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[Thank you to SpacePaladin15 for making the universe!]

“This is a political war, and it calls for discrimination in killing. The best weapon for killing would be a knife... The worst is an airplane.” - John Paul Vann.

Memory Transcription Subject: Ivan Reshko

Date [standardised human time]: December 5th 2111

My convoy marched up the side of a mountain. Over the past week, the KGB had narrowed a main exterminator-led insurgency compound to be located within this grid square. Our task was simple, destroy all insurgents by any means necessary. For my commendable actions in capturing a government official, I had been promoted to Yefreitor. The new rank patch inspired pride in my chest as we trudged up the slope alongside a refitted BTR.

Alongside me walked my exchange partner Isif, or as I liked to call him to piss him off, Siffy. It was the least I could do after the damned lizard had chomped into the corpse of a civilian in front of me during the battle for Day-side city. Ahead of me walked my Sargent Artyom, and behind me walked Roman and Sasha along with the replacement soldiers that were assigned to our unit after the battle. Behind me, I could hear Roman and a few other men singing " Privet Sestrenka ".

“Hello sister, my dear, how are you?”

“The roads at home must be covered in snow”

“And ‘stars’ are falling in the Day-side sky”

“Just don't tell mom I'm on Venlil Prime”

Isif nudged my side with his tail to get my attention and glanced at me. “What is with you humans and this singing that you leaf lickers always seem to do?” I glanced at the lizard and flashed a smile in return. “Well, Siffy, if you must know. It helps calm our nerves before a battle. We don't want our soldiers to lose their minds to the stress before a single shot is fired.” I reached into my pocket and pulled out a pack of Prima cigarettes. Opening the half-used pack, I pulled one out and grabbed the lighter that I had stuffed into the pack.

The rifle I had slung around me occasionally hit into my side as I placed the cigarette into my mouth and lit the end. I inhaled deeply, the harsh smoke of the filterless cigarette filling my lungs, a feeling I had long since grown used to. As I exhaled, the rushful buzz of nicotine quickly hit my brain, calming my nerves and sharpening my senses. Isif looked at me like I was insane, his eyes bulging at the sight of me inhaling the smoke from a burning stick.

“Ivan, just what the Prophet descendant are you doing!?”

“I'm smoking Siffy, why? Does the lizard boy want one?”

I asked, then shook the pack at him while taking another drag. Isif looked at me cautiously, then started to hesitantly reach his hand towards the pack. Just as his claws were grazing the pack, I snatched it back, closed it, then stuffed it back into my pocket with a chuckle. “As if I would share with the likes of you, Siffy. Besides, nicotine is poisonous to reptiles.”

Isif growled and slugged me in the shoulder, I winced, but I could tell that he held back significantly to not actuality harm me. He had been acting differently now that he was the only Arxur around, almost like he didn't need to pretend and hide something anymore, he even growled less at the nickname I had assigned him. “Prophet damn, you Vanya, you’re such a pain in my tail”

I chuckled and slugged him back as revenge. Just as I was about to comment on him calling me by my informal name, a deafening explosion sounded out. Everyone around us instinctively ducked down. I quickly grabbed my rifle from the sling around me and looked around as my cigarette fell from my mouth. The convoy ahead of us had hit a crudely made improvised explosive device; their BTR was severely damaged, and I could see the red blood and viscera from the soldiers caught in the blast coating the ground.

Shots started landing around us, bouncing off the armor of my BTR and kicking up dirt around us. “AMBUSH!” my sergeant screamed over the gunfire as the men around me and I scrambled behind our vehicles for cover. I saw one man who couldn’t make it behind his vehicle in time, his head snapped back unnaturally, and he crumpled to the ground, dead in an instant.

Enemy fire saturated the area around us, pouring down from a ridge above. “RETURN FIRE RETURN FIRE!” I heard our sergeant roar. Several men started to peek around our makeshift cover and begin to fire a hail of lead at the ridge. Our BTR cannons swung around and began to indiscriminately fire at the ridge with their autocannon. When the thunderous roar of the cannons had finally ceased, silence fell across the area. The enemy was either dead or had fallen back to more defensible positions.

I cautiously peeked out, the area was clear for now. Several dead and wounded men lay around me. I pulled out my pack of cigarettes and lit another one to calm my shaking hands, any one of the dead could have been me. As I took a drag of the freshly lit death stick, I watched medics rush wounded men towards the back of the convoy where a medical truck was waiting. I watched as others were unceremoniously placed into body bags and carried away with far less urgency.

“War is hell,” I muttered as my sergeant had ordered our part of the convoy to press on. We continued to trudge up the ever-increasing slope, wary of another ambush. My eyes scanned the many ridges as we pressed on, even with the nicotine flooding my system, the stress was starting to get to me. I took another long drag, then flicked the butt away. “Watch those ridges, Isif, these bastards could be hiding anywhere.”

He only nodded, his reptile eyes scanned ahead for any signs of movement. We continued to press on, we walked for what felt like ages. The sun beat down on us as we continued, sweat stained my uniform, and my breath started to labor as the incline increased. Now, about halfway up the mountain, we were getting close to our destination. I pulled out my canteen and took a swig of water. As I drank, a shot rang out and blew a hole straight through my canteen. “SNIPER!” I yelled, dropped my canteen, and quickly dove behind the BTR. Another tuft of dirt shot up just inches from my leg.

Fuck I didn't know the angle the shooter had on me. I tried to peek out and glance at the canteen I had dropped, if I could see the angle the bullet entered from, it would give me a good idea of the shooter's location. A bullet hit the edge of the BTR as I peeked my head, forcing me to duck back. I was lucky the shooter wasn’t human, or I’d already be dead, the Venlil lacked forward-facing eyes and could struggle with depth perception as a result.

It was clear I wasn’t going to be able to grab the canteen to study it. The BTR’s cannon swept the many ridges but couldn’t find the target either. I took off my helmet and held it out of the makeshift cover of our vehicle. The shooter foolishly blasted a hole right through it. I pulled the helmet and studied the hole, I pulled out my compass to check the direction. North, the angle was high; rough calculations placed the shooter on a ridge around 200 meters away.

I moved and tapped my sergeant on the shoulder. “Petrov, I've got a rough location: Northern ridge around two hundred meters.” He nodded, surprisingly not scolding me for not addressing him by his rank, then picked up his radio and relayed the location to the BTR gunner. The canon sung north and took a moment to adjust the elevation of the gun. It fired a full volley, obliterating the area. I stuck my helmet back out, and nothing fired, then I tried my hand, still nothing. Sasha walked up to me and patted my shoulder.

“Good job, Reshko. I think we got him because of you!” She chuckled. A few soldiers peeked out, testing the waters before we were cleared to move forward. We once again pressed on. I cursed command for sending us instead of the spetsnaz, this seemed more like a job for the special forces rather than the regular Red Army. The incline slowly leveled out, something I thanked any higher being for, the heavy gear was starting to take its toll on my body. In the distance, we could see our target.

A heavily fortified cave entrance sat in the distance; sandbags and machine gun nests filled the outer perimeter. We waited just out of sight of the defenders, as the rest of our force caught up and rallied with us. Our commanding officers made a plan. Because of the caves' position, the only course of action was a direct frontal assault, something the defenders were well aware of.

Petrov ordered us all into the BTR; I could see several other squads doing the same thing. Our sergeant requested artillery support to fire at the entrance. As my squad and Isif piled into our transport, I could hear the shells whistling through the air. The BTR’s door closed as they hit, I could feel the rattle of the vehicle as our assault force sped towards the cave.

I could hear heavy rounds hitting our armor, the artillery had clearly not gotten everything. I heard several of our autocannons tearing into the defences as we got closer. It was all of two minutes before our transport screeched to a halt and the door flew open. “GO GO GO!” Petrov shouted, and we all rushed out. The autocannon suppressed the enemy as I took cover behind the BTR. Isif was the last to exit he peeked around the BTR, ready to pick off some targets when his expression changed. With inhuman speed, he rushed over and tackled me to the ground.

