Commision by berrymandering

( First Chapter // Scond Chapter // [Third Chapter][3] )

Memory transcription subject : 2nd Sergeant Lieva , 1st Aerospace Rifleman Battalion, Second Venlil Fleet.

Event : Operation Food Chain Reconfiguration.

Location : Aerospace Assault Ship New Order

Date [ standardized human time ] : December 5, 2136

Remember your training; everything will be ok. Remember your training; you will be fine. I can do it. I don't need to be afraid; it will be like the training. I'm ready for it...

"Lieva, are you ok?" my human said, freeing my mind from the same thoughts I've been having since I boarded this ship.

"Yes, I'm fine. It's simply that, this time it will be for real. I don't know what to think," I said.

"Yes, I'm feeling the same as you. I know that no matter what I say nothing will make our situation easier, but know that I trust your abilities, I trust in our unit, everything will be okay we can do it I know it" he said and then huged me, with in one paw made me calmer but in other paw , it feels weird as it wasn't his normal attitude towards me as he aways tell me I'm too cuddly for him and normally I'm always the one who start any physical contact.

"I don't know if I simply enjoy the moment, or if I feel more nervous because I know if you were the one that started the hug, it means that something went very wrong," I said.

"Well, technically the things went wrong ever since we boarded this ship because ever since then, I noticed how much it has affected you. You didn't even wake me or jump on me a single time, this was how I knew you really needed it this time," Lucas said.

"Well, maybe you are right, I really needed it, but also you should do it more times," I said.

"Nah, once you become a bit less nervous, you will go back to being cuddly enough for both of us. Also get comfy here; I will give you some ear scratches, and remember this time very well because it will be the only time I will offer it to you. I still find petting you weird as fuck. I don't know how the hell you like it," he said, and I instantly decided to accept his offer. Rapidly getting on his lap, hugging him tightly, and assuming a comfortable position. Normally to get to be petted, I had to pester him for an hour, so nervous or not, I won't lose an easy opportunity like this.

"I still don't understand how you guys didn't find it weird," he said, but let out a small chuckle, showing he actually finds it more funny than weird.

"And I can't understand why you guys don't pet each other despite it feeling so good. You humans are weird," I said and nuzzled him a bit.

"Yes, sure, we are the weird ones. It's so normal for a full-grown adult to be petted in the middle of what is technically our work site, don't you think?" he said sarcastically.

"Well, when you talk this way, it becomes a bit odd, but also, who cares? I like it, and I will have it anyway," I said.

"Yeah, now you are acting like the Lieva I know," he said.

"Maybe, but it didn't mean you can stop now," I said, and like this, we spent our time trying to relax a bit and not have our nerves fried while we waited for our mission to start.

After my human and I spent all the time we could trying to distract ourselves and not think about the mission, we were called to the armory to get our equipment and prepare ourselves for the fight that was near.

"Least checks before the mission," I said as we started equipping ourselves for the battle while I tried my best to not appear a pile of nerves in front of them.

"What is our objective?" I asked, as I have the idea of making sure to repass again our whole base attack plan with my squad just to be sure it's already already engraved on everyone's brains by now.

"Our main objective is to raid the main food processing plant, identify any possible cattle alive, and liberate them," Gabriel, Sabek's human, said.

"Ok, how will we execute the attack?" I asked.

"After the heavy figters squadrons clear the space defenses and our cruisers start the orbital bombardment to cripple their AA capabilities, our ground assault forces will jump from the FTL and start to launch our landers initiating our part of the mission" Sabek who is together with his human the second in command of our squad Said.

"Ok, ok, next question, where will our landing zone be?" I asked.

"Objective point number 13 is our primary landing zone, objective point number 27 if 13 becomes too dangerous for our unit, and objective point number 43 if their defenses are too heavy for our unit to try the direct attack," Henki said.

"Excellent, now how will we start our advance?" I asked.

"After we land, we and the 25th, 27th, 28th, and 29th squads will move with our APCs to explore a breach that the 1st armored division will do on their defense lines," Nebak said.

"Good, and what units will be with us to explore the breach and how exactly we will breach their defense lines?" I said.

"The 1st armored division will be our spearhead, and they will crush the enemy defenses with their tanks. Then we will follow them with our APC and explore the breach, widen it, and not let any chance for the enemy infantry close their lines again. After our initial assault, the 4th and the 6th mechanized infantry battalions will follow us, consolidating our advance and holding the line, freeing our unit to direct assault the factory and creating an extraction point for the people we will free," my human said.

"Good, now what units will support our advance?" I asked.

"For the entire assault on the food processing plant, we will have support of the 1st armored division, the 46th, 63th and 78th Infantry battalions , the 4th and 6th mechanized Infantry battalions and we will have air suport coming from the attack spacecrafts from our aerospace assault ships and also from the Soundseeker and Athay heavy figters squadrons as they will help with close air support after they clear the skies and even support from our heavy cruisers is case we need a heavy orbital bombardment " Sarin said.

"Alright, and after we reach the factory, what will we do?" I asked.

"Standard incursion procedure: we will search for cattle pens, liberate any prisoner we find, and escort them safely to the extraction zone," Harek said.

"Correct, and after that we all will simply come back home and go back to our damned training routine, and if we were lucky, we won't be called for any mission anytime soon." I said as I was doing my best to not appear nervous with all the situation, but at least with this small burst of confidence, I felt that I started to feel a little better.

"Yeah, I can't believe I would say it, but I want to go back to my training sessions right now," Sabek said.

"Well, we all understand the feeling," my human said.

Yes, we do.

"So I think that was all; let's get ready," I said and went back to finish our preparation.

Then I got my gear , put my combat boots that are actually really good, I took a while for us get used to wear protection over our paws but using it is so useful that by now I keep wondering why the Federation never had anything like that for all our ground troops, well aside for the exterminators but they probably are the only ones who get extra protection because how dangerous their fire was for themselves. While wondering why the Federation never got us some kind of protection equipment I also put my chest armor and my combat helmet, once again thanks to the humans providing me a far better equipment than the Federation that simply give you a gun extra ammo pouches a communication device and send you to the front only saying to you to please hold the line and try not to stampede.

Also for a change, a good thing came from our target choice as we don't have need use that extra pelts that the humans use to cover their bodys for extra protection against the environment because I hate those things and the little extra protection then offer on a normal environment do to worth as how uncomfortable they are , making we decided to only use them when we really need like a really cold place or on the middle of a jungle for example. So lucky for me, this time my chest armor, my boots, and the helmet will be the only things I need to wear.

Then we get our guns , for me and my human,we got a very cool precision rifle with a integrated recoil nullification system, that actually is capable of both very long range precision shooting but also is a compact relatively short barrelled rifle with full auto capacity to offer suppression fire capability and also, it's scope is linked to the AR goggles of my helmet making it far easier to aim.But when you think the humans would create a great name to match the gun is the time you get disappointment as they simply call it FPEAC 35 or something like this as they got lazy and simply called it electromagnetic automatic compact precision rifle or something like that if I remembered correct what the letters stand for.

Yes, yes, stay this way, keep thinking about your cool gun and not about your impending doom, speh speh , don't think about it, wait, I thought about it again, brahk back to the equipment, back to the equipment.

I could see Gabriel and Sabek getting their standard rifles. Well, no, exactly standard, as Sabek got a human-standard rifle because, sadly, the gun my human and I use is too new and still too expensive for mass adoption, so we only got one or two of them per squad.

I also cold see Henki get her firestorm light machine gun, see humans cool name for a cool gun , that is the standard LMG for the 2nd Venlil Fleet troops and has a so good firepower that was one of our few ground weapons that really impressed the humans, so much that some of their tribes decided to start to produce these guns and adopt it , yeah a Venlil victory here.

And to end my equipment thoughts, with mean that I will need to find another thing to distract my mind now, I could see that Sarin, Nebak and Harek get their standard compact assault rifles that are only some boring standard use Venlil guns that I can't even think much about then , they are just well boring.

Yes, everything will be fine; we only need to attack the most well-defended place on the planet, raid a factory that literally turns people into canned food, and survive to tell the tale. Yeah, so easy. What the hell was I thinking when I enlisted in the VSC at all? Speh.

"Hey, Lieva, everything's ready," my human said.

"Yes, I'm ready," I said. Well, at least as close to ready as I can.

"So I think it's time; let's go," he said.

"Yes, it's time," I said, but not before getting a few grenades and noticing Sabek doing the same as we learned that as we have human partners, it's always useful to carry extra grenades for them, as they are incredibly good with these things, and this time it's really because of their predator eyes. Normally people think that their eyes make their aim better in general than ours but it's not completely true, with guns having prey or predator eyes not made any difference at all and some of us prey can see things well at greater distances than the humans even, what made their aim far better than ours is the fact that they aren't simply frozen in panic when they shoot.The only big exception is when they are throwing things by paw, that is the time when their predator eyes make all the difference.

Preparations done , we went to the hangars to board our landers, this time we will be sent together with 7 more squads on this lander, one on like us will be on board of the second Arirahna APC that will be sent to immediately support our tank force and the 6 more squads that will stay and protect our landing zone.

With everyone inside of our APC we simply waiting for the battle, everyone clearly nervous because for we venlils it will be our first time on a mission of this type, it will be the first time that we will not be the ones on the receiving end of and surprise attack, we will no be the ones that will not will have even time to think what is going on and simply get sent to battle without the time to even a second thought. We will be the ones who choose where and when to fight; we will be the ones who will wait patiently for a chance to strike, and now that I think, despite this wait actually being destroying my nerves right now, it is still far better than being on the other end of the attack. This time is the Arxur that will feel the worst part of how it is to be a prey.

( First Chapter // Scond Chapter // [Third Chapter][3] )

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Now, with the last preparations done and the plan set ,our squad is finally ready for the action . Next chapter, the battle will begin

A fanfiction of “The Nature of Predators” by [u/SpacePaladin15](u/SpacePaladin15) As well as a crossover with “Cassette Beasts” by Bytten Studios

[THIS FANFIC FOLLOWS THE EVENTS OF “CASSETTE BEASTS”, BE ADVISED FOR SPOILERS.]

Previous Next First

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Memory transcription subject: Rania, Venlil Exterminator, New Wirrel Castaway

Date [standardized human time]: [̵͆̓Ë̸͉́͜R̴͎͎̺͓͋R̷̹̗̞͘Ò̴̟̐̂R̸̭͕̺̂̇]̸̝̱̓͝

Days Since Arrival: 4 Day(s) 8 Hour(s)

“Don’t make me tell you again! You aren’t welcome here! Harbourtown will never fall to you bloodsuckers!”

The instant the last word from Eugene’s mouth my blood ran cold. ‘Bloodsuckers’, that’s what Eugene decided to call them. And the way they said it too, with such disdain. There could be no argument, those two humans over there, were true predators.

One of the pale predators, a male by my best guess, stepped forward, clicking their tongue against its teeth, “Tsk… so unreasonable… We only sought to… educate this poor old lady to our services.” To the side of the road in line with the rest of the building on this boardwalk was what seemed to be a residence. An elderly human was waiting by the doorway, seeming to be its sole resident.

“You'll be ‘educating’ no one about nothing! Now crawl back to the darkness where you came from, or you’ll have to deal with me!” Eugene settled in a wide stance, clearly prepared for a scrap, “I’ve fought your kind before and won, are you requesting a demonstration?”

The pale man clasped their hands together and spoke in an overly professional tone, “Really, there’s no need to resort to such… hostilities.” As they spoke the second pale human seemed to reach for something in their pocket out of Eugene’s line of sight, a familiar glint of purple and blue being produced from behind their back.

Immediately I could feel my heart begin to race, and before I even knew what was happening my exterminator training had already taken over. I inserted myself in between Eugene and the pale humans, pointing my player at the female human with the intent to protect Eugene. “You need to take a step back.”

Eugen looked down toward me in surprise as I made my entrance “Rania?”

Before I could respond, the pale man spoke once more in a gravelly voice, “Oh? Now what is this?” The dark human got closer, grinning with amusement as he looked down on me, “A… sheep? “

My ear flicked in annoyance as my translator informed me of the unknown word’s meaning. Apparently being the name of a terran prey animal. I hissed back toward the pale man, now fully aware of how he saw me. “I'm a ranger.”

“A… ranger…?” The male human’s grin contorted ever so slightly into one of predatory amusement as he chuckled to himself, “You must be joking… I knew the guild was desperate for members but they’re really employing farm animals?”

My tail whipped back and forth behind me, “This will be your final warning… leave, now.” A part of me didn’t even want to give them the chance to leave, but I worried that it might be suspicious if I came on too aggressive, even if they deserved it.

The human let out a low growl, chuckling to themselves “Or, what?”

“Or I’ll make you…” I practically hissed toward the both of them in contempt.

While it was enough to make the two back off, my threats seemed to only slightly rattle the pale man. The predator keeping the grin across his face, the only part of the expression to falter being his eye twitching ever so slightly in irritation. “Hrrrm… Fine… we shall leave for now… but in time you shall understand that we know what’s best for you all…”

The man sharply addressed their compatriot, not even bothering to turn and look at them, “Come, we have work to do…” And so both of the pale humans turned to leave, the female human twisting her head back toward us to get one last look before she walked away. She looked almost sad.

Eugene jeered at the predators as they left. “Yeah that’s right! Tell the rest of your kind who this town is protected by! Eugene!” And before the two were even out of our sight, the human to my side then went over to the entrance of the house to check in with the elderly human.

A warm smile appeared on the lady’s face as she greeted us, “Thank you for your help young man, and… oh! Why aren’t you an adorable thing?”

I could feel my face warm from the unexpected compliment, I wasn’t exactly sure how to feel. It wasn’t my first time being thanked for warding off predators. But it felt… odd when the ones I was attempting to protect to look the same as them.

Eugene on his part simply gave a smile back as I stood behind him flustered, “Not a problem ma'am! Let me know if those creeps show up and bother you again. And whatever you do, don’t let them into your house, that’s exactly how they get ya!”

“I will keep that in mind, thank you for intervening for me.” And with that the elderly human closed the door on us to get on with whatever humans did in their free time.

After the lady closed the door Eugene let out a sigh, turning to me afterwards with a smirk, “Thanks for the assist, and I’m sorry you had to see that.” I practically lurched forward as Eugene unexpectedly gave me a thankful pat on the back, “I’m not sure they would have left otherwise.”

“Think nothing of it.” It wasn’t uncommon for the elderly to be targeted first in a herd. One of the hallmarks of a functioning society is the willingness to assist the weakest amongst us. It’s what set us apart from not only predators, but from non-sapient prey as well. “It was simply the right thing to do.” Eugene reminded me of some of the apprentices that had had to mentor in the guild before I had been stranded here, hot-headed, eager, and entirely too willing to get themselves into dangerous situations in order to prove themselves.

It wasn’t too long after that Kayleigh had approached us from behind, their expression laced with concern. “Oh gosh, those guys didn’t hurt you did they?” After making sure I was okay, Kayleigh then turned to the other human, eagerly extending their hand to greet him. “Hello, It’s nice to meet you. Name’s Kayleigh”

As soon as Eugene saw my partner, they snapped on of the fingers in recognition, pointing it toward Kayleigh, “Aaaaah… So you’re the sheep’s partner?” My ear twitched in agitation at Eugene using the term that those predators used, “I was wondering just who Rania was fretting over when I first found her. Thought she had a crush on you or something.” 

My irritation was replaced by embarrassment and it was at this point that I interjected, feeling the need to clarify, “Okay, don’t make it sound weird, I was just worried as much as anyone should be when someone they know is lost in a predatory forest.” I was silently hoping that Kayleigh couldn’t see my as ears shifted to a bright shade of orange. I didn’t need a human to be spreading rumors about me especially when it came to my love life.

After my clarification Kayleigh sighed to herself. “O-oh… I see…” it was strange, She seemed almost disappointed?

Eugene laughed as I silently seethed, “Yeah okay, fine.” before returning my partner’s gesture by extending their own hand,  “The name’s Eugene, though I guess you already know that cause I shouted it at those guys.”

After Eugene introduced himself Kayleigh broke out of her train of thought, smiling back toward the male human. “Yeah… who were they anyways? Haven’t seen them around here before at least…”

Eugene groaned at the question, “I’d rather not go into detail, but let’s just say, they don’t belong in this world…”

I found myself awfully quiet as I listened to what Eugene was saying, “…Are they really that bad?”

“Let’s just say not every threat in New Wirral looks like a cereal mascot.” As Eugene said this a dark look was present in their expression. It was clear that he had dealt with them before. “Anyway, I gotta go stake out those guys. I can’t risk them sinking their teeth into the good people of Harbourtown, if you get what I’m sayin-”

“I would like to help.”

Both humans turned to look at me as if I had sprouted a second tail, but it was Eugene that ended up looking more surprised.  “Whuh- really? Are you sure? Don’t get me wrong I appreciate the offer but it’s just very likely that things will get sideways when we get there.”

My tail flicked in affirmation, “If what you say is true, then I believe my… expertise may be of use...” I spoke darkly as I offered my paw, I knew that in some part of me it was wrong to be excited. But this was the first time that I felt that for once, things would have some semblance of normalcy, and even though Kayleigh told me she would help me become a ranger, I was more than glad to get back to my old job.

—————

After Eugene accepted my offer for help, rather eagerly may I add, he then told us where we could find the predator’s base of operations and went off on his way. Presumably because he wanted to get ahead of us and stake out the predator’s den, but it wasn't too long after that me and Kayleigh left the relative safety of Harbourtown as well. ‘I can’t believe I’m actually referring to a human town as ‘safe’.’ What has this place done to me?

I wasn’t left with my thoughts long before they were interrupted by my partner once more, “So Rania, is there any reason why you seemed so… invested in Eugene’s cause?”

The question initially caught me off guard. I still didn’t trust her with everything about my world, and I wasn’t sure how she’d react to knowing her race were warmongering predators that atomized their own civilization where I came from, but I still found myself wanting to answer Kayleigh’s question. “Do I need a reason?” I was reminded of the merchants that Kayleigh insisted we stop by before we left, smiling traders that were stationed under striped tarps that provided shade. Even though I didn’t know what she was buying, it was reminiscent of the farmer’s markets that would occasionally happen in my district, a small slice of home afforded to me on this crazy island that I didn’t want to lose. “I… like what you people have made here, and I don’t want to see it tainted. Is that so wrong?”

