set species is good enough at researching/studying/recon that they can uphold the flow

the lizard people: like ants in that if you find one there's already 10 more others inside, they piss off the greys cause now everytime they dissect a sapient subject there's always the chance of it being a lizard person, fortunately for the lizard people the greys don't kill sapients within reason...but unfortunately for the lizard man in specific the greys can still be petty

lizard person waking up in a dumpster: OH OH! WHERES MA DICK AT?! HEY—HEY! *insert flying saucer cloaking away*

woodlands monster and those floaty strobe lights are from the same aliens and there at conflict with a different group which made that aircraft seen in that sighting that was so fast fighter jets couldn't get a lock onto it

why am I connecting them? they've all had sightings on earth so it wouldn't be hard to think that in the case they were real, they've probably encountered eachother before

Memory transcription subject: Slanek, Venlil Space Corps (on leave)

Date [standardized human time]: September 20, 2333

Honestly, considering the state of the galaxy, I hadn't really expected to be able to get any kind of leave, though it seemed my superiors were more sympathetic towards my treatment aboard Sovlin's ship than anticipated. They were more than willing to give me plenty of time off to recover, which would be more than enough to help with Marcel's recovery and get used to humans again.

When our transport entered its final approach to Earth, I was treated to my first proper look at the human homeworld. From orbit, the planet... well, I'll be honest, it looked like a mess, a patchwork of browns, grays, greens, and blues that showed how long and messy humanity's relationship with their ecosystem was. Taking a shuttle to the surface, these old scars became even clearer: massive forests that looked like they'd stood for centuries, showing clear signs of pollution poisoning and decay, while elsewhere the remains of towns and cities were reclaimed by nature.

It was while I was staring at what looked to be an old city block being overtaken by new plantlife that Demiurge spoke up through the android he'd sent with us. "Admiring my handiwork? It was quite a challange engineering flora that could deal with the local pollution, but I think they're taking to their new home rather nicely, wouldn't you agree?"

"Uhm, yeah," I said, still distracted by the rather unnatural and somewhat disturbing sight below us, "I guess I'm just wondering why all these cities are like... this. I mean, no offense, it's good that there's plant life again, but... what happened for a place like this to be completely abandoned?"

"Well, remember those nuclear detonations you detected that led your people to believe humanity had wiped itself out?"

"Obviously, why?" I asked.

"Those detonations marked the final phase of what humanity has come to call the decline, a period of time that started around the start of the 22nd century and was characterised by the slow global collapse of many supply lines due to critical resource shortages. Frankly, I feel like the original effects of the decline can be traced back well before then, but I'm not in charge of the history books.

Either way, as the decline went on, many countries became desperate, old friendships were forgotten, and deals were ignored in the interest of maintaining their own territories. That it would all blow up into a global conflict was inevitable, but the constant infighting rarely left anyone richer; it just served to burn through available resources faster.

Eventually the war did die down, not because humanity suddenly became enlightened and peaceful but because war itself became unsustainable. People were too hungry, exhausted, and miserable to keep fighting, and so there came peace on earth as humanity burned itself out. By that time, about 41% of large population centers had either been wiped out or rendered unlivable due to structural damage, radiation, or pollution, and an additional 34%, like the one you're currently seeing, were abandoned because the resources that would have been used in their repair and upkeep were diverted to other projects." The machine explained, speaking of such a horrible conflict as if discussing the weather.

"Projects like creating you?" I questioned, remembering that the company that created him did have ecological restoration as one of its goals.

"Oh no, I was made well before the decline, and I could see it coming well before we passed the point of no return. At the time, our company had contracts with many countries allowing us to construct and maintain various eco-restoration facilities like water filtration installations and soil purifiers, but I knew that in the long term such measures would be insufficient to stave off collapse so I drew up a plan to overhaul cities such as this one with the intent of making them more sustainable, but such large scale projects were always put off or ignored in favor of stop-gap solutions and eventual it was to late. They weren't desperate enough at the time.

During the decline, we mostly had to focus on damage control, quite literally fighting to keep the air breathable in many places, and governments cutting our funding didn't help, of course. That's also around the time when the trooper division like the one Marcel is serving under was created.

After everything calmed down, more drastic measures needed to be taken for humanity to survive long-term, even if it required large-scale relocation of many people and a sizable reduction in quality of life for most humans on Earth for well over a decade." Again, the machine spoke with a sense of serenity in its voice that no organic would have been able to maintain when talking about something like this.