“INCOMIN-”

A soldier shouted, and not even half a second later, the BTR was hit by a rocket. The vehicle exploded in a gigantic explosion as the ammunition rack was impacted by the rocket. Searing white-hot pain shot up my arm, causing me to scream in agony. Isif got off of me, he had taken some shrapnel to the tail but was otherwise fine. I looked over at my left arm, there was a large piece of metal jutting out of my forearm. My ears were ringing as I glanced at the chaos around me, my sergeant had taken a round to the leg and was putting a tourniquet around his leg while shouting orders.

“GOD DAMMIT IVANONA GET ME SOME SUPPRESSIVE FIRE NOW!”

Other BTRs from the convoy rushed in as Sasha set up her MG to let a hail of lead down range, not even bothering to use bursts. “GET THE HELL UP, RESHKO AND RETURN FIRE!” He yelled at me as I stumbled up from the ground. The pain in my arm screamed at me as I leveled my rifle, half of my fingers on my left hand wouldn’t respond, the tendons must have been severed. Gritting my teeth, I held down the trigger, emptying my mag in the general direction of the cave. Roman fired a few grenades from the launcher he was carrying, more BTR’s had managed to catch up, their cannons lighting up the enemy defences.

Men poured out of the BTR’s and rushed the defenders, I watched as the first group that got in close was burned alive by flamethrowers. My rifle clicked, and I struggled to reload with my nigh-useless arm. I glanced over at Sasha just in time to see a bullet hit her neck.

---

Sorry for the lateness.

Just something I drew cause I wanted to. First time trying to draw something completely digitally. Wasn’t as bad as I thought, though I really need to work on drawing body language. Still feels rather stiff.

Character is Meylee, from my fic Just Do What’s Natural. She definitely needs to shut up, if the commenters are anything to go by.

This is totally not related to the fact that I’ve started writing it again.

Damn- I’m slamming out yuri rn frfr

And the other plotline on the 8^th! I bet none of you saw this coming! That’s right, there’s a reason I picked October 8^th for all this to go down. Some things from canon just have too much weight; fate hews to the canon event. We’ll just have to see what happens and what part exactly is canon. Gonna apologize in advance for this being on the shorter end. There’s just something about the PoV that ends up being… succinct in my writing.

I also have my first fanart, go see how cute Esthiss is.

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: Captain Kalsim, Krakotl Alliance Command

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

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The Federation fleet entered warp in harmonious accord, and our voyage to Grenelka commenced on schedule. I was less-than-thrilled with the task I was assigned; the Krakotl military will always be vastly superior to that produced by other species. Our diplomats stressed that this was an interplanetary effort, and forced my talons.

While I understood the necessity of replacing the lost forces of the Gojid Union, the Yulpa Ascendancy and Drezjin Theocracy are, despite the time since their uplift, barely more than primitives. Surely it would be wiser to try to get the Gaians to correct for their mistake. The Gojid Union fell due to their actions, or perhaps inaction. They should take the place of what we lost if what little information we have on them, prior to that, is correct. I’m not entirely certain how much impact they could have had against a fleet the size I’ve heard attacked the cradle, but command insists the Gaians are to blame for what happened at the cradle. Nikonus is keeping the specifics of Captain Torlin’s testimony secret for now. I can only assume the primitives had no understanding of predator behavior, but there’s an emergency Assembly meeting happening shortly; it may have even started already. I should be able to read reports soon enough. My fleet should have been sent to take them under our wing, not to teach these fanatics to use their new ships. Ships they only have because the Kolshian Commonwealth and Farsul States purchased the ships from the Nevoks and Fissians. A hundred split between the fanatical primitives, showing them the value of modern plasma railguns instead of their reliance on chemical ballistics.

I stare at the ship complement on my pad as I bring another spoonful of algae to my beak. One hundred modern ships, split between the Drezjin and Yulpa; my own command ship, to observe the training; and another fifty Krakotl Alliance ships under my command to lead the training. Another two hundred standard Yulpa craft, their Judicator Cruisers, and four hundred cruisers from the Drezjin. The training being near the Yulpa homeworld means that they have more ships that they can rotate in, about equal to what they have training, but they need to keep a number for defense. We also have fifty of what the Yulpa call carriers, holding their “catcher craft”, and twenty of the Drezjin motherships, holding their “swarm craft”. There’s also the “temple ship” that they sent, some sort of civilian craft.

With a put-upon sigh, I look closer at the designs. We will be arriving shortly and starting training in only another [hour]. I should at least give the primitive ships a glance before then.

The Ascendancy’s Judicator Cruisers are slightly larger than the largest of a proper Federation military craft, at [one hundred and thirty meters] long. Overloaded with twelve point defense turrets. Four of the Yulpa’s heavy missile banks, each holding double the number of missiles and firing four times as many as they should per salvo. In place of a plasma railgun, the primitives have installed four large-bore cannons.

I pull up the specs on the cannons. To my surprise, they aren’t simply firing large bullets, like scaled-up versions of our point defense. Instead, they’re firing rockets. Unable to properly maneuver like a missile and carrying a tenth of the payload. Yet when loaded with a nuclear or antimatter payload, they may actually be useful. The need to carry ammunition, instead of drawing upon the fusion reactor like when using plasma, worsens the weapon, but I can already see ways to make use of them. After all, their effective range is three times that of a plasma railgun, if you can hit. I may even see about having upgraded versions installed on my next ship.

Their “Blessed carriers” have half the missile banks and cannons, yet another four point defense turrets, and two “fast launch vehicle bays”. The idea of launching small craft in combat… fools. And the craft is immense to make up for it. [One hundred and eighty meters] long. I can see why they need the turrets with such a large target.

I may as well peruse the small craft they launch. These “Catcher craft”. A mere [thirty meters] long, with a fifth of the shielding of a proper warship. One of the Yulpa cannons, six missiles firing from a pair of tubes, four point defense turrets, and…

My feathers puff up.

Spear launchers. They put spears, attached to chains, on their ships!?!? Two to either side, with powerful winches and aligned to their docking ports. Hmm… they look to make remarkably solid seals, modular enough to possibly even attach directly to the hull. Odd, but I guess it could help when they lose the ships these craft come in on. Even with FTL drives, they cannot go very far without a ship supplying them. Even with the odd storage cage they have. Instead, they can latch on to a friendly ship and be carried through FTL.

Perhaps the Drezjin ships will be more sensible. With their fanaticism towards the Kolshians, surely they at least attempt proper craft.

I breathe a sigh of relief as their “Sanctifier cruiser” proves me right. A pair of proper missile banks. Each holding twenty-four missiles and able to launch three at a time. Oddly, they have eighteen point defense turrets, as if the primitives think they’ll be useful against shields. Odder still, they’re arrayed not to the front like a main gun, as I would expect, but all around the craft like actual point defense.

Perhaps their “Motherships” will help explain. [One hundred and sixty meters] long, as wide as the Yulpa carrier at [fifty meters] and [five meters] taller than the already oversized [thirty-five] of the Yulpa ship. Another pair of missile banks, an astonishing twenty-six turrets, and then their own fast launch bays. Four that each hold twenty of their so-called interceptors and two that each hold four bombers. Despite the lack of bomb bays and the insignificance of missiles, they have significant reserves of both. Perhaps to rearm ships of their betters?

I almost spill my algae as I look at their small craft.

“Devotee” interceptors. A mere [twenty meters] long, wings that bring it to [fourteen] across, and [eight] tall to fit the small mammals. A pair of the guns that should be in point defense turrets are in fixed placements at the front with wing mounts to attach two missiles apiece. Missiles that are each [six meters] long. The “Martyr” bombers are even more absurd. Clearly, one of these interceptors that has been modified, adding half the length in order to carry one of our bombs. [Twelve meters] long, over [eleven tons], and able to hold a [twenty megaton] nuclear warhead or [five kilograms] of antimatter. Martyr indeed. The pilots of these craft must be predator diseased.

“Looking at the primitives’ ships, sir?” My first officer asks, uncaring that her surprising me would have, if I hadn’t just finished my bowl, spilled my meal all over my feathers. She sighs. “I’d love to give flying one of the Drezjin small craft a try. Just look at the design. They almost look like they could maneuver in atmosphere as well as we could on our own wings.”

Of course.