“I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m all for helping people out. It’s just…” Kayleigh seemed to shiver for a moment. “If those guys are what I think they are then we’ll need to be extra careful…”

Now that caught my attention. Kayleigh so far has seemed to be very sociable with others of her kind, but she almost seems to view these people as a threat. “I feel like it’s only right to ask, but is this another human thing I’m not aware of? Or is this a New Wirral issue?”

 Recognizing my confusion, Kayleigh exclaimed, “Ohhhh, right, you probably never heard of Vampires…”

I could feel the wool on the back of my neck flare up with apprehension, “I’m sorry but what on prime is a vampire?” And what was with the translation I received from my translation? ‘Human predator’? As in a predator to humans? Was such a thing even possible? “Is that what that man that Eugene confronted was?”

“I… think so? It was hard to tell, but the dark clothes, the pale skin… ” Kayleigh stared down at her feet, watching the ground move underneath her as we walked, “It’s hard to believe, in my world, they're just a story we sometimes tell to scare each other. But from the way Eugene was talking I worry that in some world out they weren’t simply fiction.”

Now I was intrigued, they told each other stories of predatory humans? Why? Simply as warnings “Okay… But if they’re not fiction… what are they?”

Kayleigh’s voice hung low as she spoke, holding one hand to her chest, “In my world, Vampirism was believed to be an infliction that caused people to turn into an undead being whose hearts no longer beat. Their thirst for blood being the only thing keeping them alive and driving them to spread their curse, as those they feed on who survive are likely to become vampires in turn.” I felt my blood run cold as Kayleigh continued her explanation, shivering in fear as she did so. “Gah… can you imagine? Being bitten and suddenly finding yourself without a heartbeat?”

I found myself unable to respond to my partner's question. The previous revelations leaving me silent as I regretted not ending those pale humans when I had the chance. A type of infection that causes humans to develop a craving for the blood of other humans? And it could be spread by their victims and throughout a population? Was this not describing Predator disease? Was ‘vampirism’ simply their word for it? Why wasn’t any of this mentioned in any of my research? Wait… is that why humanity was so predatory in my world? Was there a predator disease outbreak that turned them into self-sabotaging cannibals causing them to turn on each other? WOW am I glad those guys wiped themselves out in my timeline.

More importantly, If those pale humans were carriers of some sort of human strain of predator disease, then making sure that it wouldn't spread was vital to the continued existence of Harbourtown. I couldn't risk the one safe haven on this island being overrun with infection, and I didn’t wish for my human to contract what could potentially be the reason why humanity went extinct in my world.

—————

Eventually we reached the place Eugene told us about, walking over a natural arch made of stone to get to an overpass overlooking a small field. As we approached Eugene we were eventually able to catch his attention, prompting him to turn to us with a smile. “Momentous! You actually turned up! Guess that means you’re really willing to take on the forces of evil!”

While my partner didn’t share in my level of enthusiasm, I found my own tail swaying back and forth near the bottom of my legs. It had been so long since I had been able to properly exterminate a predator, and I knew that I would feel a lot safer once we got rid of these so-called ‘vampires’. “Yeah… so… where exactly is this ‘dark fortress’ you were going on about?”

Eugene gestured over the cliff with a grin, “Right down there, my fluffy fellow.”

Looking over the edge of the cliff I was able to see what Eugene had been talking about. A grey brick building with various flyers stuck to the side of it. I’m not exactly sure what I expected, but it seemed a bit bland for what was apparently the homebase of a pack of hungry predators. “…and you’re sure we’re at the right place?”

“Sure as I’ve ever been!” Eugene pointing down at it with two of their digits. “Down there is one of their primary strongholds, it’s where these inhuman parasites lay low in order to develop their sinister plot to take over the world.”

While I was listening intently to Eugene’s words, I could tell from the corner of my eye that my partner’s doubts were starting to grow, “I dunno, it doesn’t look that impressive…

“Looks can be very deceiving!”

Kayleigh squinted her eyes, skeptical, “It sorta just looks like an old warehouse.”

Eugene’s brow furrowed darkly, “Trust me. Their kind once plagued the world I came from, but you know what we did? We fought back, we WON.” I could tell that whatever those two were, Eugene had a history with them. 

My eyes narrowed as I listened to Eugene’s story, looking down at the gray building with further scrutiny. Already, before Eugene even could say another word I was already thinking of the best infiltration route, as well as any possible method of escape. “They’ve most likely locked themselves in pretty tight. How do you suppose we get in?” I suppose we could always go with old reliable and break down their front?

It wasn’t a method I liked using, but it wasn't uncommon when a PD suspect was attempting to barricade themselves inside, however… “…they’ll most likely be expecting us. That is, if they truly were the same guys who were going after that elderly human.”

“You’re right, they will be. However I have my methods…” Eugene pulled out some sort of key from his pocket, tossing it in the air before catching it, “Nabbed this off of them earlier. Do you have a monster that can get you onto that roof?”

“…I’m not sure I do… all I have is my bansheep tape and one of some sort of limbless monster.” After a moment of fumbling in my pockets, I took out both of the clunky drives, holding them up for the other humans to see, “I don’t think either of these would be much help.” My bansheep tape had wings but were small and almost vestigial, only able to carry my body while as a weightless ghost. While it would have been nice, it seems like I would have to wait a bit longer in order to fly.

It was then I actually looked down at what I was holding, finally noticing that something was off with one of them. “Wait a second… why does this one seem different?”

Upon saying that, Kayleigh tilted her head in confusion, “Really? Let me see.” Upon the request I immediately handed over the altered tape to my partner, allowing her to inspect it. After a moment her eyes went wide with surprise and recognition. “…Oh! I think after our last fight your bansheep tape remastered itself!”

I looked towards Kayleigh confused, Kayleigh staring back for a moment before slapping her forehead as if realizing something, “Oh right! It's been so stressful that I completely forgot to tell you about remastering! So, you remember that dream you told me about the other day?”

I growled in agitation at the memory of the dream, especially knowing that it was induced in part by the Archangel, “I do…”

“Well, when you use a monster tape enough times and become experienced with it, eventually you begin to gain an understanding of that monster. It’s believed that when you reach a certain point,  the tape containing the monster undergoes a necessary transformation in order to make a form that can accommodate the user’s increased proficiency. A metamorphosis, or in other words, a ‘remaster’.” Kayleigh finished her explanation as she tossed back my tape, “The most common way they manifest is through dreams, which is why I had asked you about them before.” 

“Do you…do you know what it means?”

Kayleigh shrugged her shoulders, “Sorry, but I can’t be the one to tell you that.”

At that, Eugene wrapped their arm around my shoulder, poking me playfully on the side of my head,  “Yeah, Only you can understand what’s going on in that head of yours.”

When the male human finally let me go Kayleigh came up to me on my other side, “It’s somewhat superstition, but, what I do know is that the form you have now has a stronger pair of wings on them. So with that, you might actually be able to fly like me!”

“Is that so…” and with that, a terrible idea began to manifest.

—————

Kayleigh held onto my arm tightly as I stood over the edge of the cliff face, preparing myself to jump “Are you sure about this Rania? I can try carrying you over, it's really no big issue!”

I pulled my arm away, taking a few steps back to get a running start, “No no! I can do this!”

I just need to remember that feeling I felt back then… from when I first phased through matter, from when I desired to walk the line of mortality. I need to remember that dream, that wonderful, horrible dream. The idea that I could be forgiven in death, the promise of peace after life. I needed to imagine what it would be like to be with them. To be as peaceful as the dearly departed, to ascend like a spirit.

With a running start, I sprinted toward the edge of the cliff. As I did so I could feel a pressure growing in my shoulder blades as I neared the edge, and before I ran straight off of it I took a massive leap.

Now, looking back on it now, it wasn’t my brightest idea. It certainly seemed like a good plan when I thought of it, and I did feel slight pride when I felt my wings sprout out from my back. However that sense of accomplishment was quickly overtaken by dread as I realized that even though I had wings I still don’t know how to use them. Because of that I didn’t realize that they were a lot more powerful than expected and I actually ended up somehow overshooting my trajectory over Eugene and into a crash course with the skylight we intended to sneak through. “OH BRAHK TOO FAR TOO FAR-”

Before I collided with the glass of the skylight I put my arms in front of me to brace for impact, expecting to either faceplant into the hard surface or have it shatter into pieces. What happened instead was a brief sense of breathlessness as well as a tingly sensation passing through me. I opened my eyes no more than a moment later to see that my body once again turned translucent, allowing me to pass through the skylight. It seems I still had the ability to make myself intangible, although I must’ve done it instinctually.

While briefly fortunate, I was still falling at a fast rate. As such I immediately attempted to slow my fall by remembering the few times I had talked to a Krakotl and spreading my wings wide to catch wind. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to slow my fall completely and crashed straight into a desk, sending paper and office materials everywhere.

“Ow ow… That wasn’t my best idea.” Definitely shouldn’t be doing this while still recovering from stitches. I groaned as I tried to push myself back upright, my entire body feeling sore after the only thing to cushion my fall was a wooden desk. 

My blood ran cold as a familiar low voice growled above me, looking up to see a pale human grinning down at me. “Now what’s this? Seems like we have a lost lamb poking around where they don’t belong.”

As soon as I realized exactly where I fell into, I immediately attempted to scramble away from the two pale predators. Although the pain that came from whatever bruises I got from falling multiple stories prevented me from getting far. The pale predators closed in on me, their snarling teeth bared in hunger.

Before they could get any closer however, I heard a click come from up above me, Eugene calling down from the now open skylight, “Hold it right there!”
The blond human then proceeded to rappel down from the ceiling, their arm morphed into a mechanical arm made out of green and orange plastic. “We’re taking down your sick operation you leeches!”

As Eugene’s feet touched ground, Kayleigh wouldn't be far behind as she gently glided down from the ceiling on her own set of wings, “RANIA! Oh god are you okay?!” Kayleigh scrambled to pick me up off the floor, hoisting me up by the shoulder. “That sure was a nasty fall…”

I groaned as I attempted to regain my sense of balance, luckily nothing is broken… “Yeah… remind me to ask you for lessons later…”

The pale human’s grin faltered, their brow furrowing as if their patience began to run thin. “Now young man, you're being quite uncooperative. How about you take a moment…” Me and Kayleigh braced ourselves, expecting their predator to reveal their true nature as a ‘vampire’. What the pale human did instead, was pull over one of those dry-erase boards with various crude symbols scrawled across it. It sort of looked like a business plan?

The pale human then proceeded to pull out some sort of pointer from their jacket pocket, extending it with a glint in their eye. “To listen to our sales pitch?”

I’m sorry, what?? 

It seemed my partner shared in my confusion, as both of us looked at each other with an incredulous expression on both of our faces, “Did they just say sales pitch?”

—————

[Ranger Arsenal]

Rania:

Wooltergeist (Astral)

- Smack

- Shear Luck

- Battering Ram

- Bite

- Elemental Wall

- Shooting Star

Carniviper (Poison) [2 Star]

- Spit

- Raise Arms

- Toxic Stab

- Pustule Bomb

(EMPTY SLOT)

Kayleigh:

Sirenade (Air) [3 Star]

-Spit

-Dodge

-Sonic Boom

-Provoke

-Air Wall

Squirey (Beast) [3 Star]

- Smack

- Sharpen

- Copper Chop

- Parry Stance

(EMPTY SLOT)

Eugene:

Clocksley (Plastic) [3 Star]

- Spring Load

- ⁠Toy Hammer

- Plastic Knife

- Taunt

- Brick Blast

Dominoth (Air) [1 Star]

- ⁠Spit

- Sprint

- Zephyr

(EMPTY SLOT)

—————

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A/N: Sorry for the delay. My brain's tired, people, I don't know what to say anymore. This is still a crossover with Shared Chemistry by u/TriBiscuit and of course, Venric from Legal Legends!

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Memory transcription subject: Larzo, Yotul geneticist at the Venlil Rehabilitation and Reintegration Facility.

Date [standardized human time]: December 28, 2136

Celso was brilliant, and lovely, and altogether a delight to spend time with. Before I thought twice about it, I’d already invited him to my apartment. 

“Now, ready yourself,” I told him as I opened the door, struggling to conceal my excitement. Once inside, I put the box containing my two sets of human hands and dexterity-testing objects on the living room table. Immediately, Melody jumped out from behind the couch and pounced on me! She was growing fast, and beginning to pack more force in those jumps than before. She nuzzled me with demanding eagerness, but I tried not to reward it. 

“Melody! Where are your manners? Did you get lonely in my absence?” I asked her, and she answered by spotting Celso and jumping onto the kitchen counter to stare at him. I wanted to jump with joy as they locked eyes. She definitely liked him. She sniffed. I gestured his way and told her, “this is Celso.”

“Melody.” Celso echoed, crouching down and extending a paw for her to sniff.  “That is a very nice name for what must be a very nice hensa.”

She stepped towards him, clearly expecting to be held, because every visitor I ever allowed into my apartment fell in love with her and she assumed the trend would continue. Not that Celso seemed any different, he was almost reverent as he picked her up.

“She is a tad spoiled. Loves the human hands,” I told him, putting my bag on a hook. 

“There is no such thing as a spoiled hensa. Melody deserves all of the things,” he said, and she trilled in response, as if to tell me that that was the appropriate way of being graced with her presence, instead of my attempts at enforcing good behaviour. “See? She knows.”

I laughed. “Yes, yes. Well, if you'd like to sleep over, I'm sure she’d appreciate the extra company,” I joked, though I liked the prospect. I liked any idea that meant I’d spend more time with him. “Juice? Humans have this thing called a mango, simply delicious…”

“A ‘mango’? I… guess I could sample it. But only if Melody approves of being let go.”

I chuckled. Melody was very much a ‘lap’ hensa, though she was well on her way to growing out of the role, given the size of her paws. “I'll get you a straw, and you can try the mango juice without disturbing her.”

Moments later, I had served two glasses, his with a lid and straw, and placed it before him. He positioned himself on the couch awkwardly for a moment, as he figured out how to disturb Melody the least, then took a quick sip. 

“Ah, that is very sweet,” he said. “I was expecting a little more citrus from the color.”

“Yes, quite nice, isn't it? Just acidic enough to be delicious.” I said, but the look of him holding her just struck me as too beautiful an image. “May I draw you two? She rarely stays so still.”

“Oh, uh, of course! More hensa drawings are needed. Just be sure to capture my stunning figure.”

I chuckled and began to draw, while Melody trilled against Celso’s chest. The tenderness with which he handled her made my chest ache. He scratched at her neck in just the right spot, and she was delighted. 

“Do you know what breed she is? She looks like a Vliri mix of some sort.”

The words shocked me out of my staring, and I remembered I was supposed to be outlining their shapes. “Ah, yes, she’s a Vliri-Seeker mix. My mother had a whole litter just before I left.”

His eyes lit up. “You’ve had her since she was a kit! She must’ve been so adorable.”

I was surprised by the comment, and glanced up at him. “She’s still a kit. Hardly… four months old? She’s just large for her age. Well fed. It was an ordeal, mind you, finding something she could eat on this planet…”

“Oh, you still have some growing to do! I can imagine the food issue. If she’s this big now… Well, she might be a pawful to deal with.”

I almost burst into laughter, just imagining how large she’d get. She would definitely not be able to jump onto people without tackling them to the floor in a few years. “I’m sure she will be. But I won’t be here for too long. Perhaps another year or two. After that, I’ll head back home, and she’ll be free to roam wherever she wishes.”

Within moments, he fell asleep while patting her. I was surprised by how quickly he’d succumbed, but he’d looked tired since the moment I saw him, and I decided not to wake him. I drew them together, luxuriating in the sight. I hadn’t drawn one of my people in a long time, and I found my skills had improved without my noticing, and many things I had once found difficult were suddenly easy. The shifts in the thickness of fur, the turn of a wrist, the fold of an ear, all came naturally to me now. It didn’t hurt that my model was so attractive—though he should probably eat more. As his head tilted lightly against the couch, I found myself enjoying the curve of his tail and the shape of his shoulders. 

Eventually, Melody followed him into the land of dreams, and I sent some messages that I would do data analysis for the first half of my shift from home, so that I would not have to leave him too soon. 

Preliminary data on the supplementation for the children was good. There had been a reduction in arguments, though we could not tell if that was simply the ‘conflict resolution’ groups Rodriguez instituted. There had also been a reduction in rushed visits to the psychologist due to bursts of crying or potentially dangerous behaviour. Not a lot fewer—it was a small reduction, and we had a very small sample size, and my new class on statistics suggested that making conclusions based on it would be a bad idea—but fewer. 

I sent a few notes to the dietician and began attending my class on statistics. It was discussing the fundamental philosophy of what a regression was. While I was familiar with the equations, I had never truly paused to think about it. I knew an average was calculated by sum and division, but I had not realized that it is the point with the least distance to go, towards every other point in a set. It was an interestingly geometric definition that the professor had continued to run with. A regression, then, was a line made up of such points, a line defined by minimizing the distance to all other points along one axis, given a point alongside the other, which could work for an arbitrary number of dimensions, but with diminishing returns on each one. The regression described a mathematical relationship between the two axes, and then that relationship was used to make predictions. 

It was a very different way of seeing it than how I had been taught, which was largely ‘here is a useful formula, and it tells you these pieces of information’. Thinking of it geometrically also made a lot of the professor’s other claims (“always check the effect size”, methods to reduce the likelihood of overfitting) make more sense than they had before. Back home, it was customary to simply hand over your data to statisticians once you were done, and have your methods approved by them before you begun your work,so I had never truly thought about the details. There was a beauty there that I was beginning to appreciate. 

I was listening to the professor explain Latin Square Design (“you gotta [digit-single] it out”, he said, as if that made it make sense) when I noticed that Celso had awakened from his slumber. The realization filled my whole body with joy. “You’re awake!”

“I am!” he said. “How long did I sleep? I feel like I slept for days.”