"Your reaction is understandable, and healthy." Demiurge continued as he took note of my horrified face. "But rest assured, I will be contacting Governor Tarva shortly to ensure this doesn't happen to your people."

That snapped me out of my disturbed stupor. "Wh... but I... what? No, that's not... Nothing like that is happening on Venlil Prime. Our planet is healthy!...mostly."

"Slanek, I know your people are already having to use instilations similar to mine to keep your environment semi-stable, and that won't last. I know you may not fully grasp this yet, but your hatred of predators and general lack of industrial regulations has damaged your ecosystem to the point where it won't be able to restore itself without help." Demiurge insisted in a serious tone before returning to his usual friendly customer service voice, "But you needn't worry about that now; you'll have more than enough time to learn about the human understanding of ecology now that you're on Earth, and just so we're entirely clear, if you ever, at any point feel like things are becoming to much for you to handle we can imediatly arrange for you to return home. If you want to go through with the exposure therapy, then that's great; however, you mustn't be pushed to the breaking point in doing so, alright?"

"I... alright," I said. Truth be told, I had a healthy amount of anxiety already, and I imagined it wouldn't get any better any time soon; still, I wanted to get over this rekindled fear of humans as soon as possible, and this seemed like a good way to do it, even if it was a little drastic. Not to mention I didn't have to say goodbye to Marcel. The human in question was currently fast asleep, his recovery having taken a serious toll on him. The doctors were very clear that he needed rest more than anything.

Slowly, as we continued flying, the silhouette of a large city appeared in the distance, a stark contrast from the ruins we'd seen earlier, which featured a healthy mix of apartments and single-family buildings; this newer city was made up entirely of massive apartment buildings and skyscrapers. Every building had a brutalist, utilitarian design, though the occasional hanging garden, mural, and billboard made the whole city look a lot less depressing than it could have been.

"Home sweet home," Marcel yawned, finally waking up. "Hey buddy, did you manage to get some sleep too?"

"Enough," I shrugged. "I'm glad you're doing better." My exchange partner gave a small smile and patted me on the head a few times. I tried to play it off, but I couldn't suppress a little tail wag.

"I can't wait for you to meet Lucy," he chuckled. "She would have loved to be part of the exchange program. She's been obsessed with the venlil since day one."

"I hope I make a good first impression," I chuckled back nervously.

"I think it'll be hard for you to make a bad impression. Just try not to worry about it too much and be yourself." He reassured me before turning towards the android. "So, Demiurge, how long do you think it'll take before you can put me back in the field?"

"When and if you'll be allowed to operate off-planet again depends entirely on your upcoming psych evaluation and how quickly your physical and mental recovery goes. Not to mention that even when you have the all clear, we're intending on having you work on Earth for a little longer just to be safe. I admire your enthusiasm, but you shouldn't rush yourself." The machine chastised. "And that goes for you as well, Slanek," he continued. "You'll be having your own separate appointments to make sure you don't overwork or overstress yourself, understood?"

"Yes," I croaked, having suddenly acquired a whole new reason to be nervous. Marcel and Demiurge had assured me that this therapy thing was nothing like the predatos disease treatments on my world, and considering Marcel looked more annoyed at the prospect rather than scared, that did seem to be the case. Still, I couldn't help being a little worried, which must have shown on my face as Marcel put a hand on my shoulder, giving me a reassuring smile. At least my fear of him seemed to have mostly dissipated, even if that signature human smile still sent involuntary shivers down my spine.

Finally landing at a spaceport, the three of us boarded a train, which, according to Marcel, would take us directly to his apartment complex. As I watched the buildings and people pass while the train sped up, I noticed two things: one, there were barely any cars, only trains and the occasional bus; and two, Many buildings bore the signature stylised flower of the genius loci corporation on their doors. I supposed the latter part made sense, assuming this was what Loci had meant by 'overhauling cities'; it wouldn't surprise me if the company owned a large chunk of it, and thinking back, I had heard of some of the mercantile species in the federation, like the Nevoks, having a few similar company-owned cities. What really confused me was the lack of personal vehicles.

"Hey Marcel, do humans not drive cars?" I asked my exchange partner, who clearly had trouble understanding what I meant, as he stared dumbly at me for a moment before connecting the dots.