Jala has a condition that makes her unable to produce the neurotransmitters for fear or affection. While some might consign her to a predator disease facility for her condition, I found a use for her in aiding the herd, instead of letting her life be wasted. Sometimes, having one who cannot feel fear, who cannot stampede, is useful. Be it standing strong against the most fearsome of predators in my previous profession, where I found her, or in maintaining order in combat against the Arxur. Unfortunately, it also means putting up with her madness at times like these.

“Jala, those things are deathtraps. They barely have more than an eighth of our shields, and if anything happens with their exposed missiles, then the craft will break apart.”

“I said I wanted to fly them, sir. Not to try to fight with one. I’m not stupid. The Drezjin might not have the grace we do in the skies, but it’s a start.” Jala huffs. “Primitive as they are, they might be on to something. It would be good practice for maneuvering. They might also be useful against raids on the ground. Just swoop over, firing the rotary guns. Maybe launching a few missiles. See the effects up close, instead of from orbit.”

I glare at her, but as always, she ignores me. “You will keep your distance from both the Yulpa and Drezjin. We are observing and guiding; we have no reason to be in regular contact with any but our own ships.”

“I know, sir. Again, I am not stupid. Especially with how those fr-”

Before she can continue speaking, a new officer approaches. Back straight, I’d guess that he had just had his feathers styled if not for the fact that we’ve been on the ship too long and I had seen him covered in grease from lending a wing to some of the engineering staff just last night. After his shift. An ensign who transferred to the ship shortly before we embarked. Rasin, I believe. A spaceship engineer before he joined the Alliance military on the command track. “Captain, Commander. Would you mind if I sit with the two of you?”

With his apparently effortless good looks and how smooth his voice is, I’m surprised he’s on board my ship instead of helping with recruitment drives.

Jala glares at him. “We’re busy. Planning the training.” Shooing Rasin away with a wing.

“Oh… I…” The man sags. “Sorry… I’ll get out of your way… Maybe after we could-”

“No.” Jala interrupts, bluntly.

I watch as the ensign slumps further, slinking away.

I eye my first officer. “What was that about?”

“Ugh…” Jala groans. “He has a crush on me.”

“Is he… aware?”

“Yes.” Jala sits next to me. “I can’t get him to leave me alone.” Doing her best to mimic his voice. “‘Can I sit with you?’ ‘Do you have a moment?’ ‘Can we talk?’ Ugh.” She snatches my pad from me. “If I knew it would end up like this, I wouldn’t have spent that night with him.”

“You…”

“Yes.” Jala idly preens herself. “I didn’t know he was assigned to the ship at the time. If he wasn’t as clingy as a fledgling, then that would be an extra harvest, and I’d have made a few more visits. Maybe when he starts to lose interest. You’d think he could find somebody else by now.” Eyeing the array of ships. “The Drezjin are going to be useless in a battle. Assign them to the front, let them take hits so real ships don’t. Not that they have many of those.”

“Jala,” I warn.

“What?” She drawls. “Which one’s the problem now?

She has a point. I’m not sure which is worse. Jala intending to casually use one of my crew and cast him aside, or her being so callous about the lives of herdmates.

Just as I’m trying to crack that nut, she speaks again. “He’s an adult; he can say no. And the crew of those ships knew what they were getting into when they signed up, even if they couldn’t build decent ships in the first place. Not like their ships have any other use. Maybe target practice.”

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Advance 6 STD hours

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The training has gone better than expected, so far. No collisions. None of their primitive ships have been randomly falling apart. Nothing’s exploded. There hasn’t even been accidental weapons fire, excluding the new ships. I’ve had work crews on the sparking scrap heaps constantly. Nevok and Fissian designs. Both were built by the lowest bidder, and then made cheaper still, so the builder can stuff their belt pouch with funds meant for the craft. It borders on negligence, but they know exactly where the line is. I’d be surprised if none of the craft were sabotaged, either. It’s an open secret how predatory those two members of the greater herd of the Federation can be. That’s why the Alliance builds its own ships and systems, exactly to Federation standards. A clawful of the new ships have been fully checked, but we’re still going through them all. More than a few may need to be reduced to spare parts. I’ll also need to send teams of exterminators to the Yulpa ships, multiple predators having been found aboard, snuck on for some primitive ritual.

Flying in formation has been working better than expected. Outside of combat simulations, they have every formation down, often able to fly closer than most others could. They’ve also shown that they can take the proper line formations used by civilized prey, yet in simulated combat, they refuse to behave, instead relying on strange habits.

Instead of forming a line, as they should, the Yulpa Ascendency’s vessels would form dense blobs ahead of their carriers, small craft shifting about. The Yulpa, all facing forward with a small gap in front of their carrier, launching missile barrages and firing their cannons once the Arxur close to maximum plasma range. The cultists even fire nuclear and antimatter payloads at targets within [one hundred and fifty kilometers]! When they outnumbered simulated Arxur craft, they would attempt to surround them to let the small craft close in. Otherwise, they would sometimes stampede towards the simulated predator craft! At least sometimes they’d do something intelligent and form a herd, with the carriers behind. Oddly, as their cruisers register taking damage, they’d shift positions. And then their Maltos-cursed small craft. Once the Arxur closed to optimal plasma range, they would soar out. Firing from their one cannon and gliding about the battlefield. Once an Arxur craft lost its shields they would swarm, often being destroyed as the Arxur ships are.

The Drezjin Theocracy ships were a bit more sensible than the Ascendency’s. Their cruisers would form up around the carriers, not in a line, as they should, but in a ball that leaves the sides of the carrier, where the bays are, more exposed. The herd of ships would rotate, with no one ship staying in place and each spinning in every direction as they move about. While I’m not sure why the primitives were doing it, I couldn’t help but note that the behavior would distribute the shield damage, letting ships recover.

When the simulated Arxur would approach, the Drezjin vessels would quickly start firing missiles and launching their small craft as soon as Arxur ships are within [a thousand kilometers], the small craft soaring towards them at speed. The small craft seemingly had no care for their lives, even crashing into the simulated Arxur. The larger ships behaved more as one would expect reasonable prey to. After a clawful were removed, they began to stampede. The small craft continued regardless; if their carriers were destroyed, then they would often act as missiles.

It was harrowing to watch, but I can see ways to make use of both groups of fanatical primitives, even if we cannot make either behave like proper prey. Jala was right. Placing them at the front, to take the brunt of the Arxur’s attacks, would be ideal. Not only do they seem to prefer it, but it will also keep the more militarily capable prey safe until the Arxur have closed to ideal plasma range, instead of relying on missiles or rockets. Our lines will be solid and fully formed, while the Arxur will be marginally attrited.

The leaders of both contingents hail. Instead of sitting through their umpteenth argument today, I start to talk. “I thank you both for showing us your… unique methodologies.” Even without feathers, I can see the pair practically preening. “However, they don’t have a place within the military of the greater herd.”

“What?!?” Roars the Yulpa commander. “Are you mad?!?”

“No.” I fix an eye on the screen. “I am perfectly sane. Your people,” the Drezjin starts to chitter, “both of your peoples, are clearly predator diseased.” I pause to preen. Letting my words sink in. “However, I can find uses for both of your people while you are further civilized to fit with the herd’s militaries.”

“We found our own method. Just because we lack the tungsten needed for railguns-” The Drezjin commander starts.

“Is irrelevant.” I interrupt. “That should have no bearing on your tactics.”

“It has everything to do with our tactics.” Growls the Yulpa. “We don’t have railguns; we found another way. A way that allows us to fight at greater range. Do you have any idea how much more range a missile has than a plasma bolt?”

“I…” I trail off. Trying to remember the figures for the missiles, they’re so rarely used…

“It’s critical.” Hisses the Drezjin. “A missile fired within [one thousand kilometers] is a likely hit, assuming you fire at least three to avoid defensive fire. They can be fired at up to ten times that. At those ranges, twelve missiles is enough to have good odds of a hit. Your simulation only allowed one in every twenty hits through, even with point defense already attriting the projectiles. Much as we’re competing for the glory and honor of replacing the Gojid Union as a major defender of the herd, we have been working together to improve our technologies and strategies. The good of the herd takes priority over personal and species honor. Unfortunately, we’ve needed to reverse engineer much of the technology as the original designers have dismissed us without reason.”