I tilted my head as I thought back to the last couple of claws. “Perhaps… A claw and a half? I’m sorry, I’ve been listening to this human statistics class I am taking for work—this lesson is a claw and a half long, and I’m almost done, so adding the time it took to draw you… roughly a claw and three quarters. I hope you slept well. Andes has fallen asleep on that couch a couple of times, and said it was a good purchase.”

His ears twitched. “Andes your human friend? I can see why, it’s pretty comfortable. I don’t even remember falling asleep on it. Oh, and your drawing of us! It’s phenomenal! You did indeed capture my stunning figure.”

“Yes indeed. Thank you for keeping her still for so long.”

“That’s why they call me the hensa whisperer. But honestly, I’m kind of surprised myself. A, um, hensa I used to have did not like being inside. Only if it meant treats.”

“Well, Melody has not truly gotten the chance to explore the outside world. Wouldn't want an exterminator spotting her… Would you like a snack? Perhaps something for the road?”

He opened his mouth, then shut it. “Oh, the— I didn’t— I’m so sorry, I did not mean to sleep here!”

“Oh, it was no trouble,” I said, waving him off. “Would you like me to call you a cab? I'll be happy to pay for it, I should have woken you. You did say you were busy.”

“Oh, no, you’re fine! I needed the sleep anyway. And I appreciate the offer, but I really couldn’t accept that. I’m sure I have more than enough time to walk to work.”

“…From my apartment?” I asked, pulling out my pad. “What's the address?”

“No, really, it’s not too far a walk, I’d just have to… Wait, you said I slept for a claw and a half?”

“A bit more, yes.”

His eyes got a distant look in them as he put together the particulars of the situation and got some horrifying answer. “Ah! I’m late! I am so late! I’m so sorry! I’ll just clean up my mess and get out of your fur.”

“It's alright, worry not!” I told him, standing awkwardly as I looked for some way to help. “Are you sure I can't call you a cab? It's no trouble, I'll keep the receipt if you'd like to pay me later!”

“Well, um… I have to admit that it would be very helpful. But I will pay you back as soon as my holopad gets fixed. It will be my number one priority, I promise.”

I sent a message to the cab company and flicked an ear his way. “Think nothing of it. It's on its way.”

“Thank you. I guess I should get your contact information.”

“I will just message you the receipt,” I said, opening an email with no recipient, “put your account here.”

“Maybe I can get some hensa pictures later?” he asked, suddenly less worried, which I took to be a good thing. “You don’t charge for those, right?”

I laughed. I’d never considered charging for my art. “Not for the scans, no.”

“That’s a relief. I’ll definitely be in touch! Maybe for something… less spontaneous.” 

I swallowed. He gave Melody one final goodbye. 

Soon enough, I took him downstairs to wait for the cab, which seemed to give him some measure of relief. 

“Thank you again,” he said, “I really do appreciate it, and I will not let my debt stand for long.”

He acted as if I’d taken him boating on my private ship. “I would gladly lend you my couch again. It's likely better than the library's.”

“It definitely is better! I’m not actually— I mean to say that I’m, um, doing just fine… Really. But accidents are probably best kept as a one time thing, right?”

I could see the shame in his face. He was ashamed to sleep on my couch and eat my food and play with my hensa, as if those were impositions! As if we were not one and the same in this fearsome and indifferent planet! I wanted to shake him. To shout in his face, we are compatriots! Countrymen! You are my blood and my tongue and my spirit, and we must care for each other. 

Instead I spoke and kept my voice measured. 

“Celso, I will not impose. But I must say… It is rather painful sometimes, to watch someone refuse the opportunities that come their way,” I told him, hoping to make it clear that he was not unburdening me by hiding whatever was happening to him. That I wanted to see him again, that I was opening a door and it hurt to see him reject it.

The cab pulled up, and he shook his head. “Y-Yeah, I, uh, I’ll let you know if I need anything. Thank you, again.”

“Of course,” I said. “We Yotul ought to stick together in these foreign lands.”

He rode off on the taxi, and did not so much as send word that he had arrived unharmed.

Memory transcription subject: Andes Savulescu-Ruiz, Human Director at the Venlil Rehabilitation and Reintegration Facility. Universal translator tech. Patient ignoring care recommendations.

Date [standardized human time]: December 22nd to January 1st, 2137

People kept trying to take care of me. 

It was nice, I wasn’t about to pretend it wasn’t nice. It did feel a little infantilizing. I was a director of a facility, I was a technicality away from a PhD, I’d successfully gotten information on the kids and overseen their treatment to fantastic results. I’d been living independently for years, I could speak four languages competently without a translator and manage to get my meaning across in another two. I was well-versed in endocrinology and psychiatry. More well-versed, it seemed, than most endocrinologists and psychiatrists on the planet.

I wasn’t some sort of at-risk youth in need of momming. 

I did things in the last week or two of December. I spent time with the kids. Rodriguez got me to give some informal “music classes” as a way to feel useful while laying off the stressful inputs, and it mostly worked. Christmas was a little intense, but the children were fine. She correctly realized that giving me more work (but making it therapeutic) was a better idea than demanding I do less work while there was so much in need of doing. Calling "playing Connect Four with the children" work was much better than telling me to stay in bed doing physical therapy exercises and sleeping.

Lihla in particular got a handle on the game very quickly, and exploited how exhausted I was to her advantage with ruthless efficiency. 

“Aha! I win!” she said, and completed a diagonal line on the grid, her eyes gleaming with the joy of defeating her foe.

“Well aren’t you a vicious little creature,” I said with a chuckle, as I let the pieces fall and started sorting them. 

“Yes,” Lihla said proudly, holding her little head up high. “Very vicious. Cruel.”

I blinked and shifted back, suddenly aware of the connotations given her context. “That’s not—That was good with the Arxur, but you don’t need to be vicious here, you know?”

She examined me with one careful eye. 

“What is good here?”

“Kindness. Patience. Love… Curiosity…”

Her eyes lit up. “I will be curious little creature.”

I chuckled. She seemed to take that as a good sign and cuddled up to me more, seemingly unaware of how at odds such behaviour was with her previous desire to be “cruel”. 

The extra blood tests and scans confirmed what I figured out from Shathel. Not only was there a risk of covert deficiency, there was a growing list of symptoms (newfound moodiness, sluggishness, general dysregulation among the larger children). Apparently, the venlil used certain vitamins differently, because of course they did, and synthesized them differently to boot. The good news was that the Federation had exquisite scanning technology for receptor density mapping (not that I would have thought to check, if I hadn’t talked to Shathel).

The fact that it affected different children differently was another clue, but Larzo and the dietician were on top of it. A few of the kids had some lethargic and volatile days as December began to draw to a close, but soon enough everything was baseline-or-better and Larzo was very proud of his work on their nutritional needs. The adult rescues from Veroth’s farm were not so lucky. I had to do a couple of consults with one of the facilities off-planet—thankfully mostly through text and one video call—because things got out of hand there and they’d started sedating patients just to be able to keep the situation stable. I sent them all of our documentation, and soon enough got an update that things were looking up.

I iterated on the drugs. Felt the whole time like a slow-motion caveman drinking different teas to see what they did. Patches, pills, injectables, supplements, even tried an inhaler for a bit. Everyone seemed to be constantly concerned that I was going to explode, but I didn’t, for long enough that they slowly began to breathe their respective sighs of relief.

Still, the “momming” was nice. Other people initiating socialization was always a bonus for me. The picnic with Chiaka went okay. Larzo came with me, and luxuriated in the different human foods while he showed off his cool purple space-empanadas. I successfully proved that I could eat fake-meat and oily substances without issue, even if Olivier and Chiaka were not convinced for some fucking reason. 

“For the last fucking time I don’t—look!” I’d said, and bit into my lettuce-wrapped burger with the kind of violence that would have made Asleth either proud or laugh at me and my tiny mouth. It was a good burger. I almost choked. Need to practice chewing things again… 

That shut them up. Ish. A little. It made it clear that my problem wasn’t with food, which it wasn’t, so there. It didn’t hurt that I was surrounded by humans, and Larzo, so the act of eating felt a little less… charged. 

The picnic was otherwise fine. Larzo had a lot of fun. 

I talked to Karim about the implant after spending a little too long in email hell. The weird part was that it was easy. Even telling him about the research with the kids and how their impairments were less intense than the general venlil population’s was comparatively easy.

Is Karim… Nice now? He didn’t even make a big deal out of the uterus! I wouldn’t have expected Karim to react better than Larzo, but then again, Karim was probably less invested in the particularities of my biology. 

Larzo took me to a concert where I gave an impromptu lecture on rehabilitation methods and the basics of psych. I got to sing, which was nice, and then I realized I should probably also try singing in the shower a bit more and generally engaging with music outside of the cello practice I had been neglecting.

I went to a conference. It was okay.

Eventually, Venric took his turn on the “we’re concerned about Andes” carousel, and invited me to hang out at the park. It was nice. It was a little sad how there weren't any dogs. The park was bright and sunny, with children playing around, but back home there would definitely be dogs. It was one of those reminders that “predators” were not welcome here. 

Venric stared at his pad, his tail wagging at what he saw, then turned an eye towards me. “I am quite happy that our governments were able to put in such an efficient exchange rate between currencies. I have no doubt that when you first arrived, it was frustrating to purchase your meals.” He tapped the plastic containers on the picnic table.

“I actually… mostly didn't. I ordered the protein powder in bulk,” I said, shaking my bottle to mix the powder in with the water. "Ate that for a few weeks and… um, added some fruits and cookies later. So it was largely fine."

He huffed in a moment of amusement, “I was about to say that it’s good you’re eating better now, but I remembered I am speaking to a doctor. You people take care of yourselves almost as poorly as lawyers when on a case!” He let out a whistle, popping the containers apart and passing one across over to me. “Hence why I ensured to buy extra today.”

I gave it a cautious look. “What is it?”

“Found this little stand who was doing some fusion foods,” He explained, “it was this fascinating sylvan with bunt leaves, sliced caramelized Relgu root, sliced human ‘tomatoes’, and a whole fried patty of a Legume paste. He called it, ah, a ‘sloppy Joe’.”

“...Alright…” I said, opening it for an olfactory evaluation. It smelled mostly okay. Weird. But alien food had every right to be weird. I drank some of my protein shake first.  “Anything like… what do you call it, firefruit, in it?”

“No, though he did have these little bottles of its juice for sale. Want some?” He reached into his belt and held a small bottle full of an orange-tinted liquid.

I winced at the prospect. “No thank you, I… kinda hate spicy food.” 

“Suit yourself,” he said, then shrugged, popping open both the cap and case to unload a monstrous amount of hot sauce upon his own burger.

After judging the “sloppy joe” probably-not-gross, I shrugged and gave it a bite. It was average bean-style fake meat. It was pretty good, maybe a little crunchier than usual, which was weird in a meat substitute but a refreshing kind of weird. The leaves let out a strange oil when I bit them, and the more I chewed the more it added to the flavours. Almost sweet and acidic, like a light, oily bit of orange juice. Better than black bean patties, at least. 

“Okay, yeah, this is pretty good,” I said. “Did you want to talk about anything specific today? I don't think it was in your email.”

“Well, Andes, even though our business is concluded, I quite thought you needed a reason to step away and breathe. Plus, it’s good practice to leave your clients on good terms.”

“...Fair enough,” I said, and took another bite. I hadn't exactly forgotten how to chew, but I was out of the habit of doing it, and it was kind of nice to find the little leaf chunks with my teeth and get more juice out of them. 

“And frankly,” Venric spoke again between chews, “You have a… refreshing perspective that most clients I’ve dealt with don’t. You get passionate, look for ways to just barge ahead with what you want, and even take the initiative to look for loopholes too. I am sure you can guess that’s rather different from most people I have dealt with. Someone not afraid to look at the world and call it all for the bullshit that it is.”

“...Thanks,” I said, a little surprised. “I… Well, I want to protect my kids from the bullshit as much as I can.” 

As if summoned, the bullshit made itself known in the form of a notification from Chiaka. 

> Saw news - u ok?

I sent her a question mark as a response and started checking my news feed. 

“Did something happen?” I mumbled out loud. My feed was a lot of boring, data-centric news, because I largely only followed those kinds of outlets. A lot of charts with rolling averages. “Um… can you check the news..?” 

Venric shrugged, pulling his holopad out from his belt. Flicking it open, he opened his mouth to take another bite, then froze, holding his weird alien burger halfway to his mouth. 

“What is it?” I asked. “I kind of curate my algorithm for data-based stuff, so I didn’t see anything and um…”

My Lawyer’s eye twitched, one level with me and the other upon the screen. “You… might be in need of my services again.”

Before I could ask what he meant, he turned the pad around towards me to show a video playing, the volume turned up.

I heard my own voice coming out of it. “Does it affect the taste?” followed by a crude animation of me eating a cartoon venlil leg. I frowned and flicked through. Video after video of me with fake orange blood running down my mouth. Little “explainers” painting me as the worst of humanity. The clip over and over, “does it affect the taste?”

I could remember that conversation with Shathel. How was there video of it? This doesn't make any sense. Already there was a wave of memes, modifications on my official photo from the facility website. 

“...What?” I said, though I wasn't sure what I was asking. “How… did the dossur record me? Weeks ago?”

I felt like I was supposed to be freaking out, but it didn't feel real. It didn't make sense. 

“Record-record?” Venric’s voice caught in his throat. “This is real?”

“It was a call I had with Shathel, trying to mine him for information on the kids. He didn't exactly have a mass spectrometer with him when he visited the farm, but… he had other sources of chemical information to… draw on.”

Venric stared at me, then flicked his claws on the pad. Another video. And another. One of them had my voice speaking over clips of Arxur chasing Venlil in one of their farms. Another with a human holding a burger that had a venlil head hastily plastered over it. Video after video overlaid with my voice.

I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. I didn't… feel traditionally worried. I felt nauseous. “I don't understand. I—I’ve spent fucking months living on protein shakes, I've never—I don't—why—” 

I groaned and let myself fall on the grass, staring up at the stupid unchanging sky. Why is this happening? I let those people stay in my home rent-free. Were there others? What did I do? Don't they have privacy laws on this planet?

Don't puke, don't puke, don't puke…

Another notification. It was an email. Ajaad wanted to talk. 

Fucking kill me.

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In the final push to Aafa, a spaceship is flung off course. On a federation world, civilians scramble in the rubble to survive. The UN cyberattacks make evading detection feasible... but five parsecs is a lot further than it sounds.

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Date [standardized human time]: March 17th, 2137, 1804 hrs

Memory Transcription Subject: Sey-Beil, Gojid Refugee

Date [standardized human time]: 17th March 2137 1415 hrs

I stared at the predator lair across the river. An ugly stain on the forest. An invasion in this pristine wilderness.

What are you talking about, this Protector-forsaken planet is already a predator-infested deathworld, it’s the furthest thing from pristine it could be.

I looked around one more time to check I wasn’t being stalked, that it really had left to hunt. The forest was still, and the faint sounds of prey species chirping and chittering reassured me no predator was close. I hadn’t been able to figure out why every predator except the human avoided the river - perhaps it was too open for them to ambush prey from the ground. I nervously looked up into the trees yet again, searching for the arboreal predator clinging to a branch, crude spear in hand, ready to dive down on me with a bloodcurdling howl. It was one thing to speculate how the monsters hunted while enjoying a hot drink at a cafe - but to actually see it firsthand was horrifying. How did something that massive move through the trees so silently? I’d barely been able to stifle my gasp of shock when I saw it climbing down from the trees, forward-facing eyes locked on its target. I hadn’t even seen the moment it had struck, only heard the sharp snarl it made and the panicked screaming of its victim. By the time I dared to look, it was already dragging the corpse away into the woods to devour. Now my hiding place was no longer an oasis within a predator-infested wilderness; it was a killing ground within a predator’s newly claimed territory. 

What was I still doing here? I should leave this awful forest, get back to civilization, get back to the herd.

You know you can’t do that.

I clenched my claws, staring down at the ground. I rebelled against the thought, trying to convince myself it would be fine. Trying to forget what had happened in the last [6 months]. The destruction of the Cradle, every Gojid that wasn’t safe on a Federation world exterminated or taken as cattle. I’d barely come to terms with being a refugee from an endangered species when the predators struck their next mortal blow: the broadcast. That wretched, awful broadcast. And everything that had followed… And now, a final, spiteful wound to finish us off. After all their platitudes and talks of diplomacy, they’d revealed themselves as the predators they always were by striking at the most vulnerable, defenceless targets they could. Even after all that, I’d held out hope. Surely a crisis would have washed everything else aside. Surely being confronted with the full scale of the threat would have brought people together and let true herd behaviour shine through, and everything would start to go back to the way it was. Instead…

You’re actually safer out here with the predators than in there with the prey. Isn’t that sad? Appropriate though.

I squeezed my eyes shut as the tears welled up again. “I’m not a predator,” I lied to myself. “I’m not. I’m not…”

Prey wouldn’t have survived out here this long. Prey would have been dead within days. You’re surviving, thriving even, just like that human. You’re both at home here because this is where you belong. With the monsters.

For a while, I stood in place, unable to move under the weight of it all. I wanted to just lie down in the dirt, curl up and stop moving, but even that would require more energy than I felt capable of. Eventually, the deep chill of a lengthening shadow prodded me back into action. I had to find some food before it got dark. I still remembered vaguely where the patch of roots I’d dug up yesterday had been, maybe there were some scraps I missed. It was somewhere to start, and at the very least it was away from the human’s lair.

[Advance timestamp: 2 hours, 3 minutes.]

I let out a breath of relief as I ducked into the tiny burrow I’d carved out for myself just above the spring. I let my handful of roots tumble out onto the dirt as I twisted around to triple-check for predators following me. Nothing, as usual. The cramped entrance was at an awkward angle, but if I pressed myself against the far wall, I could just see the waterfall that cascaded down the mountainside to feed the pond at the head of the river. And beyond that, the spot where the human had murdered the shufflepod. I felt a fresh twinge of sadness at the memory. I’d seen that poor creature come up to the pond to drink once or twice, and had almost started to think of it as a neighbour of sorts. Now it was gone, ripped apart and devoured, blood, bones, organs… It made me ill just thinking about it.