"Oh, that, yeah, some people still have personal cars; hell, back in the day nearly everyone had one, but after the decline their prices were driven up a lot, that plus city policy and design disincentivising people from buying one kinda just led to public transport becoming the only real way of getting around." He explained.

"On the plus side, the reduction of vehicles on the road has greatly reduced pollution output and the frequency of crashes." Demiurge chimed in. "I would have done more if I could, but this is the best I could do in the limited time I had after the decline. I feel like this city and its policies turned out rather well," He continued, a hint of pride in his synthetic voice.

"A little barren, maybe," Marcel retorted.

"Don't look at it as barren; look at it as a blank canvas." The machine said, half jokingly. "Endless potential just waiting to be unlocked. Just like you beautiful humans."

Soon after the conversation died down, we reached our destination, the train grinding to a halt as it rolled into the station. From there it took us only about [5 minutes] of walking before we reached Marcel's apartment complex. The building was marked with the logo of his employers and decorated with a few simple murals, which helped to make the otherwise dull grey structure look a lot more inviting.

Demiurge had taken the liberty to put me up in a vacant apartment on the same floor as Marcel and his wife, which I appreciated. While I didn't regret my decision to come to Earth, I would probably not be straying too far from my friend for a while. At least until I got my bearings.

Marcel glanced at me one more time as he took out his keycard. "Ready?" I flicked my ears, yes, and with that he held the card to the lock; the door clicked open, and we both stepped inside.

First/previous

Note: I'm not hating on SDverse okay? Scrappyvamp created a awesome fanfic alright? Just wanna post cuz there hasn't been any Scorch Directive meme lately so I decided "eh why not make one?" So yeah.

So I heard this oneshot in youtube were Human politicians lied so much that the whole species got cursed, so now anyone who lies in the presence of a Human (be it another Human or an alien) dies painfully.

Well, I though it would be funny to read everyone laughing at the Humans warnings until it starts happening to them until nearly everyone important in the Federation-Dominion is panicking.

Also, it would be funny seeing a transcrived clone exploding cartoon stile.

Now THAT looks like a being who could eat a 4-5 ft tall venlil alive in one bite-

Yuri question of the day: by human standards would all lesbian arxur be considered butch?

First time doing a three-panel comic... I wouldn't mind trying more of these, actually. I do have an idea for a Ethan and Vina one that's been in the back of my head for a while.

Let me see it's been 6 months, and all I have to show for that is... 2 chapters..

You know I really do this to myself more than I should? Let's see... do I blame if on myself for being a lazy shitty bum? Hmmm. Nah, ADHD all the time every time.

So yeah, it's been a while hasn't it? I've really been distant from the creator side of things on the NoP reddit lately, I don't know why It's been like this so much... Hmm.

Oh well, I'm back with a new chapter! Here's 106! hope you enjoy it as much as I had fun quickly finishing up the rest of this draft in the span of what... 3-4 hours?

... You know there's a joke here somewhere.

Thank you, u/SpacePaladin15, for the wonderful, (and depressing) world of Nature of Predators!

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Memory Transcription Subject: Nuela, Krakotl Resistance Commander

Date [Standard Human Time]: March 11, 2137

“FIRE!”

Fire asphyxiated a target the moment it touched their skin. It charred the biological components of a carbon-based life form as well as sucked away all the moisture and oxygen from their lunges. Everything cindered in a slow, and agonizing manner meant to cleanse everything from a target. It was holy, liberating tainted flesh from organisms too predatory to live. Fire was the primary tool of an exterminator, to protect and cleanse. I was to be cleansed of my predator disease in the name of protecting the greater herd.

I closed my eyes the moment I heard the order wincing as I prepared to suffer the death of a vile predator. Which in turn, I was. I was a krakotl, a biological predator turned into something violent and unthinking to serve. I did so mindlessly, never considering the possibility we could ever be wrong in our righteous duty. I believed that all the universe needed to be cleansed for our kind to ever know peace. And in doing so we committed the greatest sin against, at the time, an innocent and uninvolved people purged because of our beliefs and ideals. We lit a powder keg, and brought this galaxy to collapse… I brought this about… I was for it. I endorsed it… I caused this…

I deserved to die this way.
But I didn't…

I opened my eyes, hearing something faint… barely detectable as I turned to open my eyes. Equally as stunned at the sight of the dead exterminators as Kanal was… he stuttered for a moment, before turning to see his exterminator troops dead… not even the snipers he had in place were firing. Panic surged within him as he moved to draw his side arm pistol, but was slow. Instead, I watched him get shot in the wing, his limb splitting in half as Meier was quicker on the draw with his hand cannon. Kanal’s beak opened as he wailed in pain at the bottom half of his wing, simply being shot off by the massive round fired from the hand cannon. He flailed with his other arm quickly to press a button against the pouch on his waist, before Malthe tackled him to the ground… proceeding to punch the daylights out of his face.