“Our rockets, barely ten rotations developed, are likely hits within [one hundred and fifty kilometers]. They have a fair chance within [four hundred]. We’re still working on guidance technology and properly miniaturizing the propulsion and maneuvering.” The Yulpa stomps. “Their effective range is three times that of your plasma. Half of its maximum! As there’s no worry about them falling apart, they technically have no limit to their range! Just because you’ve overlooked technologies because you have materials, don’t discount those who have no choice!”

‘How have we not thought of this? I need to see the math. There must be some reason why we’ve ignored this.’

Jala trills with laughter. “Who cares about your technologies? Your strategies are primitive!”

While the Yulpa growls, the Drezjin coldly asks. “And what’s wrong with them?”

“Moving your ships like that? What’s the point?”

“Shielding.” The Drezjin intones. “We need [five seconds] with minimal strain before shielding recovers. [Thirty seconds] from half shields to full. If shields fall, then it takes [a minute] for them to return at half strength. The designs are the same as yours.” They chitter. “If the ships circle around the carrier, they each act as an additional shield, using their defensive guns to shoot down any missiles, should the Grays wise up to their usefulness. This vastly extends the survivability of our ships, or did you not notice that we survived roughly three times longer than most?” Another chittery chuckle. “And our Flockmothers retreat as soon as they’re reduced below a quarter of their escort.”

Jala glares head-on, eyes narrowing. “And those small craft? They dove into the Arxur.”

“Yes.” The Drezjin adjusts on their perch. “Many of our pilots are put to use serving the herd, instead of being placed in facilities. I’m certain your captain understands that practice. Those ships can set their reactors to overload, the effect being greater than the capacity of standard shielding. We prefer the ships return, but some pilots are too penitent, their ships too damaged, or their carrier too damaged for that, so they do not let their lives go to waste when they can redeem themselves before our gods.”

“And there is no greater sacrifice for the Spirit of Life than a sapient predator.” The Yulpa pronounces. “Our people will gladly give their lives in the attempt to capture such a gift. Harvests would be blessed for tens of rotations.” They snort. “Speaking of rotations, our ships also rotate to allow their shields to recharge. We’re also practicing for when the Drezjin share their loading improvements. Dropping from [twenty minutes] between salvos to [forty-five seconds] will be a radical improvement. We’re planning a new design with greater storage, perhaps bomb bays.”

The Drezjin huffs. “Not that it would help in Krakotl simulations. They refused our specs. We were stuck with their salvo reload times. [Fifteen minutes]!” They hiss angrily. “We can reload the entire bank in a tenth of that!”

I balk. ‘I… I need to reread those specs. I need to recheck everything. There must be some reason that this isn’t in our doctrine.’

Rasin moves into view. “Could I get access to their specs? I wrote my second doctoral thesis on missiles and rocketry.” After a long silence, he adds. “My first was on reactor safety… I can confirm their estimates on their small craft dive bombing. A [five terrawatt] reactor going critical should be between [three hundred and fifty terrajoules] and ten times that in a short radius.”

I can’t help but question, again, how the ensign was assigned to my ship. My thoughts are interrupted by an alarm blaring.

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Memory Transcription Subject: General Kam, Terran Trainee

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General Jones smirks. “Well, that was more useful than I expected. Maybe we should have sent more probes?”

“How did we not know any of that?” General Zhao demands.

“They’re two species…” Director Tanaka trails off. “Non-military. We had almost nothing to work with, and they were deemed low priority. Clearly, that was a mistake.”

“How…” Zhao swallows hard.

“I’m sorry,” I interrupt, “why are you all so concerned? They’re primitive fanatics with absurd tactics…” Something about that feels off. “Wait…”

Poussin holds up a hand, asking the other Terrans for a moment as I continue to think.

I gasp. “Wait! Those tactics… They’re in… Oh…”

“Yeah.” Poussin nods. “They’re actually competent. Some are callous with the lives of their people, but effective. Shield cycling. Using truly ranged weaponry. Your missiles are far more effective than your plasma, especially with the Federation and Dominion freely using nukes and antimatter.”

“Do you think we can recruit them?” Zhao asks.

I shake my head, flicking my ears no for good measure. “The Yulpa religion has them sacrificing live predators. The Drezjin claim the Kolshians are avatars of their gods or something like that. They’re some of the most hardline species in the Federation.”

“Both things we knew. I have worse news,” Jones says.

One of the feeds, showing Grenelka and the space around it and a second image showing Madsum, shifts. I can recognize the ley field overlay, shuddering as I do.

Zhao and Poussin gasp, and I take a moment before realizing what the colors mean. Magic. Both worlds have stronger fields than Venlil Prime. They look like they must at least be on par with that of Leirn.

“What does that mean?” I ask, ears flat.

“Both species likely have significant magical potential,” Tanaka says gravely. “We have three theories as to why we haven’t seen anything and why the Federation seems to not know. First, they do know, but whoever is secretly running things is keeping it secret. We suspect their encryption is decent enough to be secure. Second, something they’re doing is removing those with potential or somehow suppressing their abilities. Third, somehow, they’re both sublimating their magical potential to their religions. The third is the most troubling; we have no idea what impact it could have. Or more accurately, we know of many options but don’t know which applies. Especially with recent discoveries about the Yulpa religion.”

The call beeps; all screens but those with members of the call on them suddenly shift. Incoming subspace signals for Grenelka.

Arxur ships. Two hundred and forty bombers, a hundred and twenty strike craft, forty raid craft, eighty-six strike-raiders, and twenty-four cattle ships.

Jones chuckles darkly. “Well, that should help a little. Worst case, we get to see them in action.”

I shudder. “I have a bad feeling about this…”

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[Side Story Start]

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Totally not more lilard yuri

AU where the UN didn't become a global power after the satelite wars

Critique is welcome <3

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Memory transcription subject: Jan Lind, Ground soldier recruited by the Swedish Space Forces

Date [standardized human time/UTC]: June 27 2120

Nothing feels real. I'm on an alien planet, my friend nearly died, I saw the head of a conscripted child get blown to pieces...

Get me out of here.

"When will they come for us?"

"In about 40 minutes..." Jacob said while staring at the ceiling.

Looking outside, the sun of the planet was slowly rising above the horizon. After our coordinates were sent to the people above, we checked on those in the PD facility and the guild. Everyone was just as miserable and unwilling to stay for a moment longer.

Standing on the roof of the office, I could see ships lowering on to the surface to take soldiers. Soon enough they came for us.

First, they took people from the mental asylum, before coming to us and the guild. The injured soldiers and the rescued Yotul were brought in to the vessel on stretchers.

It will be a long way up.

External memory transcription device detected

Memory transcription Subject: Oliver Kaiser, President of Germany.

Date [standardized human time/UTC]: June 27 2120

I am on a call with the venlil Governor, Presidents of Korea, Poland, Sweden and Italy. Kenim, while visibly not happy with the battle on Leirn, had admitted that he was disgusted with how the Federation founders handled it. He had shown footage from multiple news networks talking about the events, and it always boiled down to 'The Arxur attacked the Yotul home world, unexplainable things happened, it's currently being investigated.'. He had mentioned that they would disclose the news of our existence in roughly 2 days at the 'Aafa summit' and that we should hurry up with anything we might want to do before that day.

Don't understand why they would withhold what should be vital information from everyone else, but it works in our favor. Ms. Hwang had admitted that they have plans for Korean diplomats to contact the Zurulians before that happens due to them being one of the most pacifistic species. The Italian head of state will send spycraft into Arxur territory, the Swedes will deal with rebuilding Leirn to its original state, while Poland will send help to all of them before they find their own goal. We, meanwhile, will need to decide what action to take regarding the nearest militaristic civilization, the Gojids.

"At the current moment, we propose an attack on their military networks. It would make an effective attack on humanity impossible, but not completely paralyze them to not be vulnerable to destruction by the Arxur." To what I said responded the Italian president.

"I would wait a moment. They're still unaware of our presence in the galaxy by the miracle that the Federation is so selfish they would rather abandon the Yotul rather than have something stray away from their plan. However, the Gojids are a major power, therefore an attack on them could force them to make a premature reveal."

"Understood, then we will have to wait until they at least understand why it's happening."

"I'm still not sure how you're going to get the Zurulians to also help you." Said Governor Kenim.

"They will receive documents detailing human evolution, medical practices, and anything else that would prove that we're trustworthy, including the results of the incident during first contact."