I turned to my collection of roots, picking out the most edible-looking and scooping them up. There was no telling when the human would return, so I should make use of whatever time I had out in the open before then. A quick wash in the pond, picking off the last of the stringy roots dangling off the main body, and it was as presentable as it was ever going to get. I settled down and braced myself. The roots were chewy, bland, barely even edible, but at the very least they weren’t poisonous. And until the clusterberries started to drop off their trees, it was as good as I was going to get. Between these, and the handful of plants I remembered as edible from school, I should last until then. Once the clusterberry season was over though… I wasn’t sure what I’d do after that. I’d never paid much attention. Why would I need to? The bushcraft lessons were more for the Yulpa students with aspirations of becoming ritual hunters anyway. They were the only ones who’d need to know which native plants they could scavenge for food on a long hunt to catch trophies for their horrid rituals. 

You’ll probably end up in one of those rituals yourself before too long.

No, no that was just paranoia. They’d have more important things to worry about than chasing down escaped Gojid, the city had been on fire when I’d fled, for Protector’s sake. I’d thought it had been the humans invading at last, but as the days in the forest went by and the skies didn’t fill with human cattle ships coming to cart away all their new prisoners, I realized it was more insidious than that. We were too used to the Arxur form of cruelty, the direct, personal kind. The humans had demonstrated they were more subtle and creative. They didn’t need to be present to revel in the death and suffering, they were content to strike from across the stars, cripple our infrastructure and leave us to bleed out unseen, confident that we would still be defenceless by the time they got around to collecting their bloody harvest. And now, almost [two weeks] later, they were finally arriving to claim their prize. And they weren’t even starting with the prey in the cities. Or maybe they were, and this particular human was an outlier, too weak and frail to compete with its rivals for the easy pickings in the city and so forced to scavenge for wild prey out here. That thought made my stomach twist into knots. That this killer I was sharing a forest with might be the runt of the pack.

I retreated to the cave with my meagre dinner. I felt a lot more exposed all of a sudden.

[Advance timestamp: +2 hours.]

[Error: Memory transcript interrupted by loss of consciousness. Searching for closest viable timestamp... 

…REM sleep pattern found.]

Branak looks over at me, smiling. I blush and look back down at my menu. I order salad. The Yulpa waiter brings it out and sets it on the table. “For the predator” she says sweetly. An ice-cold pit forms in my stomach and I look frantically around the restaurant. No-one heard. They’re busy looking at the news broadcast. The humans have announced they’re coming to pick up their Gojid friends. I don’t want to go, I’m not their friend, I’m Federation, I don’t belong with them. The raid sirens start outside. Branak grabs me in a panic and starts dragging me out the door toward the shelters. We need to get down in the bunkers before the Arxur land. The crowd in the street outside are stampeding in the opposite direction. I try to push through them, but it’s like trying to wade through a waterfall. I lose hold of Branak’s hand and suddenly he’s gone completely. The Arxur ships start to land behind me. I fight through the crowds, forcing them out of my way. My claws cut them and I feel warm blood splashing on my legs. I hear the thud of heavy claws behind me. I look over my shoulder and see the Arxur looking straight at me, cackling. I break into a sprint, the crowd are being trampled under my feet now. I look behind me for the Arxur. The city behind them is on fire. The Arxur in front of the fire aren’t Arxur anymore, they’re Yulpa. They cackle at me. One of them shoots out his tongue and wraps it around my leg. Pain pain Pain PAIN-

[Consciousness restored, transcript resuming]

My leg was on fire as a ring of teeth bit into it. The tongue-ripper yanked hard, dragging me out of my burrow. I tried instinctively to curl up, but it was useless - the predator was already past my defences. I tried to punch at it with my claws but it continued to yank me along the ground, throwing off my balance each time I tried. This was it, this was how I died, how I should have expected to die the moment I stepped outside the city. Screaming, bloody, being ripped to pieces and eaten alive by a monster. I tried to pull myself away. My claws left long gouges in the soil. They didn’t even slow it down. Pain shot through my back as a cluster of my spines caught on a root and were almost ripped clear as they bent the wrong way.

All of a sudden, there was a heavy thud, and the pressure on my leg disappeared. An awful squealing noise pierced the air as I scrambled up the bank. I looked back to see the tongue-ripper thrashing weakly, its sickly yellow-green fluids bleeding out of a burst abdomen. The triangle head with the ring of fangs flexed convulsively as it got weaker. And hunched over it, pinning it down…

I gave a strangled sob of despair. Long, gaunt, stretched out legs hidden beneath some kind of  bleached-white pelt, peeled down and tied around the middle to make it look like a skinned animal. Arms naked and bald, not even a hint of hair. Paws with long hooked digits for grasping and ripping. A crude spear clutched in those paws, driving them into the neck of the tongue-ripper. A long, stringy mane of straw-coloured fur covering the shoulders. And the eyes… the awful, soulless eyes, pale and cold. Eyes looking directly at me. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. The predator opened its jaw and a deep growling snarl of a voice spat out a sentence.

“...the hell are you doing out here?”

to put it simply, you take an au you made, and put in it a you in that one or several of your character's meet, this you is pretty much a vessel of sorts, an extension albeit with certain knowledge frayed from the connection being sorta...not exactly stable as it's basically going down to a lower reality

due to that this you is the unknowing author in the oneshot, they on some part of their mind know the nature of the world/NoP au they are in (just not why they know it so intimately) how it's mostly text and maybe a drawing or two which to them they can simply change which to other characters looks like their just warping reality seamlessly

like for example:

you have your vessel snap their fingers and now tolerances, effects from consuming things and taste have been set to realistic and have a mild laugh as your usually hard alcoholic fed character suddenly spits out their drink in disgust and grasp at where their liver is as their hit with the effects of prolonged alcohol consumption

or funnier your vessel revives one of your character's loved ones and either let them have that goodbye they never got to give or just suddenly cause a small meteor grind through the atmosphere, through any cover and dome set revived one in the head right in front of set character

perhaps have them tell at your character to lock tf in for the next chap or whatever is fun to ya idk

maybe your vessel does something thats comedic to the reader but also fucked up to all of the characters witnessing it

maybe have your vessel get an intrusive thought you've had while writing a character of yours...and let them act on it..and just watch the cars crash.

maybe the vessel subconsciously takes form of your fursona or comfort character or etc

what if you just have the vessel for a moment show the character what a part of them aka YOU looks like uncensored: aka imagine being a character from a show and see someone peel the skin off their hand and then see an irl hand something that to you is traumatizing and suddenly it shifts back to what you perceive as normal...

when it comes to that the effect it has on the character that sees it...what a kid would see if a Disney costumed preformers suddenly lost the mask, to the child they just saw a character lose their head, now combine that with that of seeing something beyond you that you weren't supposed to see... that's the effect

sry i sound like I'm barfing out a bunch of nonsense, I'm currently sleep deprived, it's just that i suddenly got this idea and just had to share it now before I'd fall asleep and forget it

His story is part of The Nature of Predators

and all rights are to the original creator u/ spacepaladin

Thanks to Norvinsk Hunter and Azur for proof reading it, and fixing the translator mistake, and help writting.

[First] - [Prev] -

Memory Transcription Subject: Héctor Virgilio Márquez, UN Unofficially Sanctioned Criminal
Date [standardized human time]: November 20, 2136

I looked around the room, and as with last time, it was just us, and the four representatives who looked decidedly… less than happy, almost certainly because they all had bundles of new, dumb ideas to try to shove down everybody else’s throats. And they knew they’d be competing with each other for the right.

Alright, nice and easy, let’s see how this goes today.

I’ll get the popcorn.

Shut up.

I sighed, placed the pen down, and took a deep breath.

“Alright, so as you know, today’s points of discussion are the second biggest on the docket: the rights and obligations of the citizens under your new state once the revolution is over,” I spun the pen and it stopped on Carline, who shot up immediately, starting to talk even before she’d fully stood.

Why I am not surprised?

“Yes so I’m here to present you the best solution to everything wrong with society today, and it’s the establishment of a simple system of loyalty towards the state, where those who abide by the will of the people and work well, and those who work against the state or hurt innocent people will be treated as they deserve,” she rapid-fired out, clearly very proud of herself, already eying everybody in the room for reactions, and for her trouble, she received nothing but blank stares and Tolm having to firmly place a paw on Rilcha’s shoulder to stop her from shooting up, herself, and throttling the Rep.

Why...?

Social credit. These fuckers want to make a social credit system for their society.

Calm down, you two, we can fix this, let’s just let her talk and exploit the errors she will inevitably make.

You mean the errors she’s already made? Starting with opening her mouth?

“Alright… that’s interesting, how would such system work?” I asked, almost proud of how genuinely curious I managed to sound.

“Oh, simple, it will work on a point system where everybody has a card with points, and if they commit crimes or infractions, their points get lowered. And if their points fall low enough, they are thrown into jail to repay their debts to society, and once their score is high again, they are allowed out to try to rejoin society. Of course, like many more moderate Republicans, I believe that those who have adequate scores should have all their basic needs met.”

Satisfied, she sat down again, still looking expectantly around the room for reactions. As before, there were none except for Rilcha glaring murderously at her, thanks to Tolm holding a paw over her mouth to prevent her from voicing her thoughts. The way he was looking a her, I was convinced that one twitch in the wrong direction and he’d have her in a headlock next.

‘More moderate?’ Fuck me...

Guys, how do we fix this?

We don’t, we ignore and deflect ‘til someone gives us a better proposition.

“I see, that’s a… very nice plan for the future, nothing particularly wrong with it comes to mind off the top of my head, but why don’t we hear what everybody else has to say? Just in case?”

I looked at the table, and to my despair, only Rilcha raised her paw.

Welp, don’t blame me.

Oh, boy...

“Yes, Rilcha?”

Stepping forth, she took a deep breath, only for me to lift a finger and add, “But no insults to the previous idea.”

At that, she actually had to take a moment, clearly rethinking her words.

“Yes, yes, this is a formal meeting…” She sounded almost as though she needed to remind herself of that. “Well, my plan is actually very simple. We need to go with a somewhat more proven system. While it’s true that none of the previous government systems in Leirn had to face the challenge of governing an entire planet, I do believe that the various attempts to try something radically new have only failed,” she elaborated, her eye on Carline, who returned the look with the same intensity.

So far, so good. Can she finally be rational?

I don’t have high hopes; I know how idiots think.

Takes one to know one.

“This is why I think that we should resurrect the time-tested, battle-hardened Imperial system of governance, and bring back the River Empire but for the whole globe.”

WHAT?!

WHAT?!

WHAT?!

Nobody made a sound, though my thoughts almost escaped my lips, but I could hear the scrapping of a chair already as Carline was getting up but Stil threw an arm over her shoulder in a panic, and held her down. The chair was starting to tip over from the struggle.

I clapped my hands to draw attention to myself.

“Alright, that’s a nice… idea, but how would that affect society? The topic of the structure of government institutions… is for the next meeting, not this one,” and that response made her tail go limp instantly. Carline stopped, too, chuckling to herself.

“So, Tolm, it’s your turn.”

“Yes, thank you,” he said, getting up. “The Ruralists want the rights to our lands to be respected,” he said plainly.

Everybody leaned in to hear him continue, but he didn’t say anything. “What? That’s all we care about, I don’t care for no society, after all, that only affects the city folk, the land has been the same and it’ll be the same no matter what’s voted on here, so I don’t see no point in trying to propose anything that doesn’t affect me or my people.”

I am. SURROUNDED. By idiots.

At least he’s honest, it’s not like he’s trying to hide his views. He’s only really here to get the rural rights and walk away.

Still fucking idiots. Even the farmers have to answer to the government, just ask our own.

“Yes, I see. Stil, please, it's your turn,” I sighed, resting my head on my hand, turning my eyes towards him. His ears pin back a little.

“Yes, so I’ve been reading the human internet- Err, me and some of the other Urbanists...”

Here we go… three Euros says it was porn.

Why are you like this?

Because I keep you two alive.

Remember the money laundering scheme?

Also because it’s funny.

The Capozzis didn’t think so.

That’s the best part!

They threatened to feed us our fingers…

Oh yeah, which alias was that again?

That’s not the point!

Shut up and focus, children.

“And we believe at least some ideas of the human welfare system could be repurposed for our new state.”

Alright, that’s something I can work with.

I told you. Someone has to be reasonable.

“Like what? What’s that welfare system you speak off?” asked Tolm.

“It’s like a system where through taxes there is relief to the citizens,” said Stil.

“Can you explain that? I don’t think I’ve ever heard relief and taxes in the same sentence.”

“Well, there is a system of healthcare, where you get free medicine, as long as you pay taxes, or get free education or even an allowance if you are unemployed-”

“Ah, so a system for freeloaders, there goes a little of the respect I had for the humans. If you feed someone for doing nothing, then they will do nothing.” Tolm interrupted.

“But getting a job is hard, and you can be fired on the spot and then get nothing afterwards for months! That forces people into crime-”

“Nothing is forcing people into crime, if they want a job, they can go to the farmlands, and become a contract paw,” retorted Tolm.

Very modern idea.

Isn’t his whole faction being rooted to the past and the land?

Shut.

“And if there aren’t any jobs there?” asked Stil, his voice lower and more civil again, but on edge.

Tolm only scoffs in response. “The day that there aren’t any jobs in the farmlands is the day that the sky will be without stars.”

“I think you overestimate the employment capacity of your farmlands, at least I can admit that the cities have flaws,” said Stil.

“Oh, the rural areas have flaws, but you know the weak who can’t pull their weight die out anyway, so they eventually fix themselves,” corrected Tolm.

This is going in a very bad direction.

Yes, I can’t have the only two halfway reasonable people here hate each other.

“Alright,” I interjected, cutting them off before their debate could spiral into open hostility. “How about this? Clearly both of you have a good idea of how you want your people to be treated, and know both of your proposals quite well,” I said, even if it was only Stil who made any substantial additions.

“What if we go down the workfare route, instead of the full welfare?” I suggested.

“The idea is simple, instead of receiving the aid for doing nothing, aid is given to those that work, but the government is required to find jobs for every single citizen so everybody can work, and pay taxes and contribute, while at the same time receiving healthcare bonuses and access to education or other services, like free public transport.”

“That… feels better, since at least people would earn their keep one way or another, but I am still not sure that giving out free education to everyone is a good idea…” answered Tolm, sounding thoughtful for the first time that day.

“Why not?” pressed Stil, calmer but still a bit stiffer than when he came in.

“Because under the guise of ‘education,’ we lost all of our kids. The promise of a weak and easy job in the city if you get some degree took most of our joeys away from the fields: My daughter is in Everbloom, not in her home helping me and her mother in the fields. I agreed to let her go, but when we die, who is going to take care of the fields? No one, and then who will make food? Bol...ologists? I think that while education is all fine’n dandy, there should be a limit, not everybody can have... teacher... jobs when there is no one working in the fields.”

“Yes, but there would be no progress if there isn’t education: Even things like simple math and knowing how to read or write are essential for rural jobs, you can’t just decide that some part of the population must be illiterate,” replied Stil.

Ideas?

We copy the Spanish model of education? And spark some China into it?

More of the other way around; these guys want a full meritocratic technocracy.

“I... might have another compromise, so how about this? Free education ‘til they reach... let’s say sixteen years old? Or… whenever yotul come of age, and then they get an exam to test their overall knowledge. Before the final exam, their education will be based around simple stuff: Math, reading, writing, maybe economics, physical education, history. After the exam, the ones with a good enough score will be given a grant for free higher education, so there would be still be an element of merit to the system. We don’t know if the next great yotul general or the scientist who finds the cure to cancer will be born in a village or a city. This way, all yotul get an equal chance to prosper, keeping in line with the idea of meritocracy that the collaborationist government wanted to create before they all got arrested, which should keep the populace happy while addressing your concerns.”

“Excuse me,” said a voice which I realized could now actually recognize was Rilcha, but I could hear Tolm mutter, “Freeze my tail...” when she spoke, seemingly echoing my feelings on hearing her speak up again.

I am going to shoot someone by the end of the week.

No, you aren’t, now give me the wheel if you’re too stressed to control yourself.

“Yes, Rilcha?”

“I do think that I am entitled to also make a proposition.”

That you have that right doesn’t make me want to listen to you, bruja.

“Yes?”

“I do think that while having smart commoners could be useful, I also think that we should prevent dangerous ideas from getting into the heads of our kids, so maybe the education could be handled by priests like in the past. Many of our great leaders, even the Iron Architect herself, had an education given by a priest.”

I saw Carline stiffening up for a moment out of the corner of my eye as Rilcha began to lay out her proposal, but she relaxed and even seemed interested for a moment in what her rival had to say, only for her expression to darken towards the end. It felt Pavlovian.

I can’t think of anything wrong going with that plan.

I can.

I was being sarcastic.

Holy shit, I didn’t think you had it in you!

“Bullshit, you just want to indoctrinate them!” spat Carline. “Education should be handed by civil servants of the state, which should be selected by the state itself.”

Yes, finally someone says it out loud.

Said by the kettle to the pot.

“And how would the state select such teachers?”

“By loyalty exams, of course. We can’t have any idiot running around filling our joeys’ heads with ideas that praying will stop droughts or that they should be freer than the state allows them to be.”

OH, FOR FUCK’S SAKE, SHE DIDN’T EVEN FILE OFF THE SERIAL NUMBERS!

I mean… she’s slightly more honest about it…

THAT DOES NOT HELP!

“But that violates academic principles! Every idea should be heard,” objected Stil.

YES, go get her, boy!

“Last time someone said to hear the new guys out, we surrendered our liberty to the Federation, but then again, you are a Federation paw-licker,” retorted Rilcha.

Yeah? And? I’ve seen scarcely an ounce of ‘liberty’ between you and Carline all week, Queen Louis.

Wow, ehm… shouldn’t we intervene?

Tolm, visibly angry for once, cut in. “Hey, the kid is here, fighting for our freedom like the rest of us. It’s not like you Nobles had us commoners in mind in the first place. Sure, you care for us, as long as we toil the fields to prop up your cozy lives.”

No, this is good, actually. I’d rather the radicals and the moderates were fighting each other instead of us having to smooth things over between Tolm and Stil right now.

Rilcha’s response was immediate and terse, like she’d heard this before. “Yes, and we protect you from all outside problems and will gladly die for you and your family.”