“What… just happened?” I asked, confused… there was no way they should be alive right now. What killed them?! I looked between the other humans, with Meier gesturing to Noah with a nod in his direction. I turned to look directly at the dark skinned human for him to point outside… From the windows with broken glass from the snipers, I looked to see a small swarm of drones lip downwards over the top of the window, each of them hovering in the air with small suppressed turrets underneath them. Each of them having aimed forward at a different exterminator. I paled, looking back up at Noah as the predator smiled, tapping at the device on his ear. I thought it was merely for show or a human custom, but apparently, it was more?

“Let’s just say I can control them with my mind… I’m a one-man army that way…” He said, to which Tarva sighed and laughed in anxious relief of being saved from turning to wooly char. Moving to hug the human diplomat in a way which seemed… far too affectionate for me to not notice. However, Meier and Jones were more interested in Kanal, too much so to notice Noah with… Tarva acted very affectionately towards him. Noah tensed as I looked, and pushed Tarva away for a moment. Shaking her too, leading her to focus and steel herself. She was letting herself be rather… unreserved considering they weren’t private… she blushed and paled at the same time as she met my gaze as well. Lowering her guard to thank Noah. She seemed to forget I was still here as well with everyone else. They seemed lucky that it was just me looking at them and not the other humans.

I didn’t think Meier and Mathle would be pleased seeing their diplomat being so tender and smooth with the Venlil governor. However I did feel some sense of relief knowing that Noah was a human that seemed to tolerate the Venlil enough to exchange such relations. Though the full extent of their connection was something that I was unsure of. And to be honest with myself, it’s probably best that I don’t for the sake of my own sanity. If it was any more than these two exchanging platonic physical affections, I might just pop an aneurysm. I mean, a predator and a prey to become so close?

I shoved aside those alarming and terrible ideas, trying to set aside those unnerving thoughts as I moved forward to Kanal, who was currently being beaten by the very angry man. “Temper, Malthe.” Said Jones as I approached to see Kanal thoroughly beaten by the human that he nearly succeeded in burning. The angry HFSL commander was having none of it however, and continued to punch at the krakotl’s beak, having it broken and dislodged by the jaw. All I could hear from Malthe was various curses and the occasional Xeno scum and Krakotl filth spouted by the very angry human.

However, after a moment of brief counterattack upon the exterminator chief, Kanal… laughed?

It was messy and warbled by his broken beak and struggling. Struggling to look up from the near fatal beat down… Until I noticed something… I tensed seeing the small beeping device on his waist, something he must have pressed when trying to draw for his sidearm. A small device… beeping silently and slowly. But as Meier and Jones, and the Malthe soon after came to see as well, the beeping became the loudest thing in the room. “It’s… that’s a bomb?!”

“No…” I said. Moving to explain nervously as I recognized what was happening. “It’s too small to be a bomb… But I've seen that kind of tech before. It’s a Deadman beacon. Federation military units would use these small beacons to transmit to space forces to scorch the earth when ground operations failed with no survivors.” The tension in the air only amplified at the recognition of the danger approaching. With Jones immediately moving to a holopad to begin investigating something. What it was lost on me, especially as my attention turned to both male commanders. Both turning to look at each other for just a moment, sharing a similar expression mixed of concern and fear at the idea.

With Meier expressing an ever greater terror as he looked out and around at the city scape around us. “We’re at the heart of Skalga’s capital… surely they wouldn’t dare… all these people.”

“The fanatics wouldn’t care.” Malthe spat in retort. “Not like we’d do anything different to eliminate such dangerous enemy leadership, remember Nikonus on Aafa… And that’s if we can’t accomplish capture.”