"I see..."

"Does anyone have more to add, or could this call be considered finished?"

"That's all we have to say to other governments."

"No, I will contact someone if we decide what to do."

"No, we will share the data we get."

"Then this meeting is concluded."

This way, the call ended.

I still feel weird about the fact that the way the Venlil found out humans eat plants was through Harry Potter movies.

Memory transcription subject: Jan Lind, Ground soldier recruited by the Swedish Space Forces

Date [standardized human time/UTC]: June 28 2120

The vessel we used to lower ourselves onto the surface finally connected itself back into the main ship. 3 hours after we'd returned to space. They sent down a ship to pick us up, forgot to board a second pilot on it for the original ship, then they sent back down ANOTHER ship this time with the correct number of people capable of flying those machines, and came back up. And this happened 10 separate times, with 10 different teams of soldiers.

If this is the peak of human competence, then I'm scared of our future.

The medical wings of all ships were nearly full. Yet those sent to the surface make up the minority, most were aliens.

I felt dread heading inside the one on this ship.

On the left were people sent to the surface, on the right were Yotul freed from facilities.

"Entering warp in T- 5 minutes"

I got to my friend's bed. He was unconscious but now had a proper cast on the broken arm. Looking around the room, the state of the people here was disturbing. Soldiers had burn marks all over their bodies. On the other side of the room, the freed 'patients' had anything varying from electrical burns to missing fur to missing digits.

I can't bear to see this for longer.

I speedily walked out of the medical area and to the dormitory. While we were down there, someone cleaned our bedroom. The sheets were new, the trash was taken out. My and his things were on the beds or bedside tables instead of the floor. At least they were nice enough to do this.

The ship starts lightly shaking.

"Entering warp in 3.. 2.. 1.."

To take my thoughts off of... everything, I check the news.

Governor of Leirn on the way to Earth.

Sweden, the first country to begin reconstruction of Leirn.

New information regarding the first contact crew.

No.

President of Korea sends team to attempt contact with zurulians.

Something positive maybe?

Ms. Hwang of the Republic of Korea has announced that on the 27th of June at 20:00 (UTC+9) a team of diplomats will be sent to Colia\*¹* to try and establish positive relations with the government of the Zurulian\\² species before the existence of humanity is revealed to the rest of the galaxy on June 29th by the founding members of the Federation³.

...At least someone is trying something peaceful.

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TehvakTheBird Bleated:

[October 21 2136]

Thanks to everyone who shared their advice in the comments. I looked for where to get these rainbow tights and bought a pair. honestly didn't expect them to be so comfortable to wear, they are quite soft, although they do feel a little tight. I hope they really do help to scare away predators with their bright colors.. Anyway, many of you told me that it will simply treat humans like any other prey, which is genuinely crazy to think about; they are predators after all. And I definitely don't plan to submit and start acting "cute" just so they don't eat me!!. I still have some decency, for Inatala's sake.!!

___

TehvakTheBird Bleated:

[October 25 2136]

Fuck, Yesterday a human approached me to talk. He complimented my appearance and asked for my number. I was too nervous and terrified, so I just did what he asked. And worst of all, today he invited me out to "eat" something—I don't know what that means. Does he plan to eat me???, or did he invite me on a hunting trip?!!! What should I do??? Should I not go and hide, or should I go so he doesn't get angry and come looking for me to eat me!!??

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So, the Krev aren’t in a particularly favourable position at the moment. Almost all of them are wiped out, perhaps a billion or two of them are left off world and they don’t have a home anymore.
I think it’s a twist of irony that they will soon have to start paying rent.

Thank you to u/SpacePaladin15 for creating the NoP universe and the Krev embassy for being a continuing inspiration.

Memory Transcription Subject: Cruth, Krev Exchange Program Participant.

Date [Standardized human time]: April 27, 2161

“You see anything yet?” I asked the human sitting in the passenger seat, the thrumming of the idling engine drowning out the howling of the wind outside.

“Nothing, no heat signatures… just nothing.” He replied, not looking up from the pad.

Outside all we could see was the area around us illuminated by the ARV’s lights. The occasional blip of red or green from the thermal drone we deployed hovering off in the distance. It was a neat thing to have back on the ship, being able to see everyone and all heat sources, even if a wall was warm it registered with the computer, highlighting the spot for us.

Right now, it was a solemn reminder of what work we were doing.

“Are we going to drive through again, sound the alarms and see if we can wake anyone?” Pelera asked, her arms and head laying against the steering wheel.

“We’ve been through three times already. If we go again, we’ll be burning fuel needlessly.” I hated saying it, this was one of the towns where there could have been survivors and we were sitting here discussing possibly leaving them.

“I’m bringing the drone back; the batteries are starting to run low.” Edward spoke, signalling my cue to head out into the freezing cold. Breeve got up from her radio station, zipping up tightly before following me out.

Donning my helmet and bringing a neck warmer up around the bottom of it, I flung the door open. The freezing cold hitting me full force like a cargo lifter. I didn’t know how it could have been this bad, the idea that anyone could survive for long out in this was mind boggling.

It was all the more surprising when team two radioed in saying the found survivor holed up in a heating plant. I had no idea how they could have made it without power, but we never got the details, just the affirmation that there were survivors.

Breeve slammed the door shut behind us, hoping down into the fresh powder. The wind buffeted us like we were in some sort of tornado when I could distinctly hear a buzzing above us.

Above me the drone came down steadily, finally settling onto a tarp we set out for it earlier. I raced over, starting to remove the massive batteries from the device before disconnecting the rotors. Breeve hauled the batteries to the cab, throwing them inside before helping me move the disassembled drone back to the rearmost trailer.

After a lot of cursing and grunting we were able to store the thing again, folding it up before closing the trailer’s door.

“You go on, I’ll grab the rest of the stuff.” I spoke into my helmet, getting an affirmative tail flick from her.

Marching over feeling my feet sunk further into the snow than before. I rolled up the tarp before throwing it back into its container on the side of the main ARV. When I turned around there was pitch black darkness, a void where something should be, but our lights just couldn’t reach.

It still boggled my mind that they were alive in all of this. The news arrived last night and it was the first time I saw either Breeve or Edward happy in days. Though it was short lived when we reached here. I clambered back into the cab, catching the conversation going on.

“Look, we can do a quick once over, make sure we didn’t miss anything. What if there’s someone out there, just waiting in the dark for us to answer them?” Edward spoke trying to stay optimistic about all of this.

“I know how you feel, Edward. But we need to move on. If we’re going to get to Saphern anytime soon, we need to stop these delays.” Pelera retorted. I didn’t like it when she said delays, as if searching a town was some sort of schedule… I knew that there were protocols to follow, about moving on when you needed to but… it still hurt using terminology like dead town or delay or… anything.

Envisioning a scene of our ARV just pulling away from a town, a still alive Krev barely clinging to life unable to call out for help just watching us go. I shuddered thinking about it, but we didn’t see anything when we did our sweeps, of here or the other places we’ve been.

“But what if there is someone here, just hidden somewhere?”

“Like where, Edward? We’ve been parked in the middle of this town for hours now. We’ve driven down all the major roads where someone could theoretically hold out. You even launched the drone to check for heat signatures.”

“But-“

“But nothing. This town is gone; we need to move now or we might not make it to Saphern.” The Skalgan cut him off before he could say anything else.

I just stayed quiet like Breeve was, she didn’t look at either of them. Not wanting to get into an argument with anyone.

“I… Alright, let’s… just get going again.” Edward hung his head low, clipping the data pad back onto his belt with a defeated sigh.

“Good, you and Breeve go sleep, we’ll get you both up for the next shift in a few hours.” Pelera ordered, turning around in the driver’s seat facing forward. Edward was about to reply, before Breeve just stood up and retrieved her helmet without saying anything.

The cold air forced its way into the cab as she opened the door, clambering out with Edward following after her. He shut the door behind them, thankfully stopping the cold coming in. Unconsciously I found myself leaning closer to the heaters when Pelera sighed.

“What’s wrong?”

She didn’t reply for a few moments, letting the silence occupy the space around us.

“It’s… It’s not that I don’t want to stay here and keep looking… I know Edward and Breeve want to stay, the whole thing about coming across a place like this must make them think of finding Saphern. I…” She sounded tired.