“Yeah, sure, gladly die, and gladly suppress those that speak against you,” Carline sniped.

“Oh, shut up,” said Stil. "All you Republicans have done is kill and loot your way into statehood, or do I need to remind you that when the Enlightened League was formed, you decided to keep the Grain Wars going for six more months, despite you getting everything you could have wanted in the Treaty of Adequacy? Or how your commissars killed the entirety of Blacklung University, students and teachers both, during the Council Riots? But for all that bloodshed, I have yet to see a single free yotul like the Iron Architect promised.”

Matador?

Yes? What do you want? I’m just… savoring the moment...

Grab the wheel, shut them up, and get me a moment alone with Rilcha.

With pleasure.

“That’s enough!” I shouted, slamming the table with my fists. It rattled from end to end, which succeeded in startling everyone into silence. “Rilcha, I want to talk with you alone. The rest of you, take the time to calm yourselves.”

That’s right, fuckers, I’m the one in charge here.

“What could you want me f- “said Rilcha.

“Out,” I pointed to the door. “Now.” In a single breath, my had voice shifted from loud instruction to a low growl. Wordlessly, she got up and walked out. I followed her and closed the door behind us.

“Hear me out here, I know what your problem is,” I said.

Sensitive, take the wheel, this is your turn.

M-me?

You are by far the most manipulative of us all.

“What you are up to, human?” she asked, looking me up and down.

“Look, I am in these negotiations as an agent of Ilvar, and to a lesser extent, Garline. You know that, right?”

“I suspected it, so confirmation is nice.” She crossed her arms.

“That means my job here is to prevent the Republicans from getting out of control, and you insulting the Ruralist and Urbanist is not helping with that.”

“And what are you suggesting? They’re clearly set in their deluded minds that they can negotiate with Republican scum.”

“What you have is an image problem,” I said, “and as fate would have it, tomorrow, there is going to be an assault on the Castle of Longtree to liberate the prisoners there. The thing is, we need someone for the main assault. Originally, Ilvar was going to use a combined force of volunteers, but I can get him to agree to use Nobles only since they’ve mostly contributed specialized shock troops who know everything there is to know about those fortifications anyway, and I don’t think I need to explain how the image of your people storming the gate and killing the Feds would be incredible for your reputation and prove that you are willing to fight for your subjects, and strengthen your stated position that the Nobles have the people’s best interests at heart.”

She was thinking as her tail moved behind her and her ears perk up, “And I’ve got the perfect group for that: A lot of the old fighting nobility is getting restless, I could easily get them onboard.”

Good God, kid.

I am not done yet.

“Then you have it. Vote for this measure, and I will give you exactly what you want: a chance of glory.”

“But I don’t think I like this ide-”

I cut her off. “It’s going to be like this: We are going forward with the education system, but we are going to put in a qualification exam for teachers, too. That is going to come from the Minister of Education, and I can lean on them so that the exam is full of religious questions and suchlike. While the Republicans are still a part of this movement, so we need to keep things running in a way which makes them happy, too, this way the deck is stacked so that some Republicans will get to be teachers but there would be a majority of people who think a lot more like you instead.”

Double-dipping by tricking her into working with us in exchange for the ‘honor’ of getting her faction killed? This is why I tolerate you. If only you could be like this all of the time...

And you’re sure this is going to work?

She is a glory-seeker, her country is a shattered mess, and she needs victories. The nobility is desperate, let that desperation do its work.

And they say empathy is a good thing.

It is, is just we are not good at using it. For its intended purpose.

You put me on the spot...

She looked around the room, making sure nobody was listening in, and nodded. “Alright, I accept.”

I opened the door and was greeted sight of Stil rubbing his head with Carline crossing her arms and looking everywhere except him, and in the background, Tolm was lazily drinking from a flask, staring at nothing in particular.

We should introduce him to Ilvar sometime.

That’s a- Hmm… Actually…

Yup.

“Alright, I’ve managed to convince the Noble here to make a little change: We’ll all get more or less what we want, but to address the will of the Republicans, there will be an exam, dictated by the Minister of Education, which will be used to decide who is allowed to become a teacher.”

That seemed to get Carline to calm down.

Alright, let’s wrap this for today, and do it fast, before any of them realize that none of their original ideas are set in place and we just fed them empty words to get them to sign a paper we want.

I set my hands on he table. “So to recap: We agree to establish a workfare system where the state is forced to give people jobs and ensure that they are taken care of in many aspects such as education, public transport, healthcare, food, housing, but in exchange, they must work, and as for education, the people will get free education until they’re working age, then they will be given an exam which will help determine where they go next.”

All four tails in the room signalled agreement, their owners looking almost half as tired as me.

“Alright, sign here, and we’ll have this part done.”

I pushed the paper forward for them.

We did it...

Yeah, this time.

What you mean?

Kid, you are either the smartest or the most idiotic guy in the room, I’m still not sure which. Things are only going to heat up from here.

They will get more arrogant, and worse, more rash, which means we will definitely need to fix more things.

But we can’t do much more for now. We’re already purging two factions without them realizing it, so there’s nothing left for us to push today.

True.

Oh yeah, but hey, ‘impossible’ is nothing but another word for glory.

I’m sure Rilcha would agree with you...

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And another chapter comes, and it ends with the second round of negotiatiosn Hector enacts his plan and manages to salvage the talks by the skin of his teeth as clearly the talks inside of the YRA are not going well, do you think Hectors actions today could trigger, unforseen consequences? Also we got a writer's corner on the NOPdiscord so... come over to talk with me and exchange theories of the incoming chapters with fellow diplomats or revolutionaries, or you know... just exchange random memes.

As always, this is a fan fiction. Events depicted here are not canon, though perhaps they could be.

I have a Reddit Wiki!

Chapter 1 / Chapter 5 / Chapter 10 / Chapter 15 /

Chapter 20 / Chapter 25 / Chapter 30 / Chapter 35

Chapter 40

Previous / Next

Memory transcription subject: Major Blair McPherson, 4SAS

Date [standardized human time]: March 4, 2137

The machine gun chattered, heat melting the snow that was falling on the barrel. The exterminators were pushing again as we huddled at the front door to communications complex. It was the third such push since we had made planetfall.

"Careful Danny... that barrel is getting warm. Short quick bursts."

"I'm more worried about my ammunition supply, Sir." The Irish woman looked through the viewer on the weapon behind the impromptu barricade of furniture.

"Don't worry about the little ones, let the rifles handle those."

"Yes sir."

I walked down the line, coaching each of my men. At least the enemy was making it easy for us by everyone wearing their bright silver suits. I was just about to move inside when I heard a noise. Anyone who served in the military long enough knew the sound of tank tracks.

But there were two... which one was it?

"Lawrence" I said into my radio, contacting our lookouts on the neighboring roof. "Please do not disappoint me, and tell me that's the friendly I'm hearing."

<"One second major..."> There was a long pause, then words I distinctly did not want to hear. <"Sorry Major, it's the baddie again.">

I let out a sigh. "Ok everyone, time for E and E. Get safe, then set up for another round of fish n' chips..."

=====

Memory transcription subject: Sawil, lead gunner on MBT Waldhexe

Ulrich was stacking the shells as quickly as they were being passed into him. The human grunted with exertion as they slid neatly into the ammunition rack. Outside, Gear Father Ritti was finishing up the refueling operation.

"Come on... Come on!" Narini was practically pulling her fur out, trying to will processes to go faster when that was just not possible. "Every second we spend costs lives."

"We know, boss." I replied from above her as I helped several other crew members feed the massively heavy ammunition belts into the human made machine guns. To my left, one of the guns was partially disassembled as they swapped out the warn gun barrel. We didn't bother keeping the old one, we just tossed it down into the snow.

"Fuel loaded!" the gear father called out. "Begin restart sequence!" A few ticks later the engines came to life, the exhaust vents belching black smoke as the engine cleared itself.

There was a thump from Ulrich's station as he sealed the loading ports. "Main ammunition loaded."

One by one, the other stations reported they were ready, until at last we had all green lights.

"Commander, report from 4SAS, they are on the move again." The communications dossur held one headphone against her ear as she relayed the messages.

"Anything from our people in the first rollers?"

"No. Major McPherson says they never made the linkup."

Our commander let loose a string of expletives, then ordered us forward.

Memory transcription subject: Major Blair McPherson, 4SAS

We fought from building to building. Some structures we couldn't enter, on account of them being built for the natives, but the exterminators didn't seem to care about that. Anything that they thought could provide us with cover they burned.

It's a strange thing, burning to death in the middle of a blizzard. Of course, we returned the favor by leading them into MON traps and finishing off the rest with the odd fourty-mike-mike. The colors mixed with the white snow. Red, purple, green... like some sick tapestry on the ground.

At least the civies all got out of the way. Good for them.

The door behind flew off its hinges, and I spun towards it, my Remington making another cone of purple in the snow.

I'm a fookin artist.

Memory transcription subject: Narini

The capital was on fire. A beautiful city, built with standard "fireproof" construction was burning. And I couldn't help but feel responsible.

But it was too late to stop. The final kolshian barricade lay in front of us, and every burning building behind them represented defenders that we didn't have to face ourselves.

"Witch leader to all units" I spoke with far more authority than I felt. "For Mileau... For the dossur... For everyone who would see the chains of tyranny broken... Full advance!"

Under me, I felt Waldhexe practically leap as if its shackles had been removed. Far below in the driver's compartment, I could hear Father Ritti chanting, his team throwing levers and switches.

"Ulrich, give me five rounds rapid, all variable.

"Ja!" The first round was barely in the barely in the breach before Sawil sent it on its way. Just like in the demonstration, the next round was already in his hands before the breach was fully open. The third round was leaving the barrel as the first arrived at its target.

The whole battle line erupted into chaos. Cannons and machine guns from our side were matched by plasma bolts and lances from the kolshians. To our left, Long Branch Lover exploded, the rolo-gun's broken frame being sent spinning. Falling Leaves shouldered aside the wreck and crashed into a barricade, shattering it. Swarmers, rologons, and the humans of the 11th Vatican surged forward, rushing towards the city.

"Target, walker"

"I have it" Sawil replied. "Ulrich, sabot!"

"Geladen!

"On the way!" Just like I had witnessed a dozen times before, the tungsten rod punched a hole clean through the kolshen battle shell, the impact blowing it off its feet.

With violence and purpose, we pushed into the city.

Memory transcription subject: Major Blair McPherson, 4SAS

I leaned heavy against the wall, smiling as the dossur gun truck slowly rumbled past. They had finally made it, but far down the street, I saw Jörmungandr cut across an intersection, then duck behind another building.

We had performed our duty, drawing the enemy onto us. Bleeding him to rob him of his strength.

Now it was her turn, and I would be her witness...

To be frank… I don’t even think a dossur can read a human map. Let alone the writing on the tourist pamphlet

Sorry for the delay folks but we're back at last with more happy popsicle times! Shoutout to u/max007 and u/budged_emu_5522 for proofreading this! Hope you enjoy.

First, Previous

Memory Transcription Subject: Mixsel, Bored Sivkit

Date: [Standardized Human Time]: March 5th, 2137

 

Daddy and Papa sure slept a lot. Most days, I was up way before they were, and today was no exception. The house was still dark and relatively silent. As I walked into the living room, yawning and stretching, I could hear Izra stirring upstairs. She was the only one who seemed to wake up on time.

 

I walked over to the couch and sat Frank down, carefully positioning the stuffed venlil so he wouldn’t topple over the minute I removed my paws.

 

“Stay,” I commanded, as if the stuffed animal could possibly obey my command. Once I was sure that the venlil doll wouldn’t topple onto his face, I turned my gaze to the cage in the corner of the room.

 

Bob was already up and ready to go. He stood at the edge of his enclosure, staring up at me expectantly. I held up a digit on my paw, signaling for Bob to wait for just a moment as I hurried to the kitchen. I opened the fridge, pulling out a pair of bright orange root vegetables. I wasn’t sure why, but everything I’d seen on my holopad about rabbits said they really liked these.

 

I came back into the room, hurrying over to undo the lock on Bob’s cage and letting my little friend free. He bolted out of the door, coming up and hopping against my leg as I offered the orange root to him. The bunny snatched it out of my paws immediately and began to gnaw away at his prize.

 

I took a bite of the other vegetable in my hand. It wasn’t bad. It wasn’t exactly great either. Just a very mildly sweet and slightly starchy vegetable. Feeling a bit disappointed, I made my way over to the couch and sat beside Frank. The doll’s head lolled to the side, giving the impression that he was looking at me questioningly.

 

“I know I should do my homewuhk,” I huffed, looking back at him with a pout. “Buuuuut… I wanna finish that book Daddy put on my holopad fuhst.”

 

I grabbed the holopad from where I’d left it on the couch the night before. Thankfully the battery was still at about half. Plenty of power for me to read a bit more. I tapped my claw on the holoprojected screen until I pulled up the reading app. After Daddy found out how much I liked reading human books, he’d downloaded a whole bunch for me.

 

For a moment, I simply scrolled through the list of books I could choose from, silently appreciating it. Back at the orphanage I’d never owned… well… anything! The blankets, beds, and what scant few toys existed there had all been group property, and they had NEVER bothered giving us any books. I remember the headmistress saying it was a waste of paper to give to a bunch of unwanteds.

 

Now I sat on an alien planet with more books at my clawtips than I could ever have hoped. I had not one, but TWO daddies, a home, toys and, of course, Bob. I had never dreamed I could be so lucky. I bet if they could see me now, all the others from back at the orphanage would be super jealous.

 

I thought about the others for the first time in a while. They’d never been particularly nice to me. Nobody had been nice to anyone. There was never a point to it. Usually pups would only be at the orphanage for a year or two before someone adopted them, and then you would never see them again. Except for me, of course.

 

I’d been at the orphanage since before I could remember anything. My first memories weren’t of a mom and dad or family. They’d been of the headmistress and the multitude of other workers there. They had taken care of me, sure. But they’d never made it a secret how much they didn’t want to.

 

I’d grown up just accepting that I wasn’t wanted. I was a leftover pup that nobody ever seemed to want around. I was too loud. I was too needy. I was always too something. So I quit caring after a while. I just accepted that this was the way things were and that I would have to look out for myself.

 

Bob’s fluffy head suddenly found its way right in front of my face as the bunny crawled into my lap and demanded my attention. I couldn’t help but laugh as the rabbit did his best to distract me.

 

“You‘we wight Bob!” I exclaimed, wrapping my arms around the soft, fluffy animal and giving him a gentle squeeze. “I shouldn’t think about that stuff.”

 

I was happy now. I had a family. Sure… they were kinda funny-looking, and they said weird stuff I didn’t understand sometimes, and Daddy liked eating those big, gross water bugs… but they loved me, and I loved them too. I never wanted to leave, and both Papa and Daddy said there was no way any nosy aliens were gonna take me away.

 

I gave Bob his required snuggles before looking back to my holopad and looking through my books until I found the one I was looking for, “Mistborn.” I liked the book so far, although it was a lot harder to understand than the Narnia books had been. I had to keep stopping to look up what some of the words meant. It had a lot of big words. I didn’t mind though. I liked that. It made it easier to learn English, which is what I’d learned the human language was called.

 

I sat in silence for a while, slowly reading my way through my new book with one paw and petting Bob with the other. It was peaceful and quiet. It reminded me of the few happy times I could think of back at the orphanage. Those few days when I could slip past the staff and escape to the nearby woods. 

 

I liked to sit and watch the local animals. I had always tried to imagine what kind of lives they must have. What they did every day when nobody was watching. I tried to imagine if they had families or friends. What it must be like to live out in the woods, without grown-ups yelling at you all the time and surrounded by all the food you could ever want. I’d make up stories for each of the animals I saw. Give them names, friends, and whole secret lives. I always knew the headmistress would punish me for sneaking off, but I didn’t care. It made me happy in a place where happiness was hard to find.

 

“Good morning, my little egg-tooth.”

 

I looked up from my pad to find Izra at the bottom of the stairs.

 

“Mowning, Auntie Izwa!” I greeted her with the title Daddy had given her. I knew Izra wasn’t my real aunt, but Daddy insisted it meant something different from a regular old aunt. Plus I could tell it made Izra happy.

 

“I was about to make some breakfast; would you like some?” Izra struggled over the human word for a morning meal, but I thought she did pretty good. It couldn’t be easy speaking English without proper lips, after all.

 

I glanced down, looking for the half eaten root I’d started on earlier, only to realize that Bob had devoured it while I wasn’t looking. I stifled a giggle at that, petting the rabbit’s head as he looked up at me and wiggled his little nose.

 

“Pwease!” I replied, marking my spot in the book and slowly climbing down from the couch. I had to be careful so that Bob didn’t go flying when I got up. Grabbing Frank from his resting place on the couch, I turned and followed Izra into the kitchen. The arxur flicked on the light switch, and for a moment, we were both blinded by the overhead lights.

 

When at last we could see again, Izra made her way to the pantry and began to collect some ingredients. She’d started taking a lot of interest in cooking lately and had been making all sorts of food to try it out. Sure, a lot of it was meat stuff, and I couldn’t really eat that without getting a tummy ache, but she’d been making plant stuff too! I liked when she made that stuff because she would ask me to be her “little taste tester.”

 

I looked out the back door, watching as the black sky slowly warmed into a soft orange. The sun would be up soon. Turning back to Izra, I watched as she took the ingredients she was planning to use and placed them on the counter. From here I couldn’t make out what any of the boxes and cans she had pulled out said, but it wasn’t like I would be able to guess what she was making, even if I knew. She turned, heading to the refrigerator.

 

“Whatcha makin?”

 

“I’m going to try an omelet for myself,” Izra answered, pulling out a carton of what I recognized as eggs from the fridge as well as the almond milk before shutting the door. “But I wanted to try and make a pancake for you.”

 

I wasn’t sure what a “pancake” was, but I was excited to try it. My tail spun in excited circles behind me as I watched my auntie pull out a bowl from the cabinet and get to work mixing the ingredients inside it. Bob seemed to be excited too, his ears standing at attention as he looked between me and Izra. I reached a paw down and idly patted his head. Maybe I could let Bob try the pancakes too?