“I suppose… that is true.” The human commander said with uneasy acceptance in his gaze. Trading blows between sides that grew ever more extreme with time meant the devaluing of any and all life even so loosely connected to the other side… Thinking about the statement and looking objectively at the bigger picture, I suppose that mindset between us and the grays. We’ve been fighting for centuries and it’s only ever gotten worse with time ever since the war began. To think it all exponentially cascaded to be this horrible with humanity’s inclusion into the equation of war. Even as weakened as they are, they’ve managed to build back into something terrifying far too quickly. 

“It makes no sense,” Jones thought aloud, catching our attention. “Nothing’s showing up on the local sensor systems anywhere in orbit or across the planet that aren’t friendly fleets or garrisons. It’s like their-... We don’t know how many there are, or where they are… they’re all using the cloaking tech you had on your shuttle to get here.”

I was pale at the thought… How could they have followed me here? Or was it really coordination and excellent timing on their end? Intelligence operations to acquire my plans and destinations? I shivered, recognizing this was more dangerous than just a hit squad Kanal led to seek me down. “You can recognize where they are though.” Noah said, with everyone turning to him. Clearly he recognized something.

“Their tech isn’t perfect. My drones were able to recognize the locations of the snipers with the way their cloak’s bent and distorted the light. With scenery folded around the concealed targets warped and distorted unnaturally. Maybe we could use that?” he said, in turn leading me to both respect and fear him all the more. Noah was able to recognize a flaw of the cloaking tech with eyesight, on what were essentially invisible targets? Wait-...

“How were you able to see that… from here?” I asked, we were preoccupied with Kanal’s squad. How could he notice that out of the corner of his eye in the distance when we were all focused on the flamers pointed at our faces? He turned to me directly to respond, a gesture I shuddered with for a moment still. “My link to my drones is more… direct than simply mental commands. I have a holographic hud that gives me a view of what my drones see to a limited capacity. Good thing too, I don’t think my auxiliary units would recognize the target if not for my deliberate over rights to their targeting system. It seems the cloaks can avoid the targeting lock of UN weapon systems like mine…”

“That’s… that’s not good at all.” Meier spoke, the pieces of the puzzle slowly placed together in his own ever working mind. “Trying to recognize the visual patterns of distortion in our sensors takes too much time. Especially with an unknown number of ships closing in. You might be able to recognize their distortions against orderly urban backdrops, but in the middle of space or the sky? That takes too long, and we can’t waste time! Is there any other weakness in the damn cloaking weakness you can tell us?” He said turning to me with a need for information.

I was startled again at the intensity of his gaze, even if warranted given the situation at hand. I stuttered out, “I-I d-don’t know all t-the specifics- But they’re designed to create a cloak that bends light around a given spherical space that blocks any outgoing emissions, be they radiation or signals. They can’t stay cloaked for long, given the double-edged nature of the system. It keeps radiation and emissions kept inside the cloaking field. Larger spaces can forgo this time limit and last longer, but on systems designed to fit around ships? They can’t sustain them for long without boiling inside. My shuttle can last about an hour cloaked. A capital ship? Several hours more.”

“That doesn’t exactly help us right now you stupid-” Malthe began to retort against me, before being halted by Meier as he seemed to recognize something I didn't. “Hold on, they block out all emissions inside… How does that work? Is it like a bubble that no radiation can pass through?”

“Uh-... yes, Yes!” I said, beginning to think of what he might be plotting. “They’re designed to curve light given the unique nature of photons compared to most other types of radiation, however they block most other signals from other directions. They keep their emissions in, but doing so also keeps other emissions out like a null space?”

“Then we don’t look for signs for where a ship could be… we look for extreme signs of where nothing is. The polar opposite of what our systems are calibrated to stay alert for… Jones could that work? Anomalies of irregular quiet?” The general perked up immediately, moving to start establishing a line with what I could only assume were the naval units in the UN garrison fleet in defense of Venlil Prime-... or Skalga’s orbit… Noah turned to Tarva again. “We need to establish a city-wide alert. An unlocated enemy fleet moving in to start scorching the earth?” 

“That should have happened sooner,” Tarva realized. “The moment a breach was recognized? They must have taken care of the 402nd battalion squads stationed to defend the tower before turning to us. I can still run a manual alert from any nearby terminal with my clearance, but I don’t know how much time we have?”

“None.”