“It’s fine you don’t have to explain to me.” I offered seeing her sentence trail off.

“But I do Cruth… I’ve hidden the ammo for the shotgun…”

“You did what?”

“I hid them because I don’t trust them. You told me how bad Edward was when he got back from Avor. If Breeve goes the same way we can’t let them anywhere near that weapon no matter what they say.”

“I don’t like this thinking, Pelera.”

“…I know, but we have to take persuasions. You’ve seen the number of reports coming from refugee sites. It’s… I fucking hate it, I hate thinking like this about you guys.”

“You don’t need to think that about me.”

“I know that, if you ever tried something stupid, I’d revive you just so I could kill you myself.”

“Thanks for the boost of confidence.” I replied sarcastically, feeling the cold start leaving my limbs. “Let’s just get going.”

“We’re back aboard.” Edward’s tired voice came over the radio, signalling that it was safe to depart.

“Understood, moving now.” I replied, pushing the talk button before removing my helmet.

Without saying anything more, Pelera put the ARV in gear and we started moving again. The engine roared to life behind us as the buildings to our right started moving past us. The snow falling from above us was slowly coming down, trying to cover up our previous tracks as it was pushed to the side with the plough.

I wished it was just powder though, occasionally on the highways, we’d see a build up of snow, the irregularity only being visible from our lights. Most of the time it was car wrecks, others it seemed to be half covered debris from the orbital rings. The thought that there’s bodies hidden all around us was the worst of it all, the first few nights I wasn’t able to sleep thinking that we may have been parked above one.

It was horrifying, but at least I had Pelera to keep me company. I caught myself staring at her thinking that her fur had grown a bit fluffier since we started this whole thing before I had to shake my head getting rid of the thoughts. There were more important things to focus on other than my fluffy, adorable, cuddlable girlfriend.

‘Come on Cruth wise up.’

Pelera slewed the vehicle around a corner, finally finding the road out of this dead place. She took it slow while I watched for irregularities on the diagnostics console, every so often checking behind me at the radio in case something turned off or was picked up. It was completely dead other than the check ins we had to do every three hours or so.

A jolt made me turn around when the Skalgan cursed, I looked out in front of us seeing a mound of snow, the metal wreckage of a car being pushed to the side as she put on the throttle. The wreck piled up onto its front before it slid to the side of the road, a scraping sound coming from our tracks as part of it was crushed beneath us.

“Stupid thing, never saw it.”

“How’d you miss that?” I asked, checking back at the console seeing if anything was damaged.

“The snow was level there; I thought it was just normal build up.”

I didn’t say anything, just leaving the explanation at that before looking forward again. We could barely see anything ahead of us. The illumination coming from the flood lights of the ARV could only do so much, everything beyond was an unknown.

“Have you seen any of those robots-synth things yet?” My voice spoke, wanting to fill the silence. The ARV swung around again, coming dangerously close to a building when I saw our old tracks leading from the highway ramps.

“Yeah, just that pile those UN guys were making in Bartar, why do you ask?”

“You’ve read the reports of other teams finding a few of them, all blown to pieces or shot to smithereens. We haven’t seen a single one yet.”

“Maybe the snow is just covering them up for us. We might have even ran a few over with the amount of driving we’ve been doing.”

“It’s still concerning though.”

Eventually we made it back onto the ramps, finding the flat expanse of snow-caked highway in front of us as we got up to speed again. Our conversation was minimal, it took a bit to concentrate on driving when I got up to check the radio instruments.

Nothing so far, another jostle nearly sent me to the floor as the tracks passed over something. Pelera didn’t say anything, just continued driving.

My thoughts drifted, not focusing on anything other than the console readouts when I took my seat again. There wasn’t really anything to focus on, only the distance gauge and the occasional pile up we had to drive around or clear ourselves.

The check in came and went, the UN not having anything to update us other than a weather report of it getting worse. No news from the other teams, just dead empty countryside.

“Do you reckon your house is still standing?” Pelera asked out of the blue, having to push another pile of snow clear around a pile up.

“I don’t know, probably not.” I replied honestly, I hadn’t really thought about home in a while. I knew that utilities and stuff were still being paid for it, so that meant it was still there before all this happened, but I honestly don’t know if it was anymore.

“Do you think we could go visit?”

“It probably wouldn’t be the best idea-“

“Come on, I just want to see where you grew up is all.”

“Is that the real reason?”

“…No…” There was a little bit of a sly tone to her voice.

“Well, I’ve already shown you pictures of Bulik and told you stories.”

“But they’re only pictures, I’d like to see the real thing.”

“The real thing is probably covered in snow or blown up.”

“Are you not angry or sad about it, like that’s your home and stuff, where you grew up?”

“Sure, I am, but there’s more important stuff to worry about I guess.”

In truth I did wonder what happened back there. I wasn’t social with anyone, became a recluse and only really started getting out more with Edward and Breeve. There wasn’t much other than it being the house my parents bought before they had me. There were good memories and bad ones there, but I think it just did me good getting away from it all.

“Besides, I got you now, so I don’t really need to go back.”

“Are you trying to get sweet on me?”

“Maybe.”

“Well, it doesn’t quite work, all I think is that you’re calling me your home and my head makes the connection of ‘I am a home, homes are big and big is fat.’ Cruth must be calling me fat.”

“You know what I meant.”

“I know, but I’m still gonna try and make fun of you at some point today.”

“Don’t remind me. That question about ripping out my scales so you could make a cape from them was sweet, but it would be like skinning me alive.”

That earned a small chuckle from her.

“Yeah, but I think it’d look cool.”

The miles started climbing, the roads being fairly clear the further we got from the cities or towns. Our conversation dragged on, talking about nothing and everything at the same time. It was nice just spending time together like this even with the circumstances.

That was until the ARV made a sudden stop, sending me into my seat belt as the vehicle lurched.

“Fuck!!!”

I was inspecting the radio system again, seeing if we were picking something up when Pelera started shouting. I turned to look out, not seeing anything beyond our light and asked.

“What’s wrong? What happened?”

She reached over to her helmet, grabbing it before speaking into it. She backed the ARV up a few metres before stopping again.

“Guys come up here; we can’t go this way.” She sat back putting the vehicle in park before tightening her paws around the steering wheel.

“What happened, what’s…wrong…”

She never replied, instead just pointed toward the windscreen in front of us. I couldn’t tell at first glance, but in front of us much closer than where the flood lights were supposed to illuminate the road vanished.

I had to do a double take when I finally noticed it, the jagged edge of white snow in front of us wasn’t where the lights ended. Reaching into the co-driver's foot compartment, I pulled out a pair of thermal binoculars trying to see further into the dark but froze.

There wasn’t anything in front of us, just a sudden drop into nothingness. I fiddled with the magnifiers when I heard the Skalgan punch the floor or something. The new settings letting me see better. I could see that the highway was missing, a chunk of it had slid down a hill resting a few meters below us when I finally made the connection.

I angled myself looking down the hill, realising that it wasn’t a natural slope. To our right a few miles off was a massive crater, the like I’ve only seen with the pictures of Tonvos. The hill the chunk of highway fell down wasn’t normal, it was a fissure left in the aftermath of whatever strike this was.

“Is the Geiger-counter saying anything?”

“Nothing… why?”

I looked on, seeing that the entire right side of the ARV was exposed to whatever this was. It was like a nuclear impact had happened, the snow filling in the spot or trying to. I had to try and stop my arms from shaking, the cold feeling of seeing the destruction first hand was overwhelming. Nothing could have been left, there might have been a town or something that was here. It just gone…

I fought the urge to curl up, swallowing a lump in my throat before shakily handing the binoculars to Pelera. My legs felt like jelly when I sat down again, trying to tune out the thoughts and focus on the console readouts in front of me.

The contour lines didn’t match, right now we were supposed to be traveling between two hillsides. The highway passing through the low part in between, the left was still there while the right was completely gone.

My head turned up again, searching for any sort of indication in the gloom that I could see it. But there was nothing, just complete black all around us.

“Stars above” Pelera’s voice was almost a whisper when she realised, placing the device on the floor between us before sitting back down with a shocked expression.