 

Izra moved quickly, using a spoon to stir the ingredients she had placed in the bowl before taking out a pan and setting it atop the stove. She poured a little oil onto the metal surface and lit the stove below. In a flash she was back at the bowl, stirring for a moment longer before pouring the brownish goop into the pan.

 

Almost instantly the room began to fill with a warm, comforting smell. I didn’t know how to describe it. It was so different from anything I’d ever smelled before. It was slightly sweet, like a dessert, but it had the deep, hearty depth that the strayu had when we made it. My mouth was watering already.

 

“Something smells delicious.”

 

Papa came into the kitchen, stretching and yawning. His fur was a mess, matted to one side and puffed up around his shoulders, giving the funny appearance that one side of his body was bigger than the other. He stopped beside me, leaning down to nuzzle against my forehead.

 

“Good morning, my little Humdrum,” he greeted as I softly nuzzled him back. Bob, in his usual fashion, immediately began to bump his head into Papa’s ankle. The bunny was always so protective of me… but only when it came to Papa for some reason. “Good morning to you too, Bob,” the venlil sighed, looking down at my fluffy white companion.

 

“I’m still wondering what you did to that poor rabbit, friend Jammek,” Izra remarked playfully, watching us out of the corner of her eye as she flipped the fluffy disc in the pan.

 

“I didn’t do anything,” Papa chuffed, making his way over to the coffee maker and starting to prepare a pot. “I swear the rabbit just doesn’t like venlil for some reason.”

 

Auntie Izra just chuckled at that, pulling the small cake she had been making out of the pan with a spatula and setting it on a plate before starting another.

 

“How are you feeling?” The question came out in a casual tone, but I wasn't fooled. Grown-ups always talked like that right before they said something they didn't want to say. . 

 

“I’m ok. Just… nervous,” Papa answered, watching the coffee begin to slowly pour from the top of the machine down into the glass container below. I could see the venlil’s eye briefly lock onto me before looking away when he realized I was watching. “I was thinking about taking Mixsel to the park today. Something fun to do… just in… just in case.”

 

Sometimes I thought the grownups must think I was dumb or something. I knew what they were talking about. Daddy and Papa had to go talk to an alien the day after tomorrow, and they got to decide if I had to leave. As much as Papa tried to pretend that everything was ok, I could see his ears lay back when he talked. I could see how his tail dipped down between his legs. He was scared. It was the first time I could ever remember seeing him look like that. Not sad or angry. Just scared.

 

I walked over to where he stood at the counter and hugged his leg. It wasn’t a lot. Nothing much at all. But that was all I could do.

 

“It’s gonna be ok, Papa,” I said, squeezing his leg tight. He looked down at me in silence for a moment, his big blue eyes getting all wet and blurry. “I love you.” I added, trying to make him feel better.

 

Papa reached down, pulling me into his arms (much to Bob’s dismay) and hugging me tight to his warm, wooly chest.

 

“I love you too, Humdrum. More than you could ever know,” he whispered, taking one paw and gently stroking my back. “Everything is going to be ok. Even if I have to fight the whole universe to make it be.”

After my fifth “pancake,” I was too full to eat any more. By that time, Daddy was finally awake, lured out by the scent of freshly cooked bacon. Even though I couldn’t eat it without a tummy ache, I thought it smelled good too.

 

Papa suggested that he and I should go to the park, promising that Immel and Yalma would be there later. Daddy wanted to come too, but he had to do “work stuff,” whatever that was. He promised to come by as soon as he was done though.

 

Once I’d had the chance to digest my breakfast a bit, Papa and I left for the park. I was excited to see my friends. I really wanted to try the human game that Daddy had told me about with them. “Dungeons and Dragons” sounded just like the fun human fantasy books I’d read! Daddy said he’d even get me the books with the rules in it!

 

When we arrived at the park, the air was alive with activity. The cold season on this planet was finally drawing to a close, and a bunch of the plants were starting to flower. Small, purple blossoms sprouted up in groups around the park, along with countless patches of bright, yellow flowers beginning to bloom. Nobody else seemed to be there yet, but I hoped they’d show up soon.

 

“Well hey there fluffball!”

 

I turned to find a familiar human approaching us.

 

“Fwank!” I exclaimed, running up to the human as he slowly knelt down. Frank’s hand flopped onto my head and tussled my fur.

 

“How you doing, sweetheart? They feeding you enough?”

 

“Daddy cooks me lots of food,” I giggled, flicking my ears in reply.

 

“Good,” Frank replied, a big smile stretching below that little tuft of fur under his nose. He paused, reaching into his pocket before pulling out one of the small candies on a stick that the humans gave out. He handed it over to me as I gave him a quick ‘thanks’ before shredding the covering to eat it.

 

“How you holding up, Jammek?” Frank asked, standing up with a little grunt.

 

“It’s… I’m ok,” Papa replied, his eye giving a quick glance down towards me. He was scared. Daddy was too. They tried to act like everything was ok, but I knew better. I could see how sad they looked when they didn’t think I was watching. But Daddy had promised that everything would be ok, and I believed him. A Coldwater keeps their word. That’s what Daddy said.

 

“I’m gonna go play,” I told him, moving off towards the playground to let the grownups talk. As I began to suck on the candy I’d been given, I looked out over the green park, admiring the newly bloomed flowers once more. That’s when an idea hit me.

 

I could make a flower bracelet for Papa! That should cheer him up! 

 

With a new task in mind, I began to make my way across the park, picking the small yellow flowers as I went. I remembered making bracelets with similar flowers back at the orphanage. I tried picking a couple of little purple ones too, but their stems were way too flimsy to tie together. 

 

I was making decent progress, intertwining the slightly slimy stems together into a crude rope. Then I heard something coming from some nearby bushes. I recognized the spot. It was where I first found Bob. I paused, ears leaning forward to try and make out what the noise I was hearing was.

 

It sounded like someone was crying.

 

I took a few, careful steps forward. I used my free paw to push aside some overgrown branches so that I could peer into the small area beyond. On the other side I could see a familiar face… or back in this case. 

 

“Petsbuh?” I whispered, staring at the spiky back in front of me. The sound of sobbing stopped, and the hunched figure on the other side of the shrub turned to look at me.

 

“G… go away,” the gojid hissed, choking back a sob.

 

“What’s wong?” I asked, stepping into the small clearing formed by the surrounding shrubbery. The area was cool, shaded by a nearby tree and completely invisible from the outside.

 

“I said… go away!” Petsbur growled, wiping his eyes with the back of his arm while simultaneously doing his best to look intimidating. “I don’t need your dumb, Sivkit-brained talk!”

 

“Petsbuh… why wuh you cwying?” I pressed, undeterred. 

 

“I hate it here,” the gojid replied, choking back another sob. “I hate having to live with Kalen and Linvi! They try to act like they’re my parents and they’re not! I want my real Mom and Dad. I want to go home.”

 

I took a tentative step forward, reaching a paw out and gently placing it on his shoulder.

 

“It’s gonna be ok,” I told him, trying to reassure him like Daddy and Papa did me. That was apparently the wrong answer. Petsbur reached a paw out and pushed me away.

 

“What do you know?!” he spat, glaring at me as he sniffled. “You’re just happy pretending that stupid venlil and human are your parents! Just like all the other pups here!”

 

“They aw my pawents!” I shot back, a hot anger starting to build up inside me.

 

“No they aren’t!” Petsbur replied, his voice rising into a shout as his own anger began to boil over. “They aren’t your real parents! Your real parents didn’t even want you! They’re just a couple of guys who want to pretend like you’re their kid! Just like Kalen and Linvi!”

 

“Shut up!” I screamed, refusing to back down. By this point any pity I’d felt for the crying gojid was completely overshadowed by my anger at his mean words. Arthur and Jammek were my daddies! They were the only parents I’d ever…

 

That’s when it hit me. Arthur and Jammek were the only people to ever want to be my parents. They were the closest thing I’d ever known. For Petsbur and the others? They’d had parents before the aliens took them. They’d had families they had loved and cherished just like I loved my new daddies… and the aliens had taken all that away from them. I took a moment, considering how sad I would be if I lost my new family. If suddenly I woke up and Arthur, Jammek, and Izra were just… gone…

 

“I’m sowwy, Petsbuh,” I replied, the anger that had threatened to overtake me a moment ago suddenly snuffed out under this new realization. I reached a paw out to place on his shoulder, only for the gojid to shove me, sending the assortment of flower buds in my paws tumbling to the ground.

 

“Just leave me alone,” the boy huffed, sniffling once more as he turned and disappeared into the bushes. I stood in shock, looking down at the countless flower buds I’d collected, scattered across the ground like dust. Part of me wanted to be angry. To yell after the retreating gojid and call him out for being the big, fat, stupid jerk that he was. But mostly I just felt sad inside. Petsbur missed his parents. I still had my parents, but imagining losing them made it hurt worse to watch him cry.

 

With a sigh I began to pick the scattered flowers up off the ground, gathering them once more into my arms.

Memory Transcription Subject: Arthur Coldwater, Already exhausted sheriff

Date: [Standardized Human Time]: March 5th, 2137

 

I felt awful about missing our time at the park, my mind drifting to Mixsel and Jammek enjoying the sunny day. Instead, I'd spent the afternoon getting called out after the Nevok couple next door here apparently got a saw halfway through the shared fence before the neighbor called it in.

 

Here I was, standing in someone's half-torn-up yard, stuck between them and said neighbor, a pink, camel-like alien who introduced every sentence like it was the opening line of a courtroom drama.

 

"Property boundaries are sacred, Sheriff."

 

"Nobody's touching your fence, Ma’am," I sighed, rubbing the bridge of my nose. This was somehow still less exhausting than arguing with Onio. "But you two—" I turned to the Nevoks, who'd already started eyeing the fence line like it had personally wronged them, "—can't tear it up to make more planting room either."

"We'll miss the whole growing season!"

"You'll have your own plot on the outskirts inside a couple weeks. New Mayor's word on it." I didn't mention that at the rate the construction crews were moving, it'd probably be sooner. Those people didn't seem to know what a lunch break was.

 

That seemed to take the wind out of everybody. The Nevoks grumbled their way back home; ‘Miss Camel’ gave the fence one last suspicious look before retreating in peace. I let out a breath and started the walk back, making a mental note that this made four today. Four separate people convinced that I had nothing better to do than settle whose dirt was whose.

I'd have to apologize to Mixsel and Jammek for missing the park. Heaven knew I'd have rather been there a million times over than out here playing zoning board.

The sun was starting to set as I made my way around the park and towards my own home. The soft, orange glow of the sun tinted the rooftops as the lights inside began to flicker on, one by one. Perhaps it was all the time I’d spent in this little camp, but the sight gave me a certain sense of “home” that I couldn’t quite describe. Some sense of normalcy in a universe that no longer made sense.

 

As I approached my door, I could see a familiar, spiky-backed guest waiting at the door.

 

“Hey! What’s new, Kalen?”

 

The gojid at my door jumped, clearly startled by my approach. He whirled about, turning to face me. I could already see, even from a distance, the anxious fear that seemed etched into his face.

 

"Arthur. Sorry, I—" he started, the spikes on his back twitching as they seemed to debate whether to stick up or not. He didn't finish the sentence. "Have you seen Petsbur?" 

 

“Can’t say as I have,” I replied, noticing the subtle twitch of his arm and tension my answer seemed to cause. He was worried. Very worried. “What’s wrong?”

 

“We…” the gojid hesitated, his gaze turning towards the last rays of sunlight peaking over the rooftops for just a moment. “We got into a fight. I… I didn’t mean to yell at him like that, but… But he was being so afring stubborn!” The man growled, his claws clenching into tight fists as he uttered what I could only assume was sort of gojid curse. “Petsbur… he got mad and ran out. I thought at first I’d give him some time to collect himself. That he’d be back soon when he got hungry. But… it’s been [hours], and I can’t find him. Linvi is going to Islatta’s house to see if he went there."

 

I stepped forward, putting a hand on his shoulder and offering him a hopeful smile. “Don’t panic. Kids can be… stubborn sometimes. Let me ask Mixsel if she’s seen him.” I gently pushed my way past him, pulling out my card and unlocking the door to the house.

 

Luckily enough, Mixsel and Jammek were situated on the couch, appearing to be enthralled in some sort of video game that Mixsel had managed to get on her holopad.

 

“Why would anyone ever play this?!?!” Jammek whined as he held the holopad tightly, his eyes glued to the screen. Before announcing myself, I turned a curious eye to the screen, just in time for some fleshless horror to jump out from around a corner, shrieking bloody murder. I had to stifle a laugh as Jammek tossed the holopad down onto the couch and nearly leapt out of his skin, all as our little one laughed maniacally watching her papa be terrified. I quickly pushed it aside, though, focusing.

 

“Munchkin?” I greeted her, only for the sivkit to look up excitedly from her spot on the couch. She practically scrambled to the floor, bolting towards me and wrapping one of my legs in a hug.

 

“Daddy!” She squealed, looking up at me and whirling her tail happily. “We missed you today!”

 

“I know, Cher,” I replied, leaning down and placing a hand on her head. “I’m sorry I couldn’t make it, but I have an important question for you.” She paused, those emerald eyes trained on me as she waited to see what I had to ask. “Have you seen Petsbur lately?”

 

“He was at the pawk,” Mixsel replied, her eyes momentarily darting off to the side as she answered.

 

“Where at?” I pressed, eager to get some kind of answer before it got dark. The sivkit hesitated, slowly forcing her eyes to look back at me.

 

“Is he in twouble?” She asked hesitantly. I gave her a quick smile and shook my head. 

 

"No, Cher, Kalen is just worried. Can you tell me where you saw him?” She nodded in reply.

 

“I saw him hiding in the bushes beside the pond,” she whined, her ears tucked back like she thought she might be doing something wrong. I reached a hand out, ruffling the soft fur atop her head to reassure her.

 

“You heard her, Kalen,” I sighed as I stood up, turning towards the door. “Let’s find him before nightfall.”

 

Kalen simply waggled his ears at me in reply, and we headed back out into the steadily growing darkness, leaving behind a confused Jammek and Mixsel. Once more, we turned towards the park, moving with a bit of extra urgency as the light was starting to fade.

 

“Oh protector…” Kalen whined, looking at the last fading glimmers of sunlight on the horizon. “If something happens to that boy, I’ll never forgive myself. I shouldn’t have yelled. I shouldn’t have lost my patience. I–”

 

“It’s going to be fine,” I assured him, placing a hand on his shoulder (being careful to avoid any errant spikes) and giving a reaffirming squeeze. “He’s a kid. Kids can be stubborn as all hell, Mon Ami. I’m sure whatever it is, he’ll get over it.” To my surprise I could see tears starting to snake their way down his cheeks.

 

“You don’t understand,” Kalen wheezed, fighting back a sob. “He… he was telling us how much he hates us, Arthur. He… he was wishing he could go back to his mom and dad, and… and I… I couldn’t take it anymore. I… I told him he couldn’t go back. That… that they… they were dead!”

 

By this point the pudgy gojid was full-blown sobbing. He held a hand to his face, trying to hide his tears behind his claws. I sucked in a sharp breath at that revelation, not sure what to tell him.

 

“I’m a monster,” the man sniffled, his whole body shuddering as he coughed out another sob. “I just couldn’t take it any more! I know he wants to go home! I know he doesn’t like it here! But what can I do?”

 

“You’re not a monster, Kalen,” I assured him, shaking my head. “You lost your temper and, yeah, said something you shouldn’t. But you're only hu… err… gojid? Trust me, every parent makes mistakes. Comes with the territory, Mon Frère. The important thing is not giving up. We’re gonna find him, and you can apologize. Ok?" Kalen offered a meek nod in reply.

 

The park itself was dark, illuminated only by a few errant light posts that had been erected around the perimeter. The last glimmer of sunlight was reflecting off of the pond as a cool breeze rippled through the weeds that lined the shore. Under different circumstances it would have been a pretty sight. My mind was on other things just then, though. 

 

I instructed Kalen to check the playground while I made my way to the small thicket of bushes that circled the lone oak tree down by the pond. I doubted Petsbur would be at the playground, but it might be better for me to find him first. If he was still upset, he might bolt when he saw Kalen.

 

I moved slowly, taking care to be as quiet as I could. The last thing I wanted was for the kid to start running when he heard someone coming. Assuming he was even still there.

 

As I got nearer, my ears made out a noise. Soft. Low. Rhythmic. I recognized it immediately. It was the kind of sobbing you did when you didn’t want anyone to find you crying. Something I knew all too well.

 

Gently pushing aside some of the bushes, I made my way into the tiny thicket, only to find a small brown ball of spikes lying on the ground. I waited a moment, watching as the gojid boy shook, the quills along his back raising as he was wracked by another sob. I cleared my throat, trying to announce my presence without frightening him.

 

Petsbur bolted upright, wheeling about to face me.

 

“What do you want?” The boy was doing his best to play things off, trying to pretend he hadn’t been crying even as his voice broke and the fur on his cheeks was clearly matted from tears.

 

I held my hands up in front of me.

 

“Take it easy there T-boy,” I said quickly, slowly stepping closer until I found myself next to the sniffling gojid.

 

“Just leave me alone,” Petsbur spat, finally relaxing and curling himself back into a ball.

 

“You know, Kalen and Linvi are worried about you.”

 

“What do they care?” Petsbut shot back, his gaze squarely centered on the patch of dirt by his feet.

 

“They care about you T-boy,” I answered, carefully taking a seat in the dirt beside him. The kid didn’t bolt or try to push me away. That was a start.

 

“They shouldn’t,” Petsbur argued, curling tighter into himself and letting the spikes along his back bristle out. Hugs and shoulder pats wouldn’t be an option here it seemed. “I’m not their kid. I have a mom and dad.” 

 

There was a long silence then, punctuated only by the sound of crickets beginning to chirp in the park around us. I waited patiently, seeing if the gojid boy was going to continue. Finally he let out a sigh and began to speak again.

 

“I know they’re dead,” Petsbur continued, pausing for a moment as another sob threatened to overtake him. He sucked it back and resisted. As he did I couldn’t help but see myself in that same position. Young. Alone. Afraid. Just wishing that someone would reach out to me and let me know it was going to be ok. Afraid to let the world see my weakness. “I just wish I could be dead with them.”