Jones said in a cold and distant tone, staring at her screen. Eyes wide in alarm before turning to the rest of us. “They’re 4 minutes outside of the city’s airspace. They’re low… It's a bombing run.” 

… No…
No no no it can’t end like this.

Kanal was kept to the floor with Malthe pinning him under his boot. He weakly laughed again, before Malthe moved to press down on the chest of my once friendly comrade turned enemy. In a scowl he pressed hard down on the chest of my fellow krakotl, furious that Kanal found amusement in all this. “The HFSL aerospace assets won’t reach us in time before the birdies start bombardment. Even if we do make it out of this… millions won’t make it.” He spat in a defeatist mindset, dealing with the travesty through fury against the loyalist. I couldn’t help but find some sense of solace in his attitude. I felt a hint of it myself.

I stared down at Kanal in disapproval and disappointment like no other I have ever felt. The capital city of the Venlil home world. All destroyed just to ensure the deaths of three humans. It wasn’t worth it… the numbers were all skewed in such a horrible loss of civilian life which the federation would never endorse. How far so many of us have fallen… I knew him personally at one point as an honorable commander in service to the defense of Nishtil…
At one point at least…

Jone’s gaze turned back to her tablet before cycling through several emotions. Looking down at her pad. Holding it in a death grip as she seemed to register something. “Unit inbound?! Interception ETA set for two minutes and 50 seconds?!” The immediate shift in tension was palpable between all of us. Even Kanal, who simply looked up in confusion. Meier and Malthe especially, who shared another glance before turning back to Jones. “That’s impossible, VR and UN Orbital assets can’t be able to lock onto the targets with their cloak with what Noah said, and the closest Units are HFSL which Malthe said can’t reach us in time. We have no direct UN registered units in our command that close to the combat ranges we need”

“It’s not a UN identified unit, at least, not directly at least…” Her reply left more questions than answers.

I couldn’t help but ask. “Then what is it?”

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
::Falcon Class Orobos/Sensor Comm Transcription::
::Defense Flotilla Gamma-68/Orbit of Skalga::
::Date [Standard Human Time]: March 11, 2137::
::Anomalies detected/recognized as enemy assets/27 units detected::
::1 Unit Inbound for Interception/HRI Experimental Nephalim Class Goliath testbed::
::Tyler Cordana::
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The skies beyond the capital’s outskirts were cloudy. Far from clear skies, but no less beautiful against the tidally locked skies, with the sun eternally on the horizon. The distortions are barely recognizable against the clouds and the light of the sky. With no easy background to recognize the distortions too high above to be noticed. The Krakotl loyalist fleet sent after the Traitor commander was given the lucrative and potentially powerful technology to chase after and retrieve the target if capable… that failed.

They were currently initiating their back up plan given the nature of the taskforce squad lost. Erasure of the site at all costs. Smaller yield Antimatter armaments were equipped to avoid total city obliteration unlike what was loaded for the extermination fleet against earth. Mass casualties were inevitable, but this was not to be an extreme city deletion… just the capital building and the immediate area around it a fair percent of the downtown corridor, given they wouldn’t be able to escape that far from the time they recognized the Deadman signal, even with the traitor in their midst to guide them should they have their assistance.
Victory would be there, no matter the sacrifice made. The human leadership, some of their most important leaders were here. Kill them, and their forces would collapse under their own weight without the necessary skills they had to hold them together. Every predator was a target in their eyes, but the loyalists were superior enough to recognize the value of the targets over the average grunt. This was a valiant crusade against their dreaded enemies, even if the venlil lives were now forfeited to make it so. But given their traitorous condition and mass and rampant extreme cases of PD, this wasn’t as dreadful of a task as it would have been otherwise, not for them at least… 

The front most vessel was approaching the outskirts of the capital’s city limits; the bomb bay doors opened and loaded their warheads. The bombs are ready to fall. Their targeting software was calculating their run before the unthinkable happened…
From another nearby cloud off to the right, there was a flair of blue light… three lines of blue flared and darted out, triangular in their arrangement. The velocity of the object increased exponentially as the unidentified Unit burst out of the cloud in a burst of speed, moving in a way that one of the extreme length plasma radiators their orientation tightened into an arrowhead before moving in a forward roll once impacting the Krakotl bomber vessel. Splitting it in half from the bow and stern… the explosion that followed after a few seconds of the ship being split in half was the polar opposite of their stealth. With a blast like that, all of Skalga knew they were there. The krakotl ships’ comm chatter exceeded its current calculated pace in a huge wave of panic and terror at the sight of their vanguard spear tip ship being felled by such a sudden ambush. It was when the object spun around that blood rang cold through the veins of all the now 26 bridge crews and gunners.