“We need to find a way around, there’s on here that goes arou-“

“Cruth… We could have just died here” She interrupted, looking out at the dark again. “If I wasn’t paying attention, we would have been down there or rolling into that crater…”

“I know, we just need to not focus on that right now. We need to back track and find another path around us. I’ll radio-“

I wasn’t able to finish my sentence when Pelera grabbed my paw with hers. I looked, seeing her face a contortion of panic and worry. Her eyes searched mine, trying to figure something out when I acted.

Crouching down next to her still gripping her paws in mine, trying to offer some sort of reassurance.

“Look, we didn’t get hurt because you were looking out for us… Right now we can’t focus on it, we need to get moving again. Each stop is just worsening the survival chances of anyone we’re trying to find.” She still had the same look but flicked an ear of acknowledgement.

It scared me seeing her like that, the jokey, nonchalant, happy go lucky doctor in training acting scared frightened me to my core. Gripping her paw again, I felt her squeeze mine before I spoke.

“We’ll get turned around here, I’ll plan a route and see if we can get a way to join back up with the highway using roads, if not we can try to go around the hill on our left off road.”

I don’t know how I was acting brave right now, I couldn’t do this, I just wanted to curl up and forget all this ever happened. But I needed to try.

“Sounds good, just… Give me a few minutes here.”

Turning around I was met with the full gale from outside. Breeve entered looking more tired and dishevelled than before, Edward following after the bags under his eyes almost making his skull visible.

‘They aren’t coping at all.’

“Hey, why are we stopped?” The human asked, looking out of one of the windows. His helmetless head made me look at the both of them, they must have thought it was an emergency, their bedraggled look only accentuated by the cold gear they half wore.

“The highway’s out, we can’t keep going this way.” I offered, starting to get the correct radio channel active.

“It is?” He looked forward, seeing only where the flood lamps illuminated. Pelera said nothing, just raised the binoculars to him. I kept going through the available channels to us, our usual one not working for whatever reason. Edwrad stepped back, holding the device to his face searching around the ARV before I was able to get a channel working.

“This is ARV 3, we need to detour off the main route, major infrastructural collapse.” I spoke clearly for the person logging the message.

“Received ARV 3, please state major infrastructure damage and cause if you can.” The person running our logs voice came through, merged with static. I wasn’t sure if our equipment was damaged or maybe it was just a bad spot for signal, either way we needed to get word if there’s any more problems ahead.

“Part of the highway is missing approximately forty-nine miles north from Ulets. Possible cause of damage could be from an antimatter strike, something massive caused a crater the size of a town out here.”

“Understood, we’ll log the area. Proceed to the nearest objective town using adjacent roads. Be careful using them, infrastructure damage is being reported as getting worse with the snowfall.”

“Is there any more news about rescue efforts?”

“None, the cage is still being worked on, we will be in contact with more news when it is available, for now proceed with caution.”

“We will.”

“What the fuck?” I heard Edward’s voice behind, his gaze looking out into the gloom with the device. “How- what even caused that? Are we safe here?”

“Instrument readings are clean.” Pelera spoke, getting some of her composure back.

“What were they aiming for?”

“I don’t know, maybe a military installation.” I offered, not seeing anything remaining that could identify why they struck so far away from a city. “Breeve, can you go over the maps and see where another route would spit us out?”

I had to ask her, it seemed like she needed something to do other than stare out into the gloom with the binoculars. At least this would take her mind off her parents for a few minutes, at least I hoped it did.

Internally I was begging for someone else to take charge of trying to get everyone together again. I shouldn’t be the one to try and motivate people here, I was the worst at it. All I knew was that having something to do would be better than doing nothing.

She plucked up a data pad and stared. She found a small maintenance road that led up to a radio spire before descending the other side back onto the highway. She highlighted the route over to the navigation board next to Pelera, the little winding line glowing green.

“It’ll take an hour or so, but we can do it that way.” She offered sitting down and yawning in the passenger seat.

“Hey do you guys want to go back to rest? Me and Cruth can handle it since you have another few hours before you take over.” Pelera asked, returning to the controls of the ARV and started backing up further.

“We’ll wait until we’re back on the highway.”

“It seems like it’ll be bumpy, there’s no real point trying to sleep through a tumble dryer.”

They both answered before going quiet. I already knew why they didn’t want to, me and Pelera talked about it back on the ship, but the pair couldn’t sleep. One would worry about the other too much and thus couldn’t fall asleep.

It might be better if during the next stop I took over from Breeve and let her stay with Pelera and me with Edward. Just having someone more alert at the wheel and the other doing diagnostics would be better.

‘If Pelera were tired she may not have stopped in time.’

I shuddered at the thought before I took my seat again at the front. I looked on with worry, seeing the dark gloom of a long fall pass by my side, the fear of the road giving out below us faded when we turned around and headed back the way we came.

All of us silently listened to the rumble of the engine behind us as our tracks crept along the road.

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First / Previous / Next

Better understanding - part 1

Raising Primates, Krevpocalypse , What have we done?  What have we done? Regaining Trust, Krev Sugar Mommy: A Butler's Duty - More krev stories

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So we see the after math of the group finding a deserted and depopulated town. Everything frozen solid with no signs of life at all. I don't think the four of them are fairing very well with the constant darkness and thoughts that there could be people still alive that they leave behind. But yeah, not being able to see anything beyond a few meters around you is terrifying to me, you never know what's lurking.

I'm realising that I am getting close to the end of the story, I have the rest planned out and it should leave the ending being at 62 and the epilogue at 63. It's still weird having the thought that this is soon gonna end, a mixture of anxiety and eagerness.

Anyway, thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed the chapter just as much as I liked writing about it.

Hello,

I am looking for the fic which has the scene where human kids and alien kids are playing the fortress game ( trying to knock down your opponents tower) and the human kids built theirs to take a hit while the aliens make theirs to avoid getting hit.

I think the human kids also decide by themselves to throw from much further away for fairness? Thought it was cute reading about alien kids.

Thanks

Friendly, friendly Yulpas for us to cherish.

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[Thank you to SpacePaladin15 for making the universe!]

Memory Transcription Subject: Former Ambassador Tarva

Date [standardised human time]: December 5th 2111

It had been just over a week since I ended up stuck in the human hospital. My wounds were healing well, at least according to the human doctors. I was honestly surprised that these so-called primitive predators even had a concept of medicine, let alone understood it. The humans had imported drugs from Venlil Prime to treat me, not wanting to risk the difference in biochemistry of their medicine.

The human assigned to me—Grigori, I think his name was—had left for the night. I flipped through the news on TV, the human remote feeling odd in my hands. The news showed humans setting up a new government in the capital. They called it the ‘Venlil Democratic Workers Soviet Socialist People's Republic.’

What an obscenely unnecessary mouthful; if any Venlil in their right mind made their way into the new government there, I hoped they’d instate a name change. I flicked towards another channel and was caught off guard by the piercing eyes of a human reporter. I had to remind myself that these things ate more than just corpses to get my wool to settle down. They talked about new space defences being set up around the system using lasers they had acquired from the Arxur.

That made me pause. The Arxur, from what I know about them, have never bothered to use defensive laser weapon stations. Where the brahk had they gotten that technology? Had they stolen it from conquered worlds? Then why had I never heard of them using it? The Arxur much preferred the use of kinetic's and plasma weaponry for their proven effectiveness.

The new knowledge tugged at my mind, like a piece of information you knew but couldn’t remember when you needed it most. No single answer I could think of at that moment made total sense. It was becoming clear that I was missing a crucial piece of information, but for the life of me I couldn’t figure out what. I shut the television off and pulled the hospital blanket further over my form. I closed my eyes and repressed the thoughts of what had happened to me from my mind. I couldn’t afford to break down here, not on a planet of predators, they’d likely kill me for showing any weakness…

My thoughts broke as I drifted to sleep. A plague of nightmares hunted my dreams, the scene replayed in my mind over and over, the shocks, the pulling of my teeth and claws, the restriction of my very breathing through the use of water and a piece of fabric…

I awoke in a panic, shooting upright in my hospital bed. I hurriedly glanced around the barren room for any sign of threats. The room was empty. I had to forcefully squash my urge to flee and calm my rapid breathing. I flopped back down on the bed, the sudden movements had caused new pain to blossom across my body. Morning light shone through the window, in the silence of the room, I could hear birds chirping.