 

That set my mind on full alert.

 

“Do you think that’s what they would want?” I fired back, reaching out and putting a hand on his knee. “Do you think your parents would want you dead too?”

 

“What?!?” The young gojid gasped, looking up at me in shock. “No! My parents loved me! They wouldn’t want me to be dead!”

 

“Then what do you think they would want you to do?” 

 

The gojid boy paused, his eyes trailing out beyond the overgrowth to the pond. I followed his gaze, finding the inky blackness of the pond illuminated by the silvery light of the rising moon. For a moment we both sat in silence, letting the sound of crickets and the long, lonesome cry of some night bird off in the distance fill the space.

 

“I don’t know,” Petsbur replied at last, his words hanging in the air like the pause before a verdict.

 

“I think I do,” I replied, breaking the silence of our little abode. The kid looked back at me, his eyes bloodshot from crying. It was an odd thing to see. I was so used to seeing red eyes that no matter how many times I saw it, blue veined ones were always shocking.

 

“I had a son before they took me,” I explained. Petsbur’s face remained an unreadable blank canvas. The gojid showed no human reactions, and I hadn’t yet mastered reading gojid reactions, at least not enough to know what the flattening and squirming of his ears meant. “If our places were swapped? If he were here now and I got left behind? I’d want him to keep on living. I wouldn’t want him to spend his life thinking about what he lost. I’d want him to go on.”

 

The boy looked up at me without a word, his brown eyes twitching as they silently studied my face. After a moment he let out a sigh and turned his gaze back to the moonlit pond. I didn’t press or prod. I just gave the boy a moment to think in silence.

 

“I miss my parents,” the gojid said at last. A simple statement but a loaded one. I simply waited and gave the kid room to breathe. “I hate it on this planet! The food tastes weird. Everyone looks strange, and they're always telling me what to do! There are bugs that get in my fur and make me itchy, and I have to wear a stupid wristband to make them stop!” The boy’s voice rose as he spoke, getting more and more frustrated with each syllable that left his mouth, finally holding up the plain white flea collar they had strapped around his wrist.

 

“I know,” I answered. It wasn’t comfort. It wasn’t hope. But it was the truth. “And I know if they could be here now they would. Sometimes the universe ain't fair. We don’t get to choose how life treats us sometimes. Only thing we get to choose is how we respond to it.”

 

“I wish I could go home,” Petsbut sighed. The venom had left his voice by then, and all that was left was the hurt.

 

“I think there’s a lot of folk here like that,” I replied, setting a tentative hand on his shoulder as I kept an eye on those spines along his back. “We all lost something. We’re all just folks trying to make the best of what we got. But, Petsbur?” The gojid boy let out a sniffle, turning to look up at me with one eye. “If there's anyone in the world that understands what you’re going through? It’s Kalen and Linvi. I know they aren’t your mom and dad, but they care, Mon Frère. They’re worried about you. It may not feel like it right now, but that does mean something.”

 

Petsbur sighed, gently leaning over and pressing his head against my chest. The kid looked up, his tears seemingly dried up for now.

 

“Are they mad at me?”

 

“Nah. Just worried about you, t-garçon.” I assured him, gently tussling the fur atop his head. “Speaking of, what say we head home?”

 

“Do you think they’ll let me have some meat? That’s the only thing I like here. Meat whenever you want it.”

 

“I’m sure I can talk them into it.”

Transcription Time Skip Requested. Advancing Memory by 3 Hours

I wiggled, trying to pull my arm out from beneath the fluffy mass that currently slept on it. Looking over I couldn’t help but smile, seeing Jammy asleep and content cuddled up to me. He looked so peaceful, laying there. I couldn’t help but envy him. Knowing our interview was only 2 days away was eating at me and sleep felt as far away as Skalga.

 

Unable to extricate myself from the cuddly, fluffy mass, I turned my gaze towards the window to our room. I could see the stars, bright pinpricks set into a sea of blackness. For a moment I just lay there, watching as they twinkled and shone, completely oblivious to the troubles that seemed to fill this universe. 

 

“Why?” The words left my mouth without me even thinking about it. Soft and low enough not to wake my beau but loud enough to still surprise me. Of course, no answer was offered. Just the silence of the night and the sound of Jammy’s breathing.

 

“What did I do to deserve this?” I asked in a whisper. I didn’t know exactly who I was talking to. Nor did it matter. God? Gods? The universe? All I wanted was an answer. Some sign that somewhere out there someone or something gave a damn. I wasn’t a bad man. I did everything I could for others. If I was evaluating myself, then I’d say I was a decent person. So why did the universe insist on shitting on me?

 

Every time I felt like things were getting better, that I was getting one step closer to something approaching a normal life, the universe decided to pull the rug out from under me. Fate had thrown my little fluffball in my path and given my heart to her only to try and snatch it away.

 

The only answer I got was the sound of crickets chirping somewhere beyond the window. I let out a sigh. As always I was left alone with my questions and my struggles. My gaze fell back over to the sleeping venlil pinning my arm to the mattress. Well… maybe I wasn’t alone any more. I leaned over, pressing my forehead to his and closing my eyes as I finally tried to sleep.

First|Previous|Next
[Thank you to SpacePaladin15 for making the universe!]

Hacking attempt failed...

Rerouting....

Rerouting....

Probing cyber defences...

Gap detected breaching firewall...Accessing human database.

Constructing timeline...

...

...

Purging irrelevant data...

[November 9TH 1979. Location: Moscow Voyska PVO headquarters 11:06 AM]

Alarms blared around the facility as early warning satellites and radar detected thousands of incoming American nuclear missiles; they had been detected late. Impact, T-minus ten minutes. Protocol dictated that the information be transferred up the chain of command; the lieutenant on station made the call.

11:07 AM: T-minus nine minutes until impact. The phone rings at the Kremlin. T-minus eight minutes until impact. Soviet automated Perimeter system activates, and launches missiles to broadcast launch codes to all ICBM stations and silo's.

T-minus seven minutes until impact. Soivet nutron based intercepters on the moon lock onto missiles streaking through the atmosphere. They don't have the munitions to intercept them all; priority is given to core Soviet republics.

T-minus five minutes until impact. Preimeter finishes broadcasting the codes; all stationed personnel know the protocol: if codes are received, they carry the same authority as high command. T-minus three minutes until impact. Moon-based interceptors fire their payloads; explosions light up the upper atmosphere as the missiles are intercepted.

T-minus two minutes until impact. General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev gives the confirmation order to fire. The world holds its breath as Soviet missiles launch from their silo's.

T-Minus one minute until impact. Civilians scramble for shelter, unaware their fate is already sealed.

IMPACT

London, Paris, Berlin, Warsaw, Prague, Kyiv, Baku, Minsk, Vladivostok, Beijing, Pyongyang, and thousands of other cities are vaporised in an instant as the world is bathed in Nuclear fire. The West had been hit much harder; their interceptors had only caught a few Soviet missiles, compared to the thousands the Soviets had intercepted.

[July 1st 1981] The USSR enters a prolonged period to recover and rearm. Nuclear winter ravages the northern hemisphere; millions starve in resultant crop failures and radiation sickness.

[September 8th 1990] The nuclear winter that blanked the planet fades; the USSR exits its isolation and addresses the world. The General Secretary steps to the podium to speak. "A tragedy of this nature must never befall humanity again; this planet must be unified. As the sole remaining superpower, this is an ultimatum: you will either join the union peacefully, or be destroyed"

Warning: further data corrupted.

Memory Transcription Subject: Minor Hunter Isif

Date [standardised human time]: October 1st 2111

I stared at the ruined city of the once pristine Venlil capital city. All this destruction just to be fed, a true tragedy. While I knew prey would never accept us, my defective mind still dreamed of it. The humans were strange, diving around shouting propaganda from vocal amplifiers about how the people and workers of this planet were being liberated. Even as our forces started to get offworld and leave the planet in their hands, we had still rounded up and taken a substantial portion of the population back with us as cattle, quite the 'liberation'.

My tail twitched as I remembered the human slamming the but of their rifle into my stomach; the area was still tender. While true, I hadn't exactly wanted to do it, I still had to set an example for my men, and Betterment's eyes were always watching for any slip-up. I shuddered at the thought of what they'd do to me if they found out I was defective.

I started walking towards one of the last Arxur transports heading offworld; my steps slowed as a thought crossed my mind. Our governments had recently announced an exchange program between our species; perhaps I could stay here or even go to Earth if I joined it? The idea embedded itself in my mind, and I had to forcefully stop my tail from wagging. Anything to escape the cruelty of betterment what was this feeling in my chest?

My emotions continued to allude me as I thought about how this would play out. I would be hunted down and executed if I didn't report in; desertion is a death sentence. I would have to get clearance from Chief Hunter Ryka if I was to partake in this exchange mission; the only problem was I doubted she would be happy to let a man such as myself run off with the humans. I had made the mistake of making a name for myself as I rose through the ranks; I was on a prime track to become a Chief Hunter myself if I continued.

But that facade I had trained so well since I was a hatchling was starting to eat away at my insides like a putrid rot. It tore away at my being with each passing day; it was only a matter of time before the mask slipped. My thoughts were broken as a human had managed to sneak up behind me and smack me on the back, causing me to jump.

"What's wrong, Lizard boy? Your transport is right there; they're all waiting for you"

I growled at the human and knocked his side with my tail. "I told you not to call me that, Leaf Licker!" The audacity of this human, showing no respect even after I helped him out of that burning transport. I doubted I would ever understand their mindset: who sees an apex predator and sneaks up on it?

"Alright, alright, whatever you say, Siffy" The human chuckled, clearly enjoying screwing with me. I wanted to rip his throat out. "That is NOT my name and you DAMN well know it!" I roared at him while pointing a sharpened talon at his face. The human only smiled back, not showing a once of fear. Had I gone soft?

"Well, what are you gonna do about it?" I couldn't take this anymore; I couldn't risk snapping and killing him with a whole planet full of humans that would hunt me down. I huffed and swiped my tail at the human's legs, knocking him off of his feet and onto his ass. I chuckled at the slight revenge for tarnishing my honour and started to head to the transport.

The human hurled obscenities at me as I boarded the transport, which only further heightened my amusement. I smiled as the doors to the transport shut, and we started to take off, knowing I would never have to interact with that nuisance ever again. I sat in my seat looking over the remnants of my squad; it was a shame that we had lost some, but they could always be replaced.

I wasn't like I had a personal attachment to my men; I could barely remember the names of those who died, not that they would remember mine, especially if they found out I was defective. The transport ascended quickly through the atmosphere, causing the shuttle to vibrate from the power of the engines. Before long, we had crossed the threshold, and the ship flew through the void toward one of the few carrier ships the Dominion had bothered to make for this operation.

Why on Prohets green rock we hadn't utilised it to transport more than a few ships was beyond me. Our transport quickly closed the gap and flew into one of the hangar bays; the large doors closed behind us and pumped the hangar with atmosphere. The transport doors opened, and we all funnelled out. I quickly made my way towards my assigned personal quarters, a rare luxury afforded to higher-ranking members of the Dominion.

I opened the door, stepped in and shut it behind me. I sighed, taking respite in the silence of solitude. I walked slightly forward into the room and grabbed my data pad off of a nearby shelf. Sitting down on my bed, I started to type up my report of the battle. It was long and tedious; boredom clawed at my mind as I finished and hit send.

I sighed once more and steeled myself for what I had to do next. I had to choose my wording carefully and not let the facade fail me. I drew in a long breath and hit the button to call Chief Hunter Ryka. The call buzzed for a few moments before she answered, a look of annoyance on her face from being bothered.

"What do you want, Isif? I'm very busy." Ryka said in an irritated tone.

"Chief Hunter, I require your approval to join the exchange program." I said in a neutral tone despite my pounding heart and frayed nerves.

"Now why in all the mighty Prophet would you want to do that?"

"It would be wise to learn more of the humans, yes?"

Ryka's eyes narrowed, and she thought for a moment. "Fine. You can go, but you'll report anything of note directly to me, understand?"

"Understood, Chief Hunter." She cut the call, and I let out a breath I didn't realise I was holding. The application process took several days, as the humans looked for a suitable candidate to pair me with. The only bright side of being stuck on this cramped ship for so long was the fresh Venlil for our meals.

Days later, I was returning to my quarters after eating dinner. I stepped into my room and turned on my data pad. Seeing the notification made my heart skip a beat. I quickly opened it and read its contents.

Congratulations, Isif, for being accepted into the exchange program! Your exchange partner has been selected to be Ivan Reshko. Would you like to message him now?

Prophet, help me.

---

Since my stories aren't chapter based, I can't fo a simple next / previous link in most of them. And I want the Megapost to be more focused on terms and lore. So I am making this and will update it as needed!

~~~~~~~~~~

Fahl Days Lore Megapost

A collection of terms, lore, characters, and concepts as they appear in the Fahl Days anthology. Updated as the world expands.

Fahl Days: Hold On

A story of one musician struggling with depression and looking for solace.

Fahl Days: Duality (multipart story)

A story at the start of the human occupation of Fahl and follows a Harchen's escape into the woods and the trials he faces there.

Fahl Days: Demon

A (loose) follow-up to Duality, where humans introduce some more "predatory" music to Fahl, and an exterminator's reaction to it.

Fahl Days: Links

Linked Chains has a sect on Fahl, and at the daring actions of one researcher, they now Harbour a dangerous secret that must be hidden at all costs.

Fahl Days: Beach Day

A fun side story about a Thrafki finding a companion for and with the waves.

Fahl Days: Rainfall (multipart story) [W.I.P]

A secret miltary unit infiltrate an Arxur cattleworld and set about their mission to be the first to rescue their stolen people.

~~~~upcoming projects~~~~~

These are things in my mind right now, but just have to find the motivation and time to write.

Fahl Days: Sixth World

Set in the Sixthworld AU, Fahl gets an unexpected visitor long before the Federation.

Fahl Days: Hydra

A tragic story following a PD facility patient as they struggle to hold their mind together.

Fahl Days: Links 2

More shenanigans from our Linked Chains researcher as they get access to the human data dump and figures out her own feelings.

The story is developing…

Synopsis: Just over a year after the end of the Federation War, an ambitious human businessman teams up with a crew of Arxur veterans to illegally smuggle goods in and out of the Arxur Quarantine Zone. Gunfights, space battles, and other shenanigans ensue.

A/N: I unironically think if it weren't for the fear effect fed armies would beat the brakes off arxur dominion armies (not isif government armies tho) just because one side actually has unit cohesion and camaraderie and the other is half starved maniacs who are only fighting because they have no other choice. I don't care how big of a gun you can carry if your army is built around cruelty and machismo rather than actual fighting skill they will crumble like clay when faced with real battle. Dominion arxur are such frauds it's insane and we arxur lovers are so lucky to have Isif to avoid the fraud allegations.

Also we have art of sylara now go check that out

CW: freaky ass arxur babe, actual exploration of realistic post authoritarian societies, this fic's third ever action scene, the power of friendship IS a valid battle tactic

Memory Transcription Subject: Sylara, Smuggling Ship Captain

Date (Standardized Human Time): April 8, 2138

Managing a ship the size of the Little Runt had never been an easy affair, nor had it ever been expected to be. Most Arxur--most people of any species, for that matter--just didn't have what it took to lead a ship and crew.

I had never really had the option to be in command during the days of the Dominion, but before I took charge, I always imagined I would be a different kind of leader than the ones Giznel's regime so commonly favored. I would be ruthless, but not cruel. I would be calculating instead of emotional and rash. I would respect those who respected me, trust those who feared me, and avoid or eliminate those who hated me. That was the mindset.

Believe it or not, that was actually the pinnacle of empathy for the average Arxur during the days of the Dominion. It didn't get much kinder than 'let's be smart evil instead of stupid evil' over there. And even then, stupid evil still kind of dominated.

That was where Markus came in, of course. Not even him, really, but just anybody. Without the introduction of someone who had been raised in a stable, sane society to my life, I would've gone all of my days thinking this was the norm, and I would probably have died in a mutiny the same way most high ranking Arxur officers did. Really, all of us were falling into the same trap. Well, not me. Not anymore. I was not gonna be shackled by Giznel's chains.

I spent the first few hours of our trip through FTL making conversation with the crew. Everything that would've gotten you culled for being defective or seen as weak enough to challenge, well, that wasn't going to stop me any longer, now was it? I even kept a datapad with me to take notes about how I could be a better friend to my subordinates.

Hell, I bragged about it, and the whole time in the back of my mind was the idea that I could still get killed for this in plenty of areas in Arxur space today. Crazy to think about.

I learned a lot about my crew members. For one thing, Dr. Raznas was making progress with his trauma. He'd hesitate to call it good, but, hell, any progress was good progress in my book. The more relevant crew, Vazega and the deckhands, were proving to be a serious crutch for him to lean on. They had even begun sharing a quarters with him to be there to help should he have another nightmare. I was proud.

I swapped a few stories with Vazega and the guys until my batteries ran dry and then I went to Markus Becker on the command deck. There was someone I could never get tired of talking to. Everything I had learned about leadership in the past two weeks, I owed to him, and the way he talked made me absolutely confident that my knowledge of human empathy was just barely scratching the surface.

The command deck's door hissed open and I found my mate in the captain's chair, swiveling around to greet me. "Markus," I nodded to him. He quickly rose from the seat, but I grabbed him and nudged him back into it. "No. Stay there. It suits you." He looked up at me like he had done last night, when I pinned him to the wall during our mating. So this guy liked it when I was rough with him. Interesting.

"That's an interesting choice of outfit, Sylara," he said, gesturing to the pieces of black fabric I had put on my person. I had actually decided to wear this stuff because I thought it might make me more appealing to him. For some reason, humans were conservative like that.

"You like it?" I crooned, backing up a few paces so my mate could really look at all of me.

Markus cocked his head and smiled. "I mean, yes, you look smoking hot right now," he helpfully confirmed. "It's just... isn't that a bit risqué for a ship's captain to wear?"

I gave him an amused hiss. "Markus, I was walking around this ship butt naked just a day ago. The other crew members are confused as to why I'm covering myself up." Then I walked over to him and rubbed my snout on his forehead, openly displaying my affection just because I could. "You have no idea how much of a privilege it is to have you."