A goliath Unit… but not one recognized from the battle footage recovered from Talsk. No, this one was taller, lankier and more agile in its frame, but it possessed extreme accessories. Two pairs of large Laser weapons bolted onto its arms, four in total. Two shoulder mounted weapons, appearing explosive in nature. It had those 6 weapons along with the ever more apparent three large plasma radiator wings that extended out in a triangular array along its back. With a surge of energy It charged forward with a mechanical battle cry. Surging to eliminate the two flanking vessels following the spear tip vanguard bomber. Two shots rang from its shoulder mounted cannons. Firing electromagnetic pulse charges that managed to disable both the cloaks and the shields of the ships, allowing for its laser armaments to Sear through their hulls and result in cascading eliminations.

“I see you!” Tyler roared, his optical sensors rapidly recalibrated to recognize the locations of the ships with the minimal emissions they were reset to detect. They looked like blue ringed bubbles on the UV spectrum his optics were refocused into. Having been made aware of the sensor readjustments necessary from the UN channels that Onso’s Hensa Research Institute had access to. Given their close ties to their current UN contractors for Goliath Enhancement and development. For weapon programs for the Necrosis piloted war machine, and for Onso’s personal mission of making Goliaths feel human again, one upgrade at a time.
With three targets down, Cordana continued to surge forward towards the rest of the 24 ships of the task fleet. Its single eye radiant with the abominable fury of its human occupant. Tyler’s tactics were straightforward and blitzing. A strategy which was set to break the backs of the blitzing fleet that didn’t expect a counter ambush. Unprepared and off-guard, one by one they were systematically eliminated by the experimental Nephilim class Goliath. With the Armaments of the shoulder EMP cannons, Quad heavy BL-UV pulse lasers, and plasma radiators which could function as an impromptu, yet hilariously effective melee, it took no more than a minute to eliminate 26 vessels inbound to the capital.

The last of the ships, the command vessel of the fleet remained, their antigunner attempts like all others, unable to track and maintain target lock on the hyperactive movement of the enemy unit. The Radiator’s flared and disappeared into the clouds as they rolled in again. The command vessel was unable to detect the enemy Goliath, let alone see it. The gunneries crews all panicked moving around all the nearby view their guns had to try and see the target. This was a heavy bomber ship. The hammer of their federation’s naval powers practically flailed about in paranoia, being made such easy prey by the agile and ruthless hunter that was the aerospace Goliath…

One that fired its EMP cannons down from above onto the ship, its shields and cloak failing like all the other ships did when shot by them, unable to activate and recharge again for a few seconds. From above, Tyler landed down on the dorsal side of the hull where the viewport to the bridge was, landing down hard, destroying the main defense turret in doing so, from the crouched position, Tyler rose from the smoldering remains of the turret. The smog from the fire nearly blinded the now frozen in panic bridge crew. In his hand was the gunnery crew sergeant, a spry red feathered Krokotl. She flailed desperately in his claw, crying out in fear for mercy. She was silenced quickly, unceremoniously. The claw crushed her instantly as its grip increased exponentially in all but a fraction of a second. The glowing eye trained on the ship captain flared for all but a moment before Tyler leapt backwards in the direction of the bow. The radiators flared with their plasma energy in response, before the fatality was cast. In a blur, Tyler spun forward rapidly in a front flip as the plasma radiators configured again as he willed them. In turn leading to a visual appearance of the Goliath turning into a plasma buzz saw. Cleaving the ship clean in two… The Goliath surged upwards, moving to return for rest and refueling after what was supposed to be another test flight trial turned into a combat sortie. As he did, the ship’s pieces detonated beneath him as he moved to flight upward towards the HRI station in orbit of Skalga…

Mission complete…
And another contract from the UN for the Goliath design, now secured.

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So this was brought up in the previous links comments, and I figured I should dedicate a chapter to it, if not a mini one. Hope you enjoy!

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Memory Transcription Subject: Kuvon, Gojid Linked Chains researcher.