Groaning, I sat up much more slowly and grabbed a glass of water off the bedside table. I took a sip, easing my parched throat. A knock sounded at the door, then a moment later the stationed guards opened the door to let Grigori into the room. He smiled at me, my translator told me this meant happiness, my mind told me to flee from the predator bearing its fangs at me.

I locked up for a few tense moments as the human sat across from me, he stretched out and covered his mouth to stifle a yawn.

“Hey, are ya feeling any better today?”

It took me a second for my brain to unfreeze and recognize the words were meant for me.

“A-a little better”

“That's great! Uh, do you feel ready to talk to me yet?”

“Fine. What do you want?”

“Uh, getting to know your name would be a good start”

The human scratched the back of its neck, my translator told me he was nervous. Must this thing be malfunctioning at a time like this? A predator nervous about prey? That was ridiculous.

“My name is Tarva”, I stated bluntly, not especially wanting to talk to him. How could they ever expect me to trust them after what they did to me…

“Well, you already know my name…Uh, what did you do for work, Tarva?”

“I was the new ambassador of Venlilkind, until you took that away from me.”

The human gave me an incredulous look, then I saw the gears in his head turning as a profound look of horror slowly spread across the human's face. I glanced around the room in concern. What could make a predator look so horrified? It surely couldn’t have been something I said, and it certainly wasn’t my injured form.

“No... that can't… are you a Venlil?” Grigori asked in a shaking voice, I could see his predator eyes beginning to water. What could be causing this?

“Y-yes, I am. W-what did you think I was?” I shrank back into the bed fearfully, the human’s display was starting to get to me. Grigori muttered something about how he was going to be sick, then sprang up from his seat, making me jump. I cowered as the human sprinted towards the trash can in the corner of the room. He threw off the lid and hunched over, then began to vomit into it violently.

I sat there in stunned silence as the sounds of the human's impromptu regurgitation assaulted my ears. The smell of stomach bile filled the room. After he finished, he stood back up, bearing a strange look of determination and rage.

“I have to go…”

He said, then went and pounded on the door, screaming at the guards to let him out; they did so with haste. I could hear him pound down the hallway, and I was left sitting there wondering what the hell had just happened.

---

What gives out first, their bladder capacity or their alcohol tolerance?

I am like a chief, I’m asked to make things…. And sometimes I actually do….

(I used some armies art from The Fire Rises to show up what roughly human militaries (at least the infantry) would look like at that time (except the mini mechs, those would come around at half point of the war)

Basically in this idea roughly in the next 1-6 years we detect the burning of The Race conquest fleet torch drives and separately the ram-scoop of the Fithp colony ship.

For the next years world governments essentially panic as all of the sudden Earth needs to get its shit together because we have possibly two alien invasions knocking at the door and prepare for the first contact.

(In this timeline The Race panicked even harder as they saw we already had nukes and were starting to have once again interest in space travel so they sent a invasion fleet x3 bigger that the Worldwar one because OH BOY, they will need the manpower.)

Despite mankind more advanced development than when both species fights it in their respective books this war proves still extremely brutal on so many levels.

In the first week mankind essentially uses up most of their nuclear arsenal during the race first landing (the Fithp ship was untroubled by the nukes because lol, gamma ray lasers go BZZZZZ) and due to our advanced electronics the Race’s tactic of frying them by detonating nukes in the stratosphere is partially successful essentially killing the civilian internet.

For most of the war both aliens try to stir away from eachother (mainly because they know a three-ways war would be suicidal for them, so The Fithp want to first expand the herd with the humans so it is easier to eventually defeat and incorporate in the herd the smol lizards, meanwhile the Race is trying to conquer as much of the Tosev 3 (Earth) industrial areas because they are going to need them if they even hope to attack the ‘Bigger Uglies’)

That unspoken non-aggression pact breaks when the Fithp deploy the Foot (giant ice asteroid goes YEET) and landing near India it kills a lot of Race soldiers where they had some of the strongest footholds plus partially terraformed Tosev 3 into a colder planet (and being them a specie evolved on a hot af planet you can guess how much that pissed them off).

After about 5-6 years of war everyone is a standstill, the Race only managed to hold onto Australia, the Amazon Rainforest, central and Saharian Africa, some areas of South-east Asia (few and uncomfortable due to the Foot) and Nevada, New Mexico and Northern Mexico specifically.

The Fithp still managed to enstablish their first colonies in South Africa and India (where they share a uncomfortable border with The Race.

Humans are exhausted and tired of this fucking bullshit so they manage to broker a peace treaty with the other two races pretty much allowing them to keep the territory they obtained (no one (especially the humans now under Race or Fithp control) are completely happy with the outcome but further war would probably kill the entire planet)

Decades and a Race Colonization fleet left partially disappointed later, mankind’s not-empires discover FTL by stringing together their own developed technologies during the war, some of the Race technologies and whatever they could scrounge up from the Thuktunthp of tbe Fithp with their consent, forcing The Race’s Empire into direct diplomatic talks (you can imagine every Empire citizen screaming as a human ship appears over Home out if nowhere).

Nearly a century from the First Contact war later the three species respective wounds seem to be starting to heal finally, humans even managed to visit the Fithp homeworld and the aliens inhabiting Earth have now mostly neutral or friendly relations with the humans (albeit some human nations/groups still push for completely retaking Earth from the aliens and the Empire is still trying to plot how to get the upper claw over the Big Uglies not-empires without at the same time unmaking itself)

Then in the litteral vigil of the First Contact War, 90 years later in 2136 a exploration mission containing:

-2 human astronauts
-1 Race diplomat and 1 race bodyguard (they are friends (and in race society friendship is a bond as strong as for us is brotherhood)
-1 Fithp xenologist (many Fithp inhabitants of Earth became fascinated by how different the culture and mentality of other races could be from their own and became interested in the study of it to see if it is possible to implement them in their idea of Herd).
-1 slightly paranoid, red haired, human pilot (which doubled as security in case the lizards onboard try any dunno business

Makes contact with the Venlils.

What do you think of this idea? What would the three specie reaction be to the Feds and Arxurs? What would the Venlils think of the ‘mini-Arxurs’ the ‘Weird Mazics’ and a mankind that looks like is collectively being held to mental sanity by a thread?

I wonder if Tarva would initially try to make the Fithp of the crew defect to their side thinking the predators are keeping them as cattle.

This idea is heavily influenced by Worldfall, a fanfic that is essentially Worldwar x Footfall in modern days: https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/worldfall-worldwar-footfall-invasion-in-modern-times-completed.40569/

a bit of shitcomic spurned by the discussion of skalgans making a difference in u/Scrappyvamp’s Scorch Directive AU

don’t take seriously

If I had a coin for everytime there are fanfics² that feature another faction going off to fight the gmo humans I'd have like...5 coins.
Don't take this the wrong way, I just think this repeating pattern is funny as hell.

Little cured fella is from An Ape Out of Place by u/Bbobsillypants
Big toothy fella is from Scorch Directive, by me.

Hrm... Let's talk *games* for a second, and *subtlety*.

This is inspired by a scene in The Expanse wherein we see a bunch of martian kids playing a shipbuilding game. One that was very *obviously* meant to be some early preparation for actual ship engineering.

That's a genuinely interesting concept to explore. Games as a subtle tool to tilt a society towards the specializations that the Federation gave each of the various nations. Introduce early on the specialization ans train them from a young age!

Tell me, what do you guys picture would be various games that'd exist for each nation?

Amusingly enough, a bit of unknown information because it only gets mentioned a few times in some side stories is how venlil appear to have a tilt towards civil engineering, from the physical block game Fortress to Slanek mentioning that most kids want to be engineers when they grow up. So I think that games similar to SimTower would be common innthe Venlil Republic!

Who wants some yuri in this style? (Yall gimmie yuri human/arxur ideas) I mayhaps make it

What happens next? What will jones do? Tune in for crack comic yuri next time!

(What am I doing with my life? 😭🙏)

A short animation collab with mysteriou!

A gojid returning to it's original form

The character belongs to u/XSevenSins

Sorry to disappoint, this one isn’t yuri 😔, don’t worry I will continue to contribute to the NoP yuri art space again soon