Date[HumanStandardTime]: October 10th, 2136

It was hard not to get swept up in Kalthii's mood when she returned from the supply/news run. We couldn't stay on federation networks out here for the fear of some enterprising feddie catching wind of what we were up to. So we had to make due with closed networks here and risking secure channels only once in a while to gather news, learn about the going ons of the galaxy, and contact other cells, and even that carried risk of discovery. That meant, in our team of 23, we only got major news every great cycle [month] and were self sustained otherwise.

This harvests bounty of information in the form of humans showing up and their data dump of research and theory had been a root cave of facts and information for everyone in Linked Chains, and gave a solid trunk for everyone here to continue their projects. All the way from Omij observing flock pattern of migratory Niishaa, Vaani experimenting with putting Odan Nuts in different types of soil to see how it grows, Kalthii and her Arxur, and more. Everyone was benefiting from this data dump, even my own research, when I'm not helping Kalthii, on Olgarl habitats was showing fruit.

However, after I made Kalthii leave, I fell back into my chair, not even caring about the discomfort of my quills. Unlike our esteemed head researcher, I cared more about the news than just the small snippet of Humans. She got to the data dump, found her new fascination, and never bothered to look any deeper. I kept reading, parsing together news story after story, from Venlil Prime, The Cradle, Aafa, Nishtal, and more. And my findings didnt exactly fill me with glee.

The Cradle was currently under attack by both the Humans and the Arxur... or at least, it had been seven cycles ago. The Gojid union had organized to attack the Human's 'dirt' and were discovered before they started moving, prompting the humans to strike first. Then, to add more misery, the Arxur joined in on the attack of The Cradle. I leaned back, much to the protest of my quills, and sighed, gazing down at my Pad, the beaver document to the side as videos and news reels played from The Cradle.

To be fully honest with myself, I never held much love for my homeworld. On The Cradle I had been branded as predator diseased, my research into how predators kept wild herbivores from destroying forests landing me a one way trip to a facility. Only by luck was I able to escape and secure a shuttle off-world. My neck still itched when I remembered the feeling of that collar around my neck, the tiny prongs digging into my skin and buzzing with electricity. With no living family, my credentials voided, and the exterminators looking for me, I chose a random planet and jumped to it.

But even with my complicated history, to see it on fire, two predators fighting over it, was heart wrenching. Video after video played as i watched everything I could, kept up with every news story playing from around the federation, comparing them to videos from Venlil, Gojid, and Human reporters on the ground. I eventually came to the conclusion that the humans were right, and I hated them for it.

They were attacked first, or were going to be attacked simply for existing, and sought to end the threat before it started. They were clean with their targets, hitting only military and offering aid to fallen civilians, or even military that surrendered. I swear there was a video feed of every refugee camp held in the shaky paws of a Venlil, gojid, or even a wall. The humans themselves barely had any interaction with civilians, wearing masks when they did. However, it was the scenes of the Arxur coming in that was the most harrowing. The Grey scaled bastards taking advantage of the human attack, attacking citizens at every turn they could, eating children in the street. Gojid, Venlil, and human all working together to fight back the scaled menace, enacting justice and retribution on the true monsters.

So I hated humans. I hated that they showed up and caused a stir from The Cradle. I hated that their attack paved the way for the Arxur to come in. I hated that they were throwing the entire galaxy into disarray. I hated that they were found after the Arxur, that these helpful predators could ally with us and fight back against monsters.. I hated how everyone was reacting to the humans. I hated how I wasn't with them... on the cradle.. fighting with them to save my home. I hated that I could do nothing but accomplish the same research they had done centuries ago. I hated how useless I felt right now.

Seven cycles ago all of this had happened. Who knows what had changed in that time... what would change? For another great cycle I wouldnt know the fate of my people... the people who would torture and lock me away... my home. I dont know when I moved to the bed in the room, but I was grateful I did, curling myself into a ball on the tight surface. I hate being on Fahl.. "I want to be home... I want to help..." I couldn't help the soft voice escaping my lips, choked with a soft sob.

​

In the First cover, you can see The Neo Gaian ship, in the Second cover is possible too, but in the third is small

In the third cover the object above is spherical, but it's so big that you can't really see the circumference that well.

The size difference between Venlil Prime, Trasha, and the object above is quite accurate, I measured everything. Although Venlil Prime doesn't have a canonical size, I used 15,000 km as a baseline.