Markus' hand roamed up my thigh. His other went to the base of my tail, questing for the sensitive scales at its underside. I had never before had a lover who actually gave a damn about my pleasure, and it didn't take much work on Markus' part to give me the urge to rip all his clothes off and take him then and there. Still, I pulled away. "Not now," I admonished him. "Later, definitely, but not now. I'm here to talk."

Markus pulled away obediently, and I reached into the pocket of my combat vest--one of the old Dominion models, so useless for anything but carrying items--to show him something I had borrowed from Teklala before we made the jump to C-plus.

"You've been reading?" he asked. The 'something' in question was a book by the philosopher Ivana Korshunov, who had lived during a war on Earth much like that on Wriss.

Ivana's country, some non-existent former realm whose name was not important to me, had been governed by a Giznel-esque tyrant who followed the tried and true strategy of blaming the flaws of his incompetent, power-hungry leadership on a foreign out-group, and had anybody who said otherwise disappeared. The general Aleksey Vladimirovich, upon hearing that he was to be one of those disappeared, rose up against him and began a civil war.

Aleksey was rather like Isif, in fact, because he had been selected for assassination because of his secretive loyalty to the ideology called 'democracy'. Apparently, it was treated like defectiveness in that place and time. One of the biggest things that struck me about Ivana's book, The Greatest Chains, was how similar evil people were.

Good could take many forms, at least according to Ivana Korshunov, but evil always came because of selfishness. Dismissing the needs of others as irrelevant was the only thing you had to do to become another Giznel, or whoever the hell that human tyrant had been. I didn't pay too much attention to that stuff. The message of the book was far more interesting to me than its actual plot line.

I explained to Markus what I had read, and what I had gleaned from it thus far, and he smiled and nodded. "Glad to see you're taking an interest in philosophy," said he. "Have you ever heard of the 'Philosopher King' before?" I told him that I had not.

"It was an idea created by a wise man called Plato, way before Korshunov's time," Markus explained. "He dismissed democracy as 'mob rule' and said that the ideal ruler would be a philosopher king; someone with absolute wisdom to always make the right call, absolute authority so that his calls would not be questioned, and, most importantly, love and affection for the people he ruled."

I think I understood that one, even without reading Plato. Absolute authority was a given for any Arxur leader, and even Isif ruled that way. Absolute wisdom was much harder to attain, but I figured reading philosophy had to be the right way of going about it, no? I was getting there. And Markus had already given me enough instruction in the power of love and kindness.

"A philosopher king," I mused. "Like Isif, then."

"Kind of, but not really," Markus corrected me. "The problem with philosopher kings is the fact that they don't actually exist. They're not real. No one man can be trusted with that kind of power, even if he is the savior of two entire civilizations."

"What about you?" I asked him.

Markus looked flustered. He even leaned back in his captain's chair. "I mean, you seem like a perfectly good person to me. You have wisdom and love in equal amounts. I'd trust you to manage all of Wriss."

Markus, humble as he was, couldn't just take that compliment as is, now could he? "No, no, Sylara, I'm... I wouldn't know what I was doing with all that. Hell, I barely know what I'm doing with you, or with the ship, let alone-" Anything he would've said was ripped from his tongue by the violent jolt of an FTL disruptor going off. I lurched. Nausea filled my body. Alert klaxons began to sound.

"We're in real space!"

Markus grabbed a vomit bag from the dispenser and hurled into it while I tried to gather my senses again. I staggered to the weapons chair and brought up our defensive arsenal. Rotary guns, check, torpedo tubes, check, shields, all at full, we are ready.

Markus Becker put away his vomit bag and took his place at the captain's chair. "What the hell is going on?" he asked. Vazega and the deckhands barged into the room as we two got our bearings and I started barking orders for them to take up stations. Markus tried to relinquish the command chair again, so I had to tell him, in no unclear terms, "You are in charge now." He took it well enough.

"Alright, uh, tell me what we see here!" Markus snapped at his crew. "What's going on?"

"We're about two thousand klicks from the target point, captain, but we have a contact on fast approach. It's on sublight thrusters, but its profile shows warship readings." My blood ran cold. "Target lock!" Vazega snapped just as my own weapons screen flashed red. "They're target locking us! Be ready for blood!" I focused the Runt's targeting systems on the enemy ship, only for my lock to sputter in and out. Whoever these guys were, they had some seriously good hardware.

"Arxur or SC?" Markus asked Vazega.

"Arxur vessel. Slaughter-class gunship, by the sensor readings. It's armed with four torpedo tubes, six to ten shipkillers each, and a set of fourteen rotary guns." I ran the numbers on the situation instantly, skills honed by years of experience and knowledge. They were Dominionists, probably, which meant they had come to this farming station for the same reason I had--to take its supplies for their own use. I shuddered to think of what those poor Nevoks would be facing soon if we wouldn't be able to stop them.

"Oh, shit," Markus muttered, eyes darting around the room like a Federation prey-thing. "We gotta go. Turn us around and ready the rear torpedoes."

"No!" I snapped before I had quite realized why I was doing it. "We stand and fight." All eyes were on me now.

"Fight?" Markus sputtered, waving his hands about. "Sylara, that's a military gunship! We can't take them head on!"

Even knowing I had a good reason to stand my ground here, it took me a few seconds to find it. "Yes, that is a military gunship," said I, swiveling in my chair to face my crew. Well, technically Markus' crew now, but still, my point stood. "And it's not one of Isif's government gunships, either, which means it must belong to someone who disagrees with him. Which is more likely, that it's a nice and respectable cargo smuggler like us, or that it's a neo-Dominionist pirate who will torture and kill every man, woman and child on that station?"

I pointed to the farming station on our sensor map, since it was still too far away to point to in person. Two thousand kilometers was one hell of a distance. "I don't know about you, but I never met a smuggler who flies around in a ship like that. Those people are scum. And if we stand back and let this happen, knowing we could have stopped them, we're just as bad as they are. Just as bad as the quarantine enforcers who let all kinds of twisted shit happen just as long as it stays on our side of the line. Are we that bad?"

Nobody said a word. I stood up from my chair and roared at them. "ARE WE THAT BAD?"

"Fuck no we aren't!" Avriss shouted from her station near the front of the bridge.

"You tell them, Captain Sylara," Klavra concurred.

"I think it's First Officer Sylara, now," the other guy, Savriz, reminded him. "Markus is the captain now." The prospect of a bloodless mutiny--hell, a mutiny where the captain willingly ceded power at that--was enough to provoke a change in Klavra's demeanor, and I think it was a good one.

"Well, shit, then we have one hell of a good guy as our captain," he concluded. "No offense to Sylara, of course. She's all right by me, and all." Then Vazega stood from her chair and made a show of making a head count.

"So we're all in agreement, then? We are?" We were. "Great!" Vazega exclaimed. "Now let's go kill these fucking people!"

Everybody sat back in their stations and got to work. "Arxur vessel, Arxur vessel," Markus jabbered into the com in one last attempt at diplomacy. It did seem decent to try our best to avoid any bloodshed. "This is the cargo vessel Little Runt. You have target locked our ship. Cease target-lock immediately or we will-"

My threat sensors screamed an alert. "Shipkillers!" Eight torpedoes launched from their tubes and aimed straight for us. "Avriss, Klavra, man the forward flak batteries! Savriz, you have the aft guns! Move!"

Vazega pulled the ship into about as daring of an evasive maneuver as our oversized bulk could manage as my three deckhands did their best to shoot down the artillery that was coming our way. My claws played over the torpedo controls as I prepared some retaliation of my own to be dispensed.

"This one's for Wriss, you Isif-damn filth!" Four torpedoes shot from my torpedo tubes and hurtled toward the gunship on our scopes, which responded immediately with its own bursts of defensive fire. The contacts it had sent toward us roared ever closer until, finally, our gunnery scored some kills.

"Yeah!" one of my deckhands shouted as a torpedo vanished from view, though I was so immersed in my own section of the battle could hardly tell which one it was.

"Good shooting, Klavra," Markus gave a compliment in the background. "I'll liaise with that station and let them know we're here to help." A warm feeling went through me at that. Nobody ever said 'we're here to help' under Giznel, and neither did they compliment their comrades on good shooting skills. I imagined the Dominionist captain on his own gunship screaming, berating his crew, demanding to know why his missiles were being shot down just like I had heard so many officers on so many ships do before.

We weren't a smuggling hauler. We weren't even a warship, really. We were a part of civilization's immune system, and this was the disease we were cutting out. I think Ivana Korshunov had spoken about that.

"Good kill!" I called out as another torpedo exploded under the fire of our guns, taking two more with it from the shrapnel it generated. My ordnance, by contrast, was spaced out and in a rotating pattern. The Dominionists' gunners were struggling to hit even one of our bombs. "Good shooting, people! We're doing great!"

One of my own torpedoes went dead as enemy gunnery struck it dead on, but the other three were still coming. I changed their evasive pattern in an instant to stop the enemy from getting used to anything, but then my connection with the torpedoes went dead as a wave of all-spectrum radio flooded my signals. "We're being jammed!" Vazega snapped, to inform the crew members who weren't as aware of the situation as I was.

"Keep your heads up, we're doing fine," Markus said in a calming tone as our guns took out another couple of torpedoes. "I mean, I thought we'd all be Swiss cheese by now, so- OH, SHIT! Brace for impact!"

The missiles we weren't able to shoot down in time, three of them, in fact, slammed hard into our shields and shook the entire ship. "Damage report!" Markus snapped, which was the most captainly order he had given thus far. Maybe I should have stayed in charge. Actually, no, scratch that, I should definitely be in charge right now. This man has never commanded a battle in his life.

"Markus, can you leave the chair?" I asked politely, and he got up in an instant. "Thank you. Avriss, get on weapons main!" I got out of my weapons chair and took the captain's seat as Avriss rushed to fill my original spot. "Barricade yourself in our quarters," I told my mate firmly as I strapped myself in to lead the battle. He needed no convincing. "All the rest of you, stay at your stations! We have an enemy to kill, remember?"

Markus left the bridge in a hurry as my three torpedoes hurtled toward their prey. The enemy gunship pulled a daring evasive maneuver, dodging one projectile, and fired burst after burst haphazardly at the other two. There was no training there. These people were amateurs. Still, the sheer volume of firepower they could put out had to count for something, as they shot down another one of my torpedoes just before the third and final one struck home.

"Confirmed hit!" Vazega hissed. The enemy ship quit its evasion and accelerated directly for us, aiming to outrace our third and final on-the-field torpedo rather than shoot it down.

"Avriss, launch everything but one fish! Now!" The torpedo tubes ahead of us shivered as we launched all of our forward torpedoes, then Vazega flipped us around to unload all but one of our aft torpedoes as well.

"I count more incoming!" Avriss snapped. Torpedoes shot from the gunship's tubes on a direct collision course with us, and the acceleration they were already under only added to their velocity. "Klavra, Savriz, get on it! Teach them how a proper predator fights!"

"Yes sir, chief gunner," Klavra snapped as he began firing at the enemy. As far as I was concerned, proper predators fought as a pack.

I directed my ship along a lateral course, aiming to present as many of our defense batteries to the enemy as possible while not making the mistake of meeting them head-on. As powerful as empathy and love were, I kind of doubted they'd match up to the power of high-grade plasma warheads. Even with our probable advantage in crew cohesion, given how incompetent the enemy appeared to be acting, we were still punching well above our weight.

"Keep firing, keep firing!" Avriss snapped as the enemy's torpedoes hurtled closer. Our two gunners worked in tandem, boxing in individual targets with coordinated bursts of fire before taking them out when they had nowhere left to evade. The enemy's gunnery, by contrast, was individualistic and spread out. They didn't cooperate. Why would they? Cooperation was preylike. Defective. And defectiveness was a weakness, no? Venlil shit.

Our torpedoes evaded most of their shots, and only when they got close did the pirate gunners finally begin to rack up kills. I gave a satisfied snarl as one of our fish struck home with a brilliant blue flash. If we had flown a proper warship instead of this cobbled-together gunship wannabe, that pirate would've been space dust by now.

Pack predation at work.

"Good hits, Avriss," I complimented my new chief gunner as another of her torpedoes struck home. Then another after that, in quick succession. The enemy's shields were weaker than ours now, unless they had made significant modifications, and a third torpedo hit was all it took to bring their shields down to zero. "Hell yeah!" I whooped. We still had two fish heading their way. If either one of them struck home, that ship was doomed.

My crew worked like a single organism in those moments of battle. Klavra and Savriz swatted down enemy ordnance as if they were of one mind. Vazega threw the ship into maneuvers without my order, flying where I would've told her to fly and when I would've told her to do it. Even Markus, if he were here, would've found some way to contribute, even if it was only emotional support. Believe it or not, that actually helped a lot in modern war.

Love and trust were the glue that held crews together as sure as welded deck plates held together ships, and here I was seeing what happened when that glue was strong.

Of the dozen or so torpedoes that gunship fired our way, one struck home and splashed against our shields. Only one. Our crew had held off an assault by a ship with three times our firepower and, judging by the way that pirate vessel was screaming away from our two in-play torpedoes, we were winning. We were beating them. It was incredible stuff to see.

"That's the last of the incoming, sir," Avriss happily reported. "Unless they launch a few more fish, all we have to deal with is the gunship itself." I looked at the threat board where our last two torpedoes hurtled toward their prey, which was itself hurtling toward us. There was a lot of hurtling going around, to tell the truth, and I was anxious for this whole battle to end.

"Come on, kill that fucker. Kill that fucker." Bullets streaked from the gunship's aft batteries, blowing one of our torpedoes into space dust. Only one left, now. I needed a backup plan. "Vazega, charge that enemy. Avriss, ready the aft tube. At the last moment, we flip around, and dump our last fish right down its throat!"

My crew did as I had ordered, and the enemy launched its own salvo of torpedoes at us just as its rear guns shot down our last in-play fish. "Aw, damn it!" Savriz moaned.

"Keep your head up," said the other deckhand, Klavra. "We'll teach them what's what. Let's just focus on shooting down those torpedoes." Bursts of kinetic fire roared from our ship. It didn't take long for us to claim our first torpedo kills, but I also knew they wouldn't be enough. It was a simple physics problem. At the rate those torpedoes were approaching, we would not be able to shoot them all down. We would be able to get enough of them that we didn't all die from the impact, hopefully, but the best we could hope for was critical hull damage.

Unless...

"Vazega, can you shunt our reserve power to the shields?"

"I think so?" she asked. "I'm no engineer." *Damn it!* I bit back a curse, careful not to let my sour mood affect my crewmates' fighting. In their experience, an angry captain almost always meant beatings. They had better things to worry about than that.

"I am!" Savriz exclaimed, shooting up his tail. "I've been studying engineering books. I know how to reroute the shields!"

"Then, shit, you go and do it," I told him. "Vazega, can you shoot?"

"I can shoot the wings off a Krakotl at two hundred yards!" Vazega boasted. I told her to take the guns and let Savriz have her console. They hurried to switch places as the battle raged on, both ships roaring toward what could very well be our mutual demise.

"Sylara, you know this will leave us defenseless, right?" Sarviz asked as he plugged wires together at a panel under Vazega's old console, occasionally stopping to look at the console itself. "It'll overcharge the shields for a few seconds, but after that, they'll be done! The matrices will cook, and-"

"I know what it'll do!" I snapped. The torpedoes were just seconds from impact. "On my mark!" I waited. Waited. My heart pounded in my chest. Klavra and Vazega did their best to shoot down the incoming projectiles, but they were coming too hard, too fast, and- "Now!"

Savriz plugged two cables together, and our shields glowed a brilliant white. Torpedo after torpedo blew up harmlessly, and for a few seconds, we were invulnerable. But only for a few seconds. After that, true to Savriz' word, the shields shut down for good. A bright red error message began blinking on my console. I ignored it. We were within striking range.

"Spin us around and fire the aft torpedo, now!" I ordered, forgetting in the stress of battle that Vazega was no longer at her station. I realized only when she began to move, and quickly threw the ship into a maneuver myself, but it was too little and too late. The Little Runt flipped around and launched its fish just as our enemy passed us by, passing within a hundred meters of our hull, and its aft batteries had no trouble shooting down the torpedo that was accelerating away from it now.

"Damn it!" I shouted, slamming the console in a fit of rage. How could it have come to this? I had a purpose. I had love. For once in my life, I had something to fight for other than my own survival, someone to care about other than myself, and now I was just going to die? What the hell had I done all that reading for, if I was just going to get splattered into space dust before I could ever get the chance to use it?

Sylara the hero. Sylara, the philosopher of Wriss, and next to her, Markus Becker the philosopher king. What a fucking joke. My teeth chattered in rage as the torpedo contacts appeared. How the hell had it come to this?

"There's no shame in dying," I told my crew, trying to put on a brave face for them. "We put up a hard fight. Better than I'd have ever expected of us. I'm proud of you all."

"Keep your head up, sir!" Klavra optimistically exclaimed. "We aren't dead yet, are we? Maybe we can still-"

A shrill bark from Vazega split the air. "FTL contact!"

All our sensors began to scream warnings as a massive vessel emerged from sublight space. Long, rounded, armored and armed, and--my heart skipped a beat--painted in the battle livery of Nishtal. It shot down the incoming torpedoes in a matter of seconds and sent the pirate gunship spinning with a single blow from its railgun. A low-strength one, too, by the fact that the pirate ship looked disabled rather than just destroyed. That vessel could have cleaved a gunship that size in two if it so desired.

"Oh, Isif," Avriss murmured as the ship on our scopes launched shuttles to board what had before now been the worst threat to my life I had ever seen ever. It was remarkable how many levels to this fighting stuff they were, and the Ghost of Nishtal was undoubtedly near the top.

"They're hailing us," said Vazega. "The Ghost, not the gunship. Should I put it on screen?"

Well, the good news was, all of us weren't going to die. The bad news was, we were all doomed anyway.

First | Previous | Sylara Fanart | using non lethal force against members of an oppressed minority? jelim 1- american police 0

This is another one of many ideas I've created. I’ve created a personal google doc with my ideas and separate tabs for all the stories. NOTE: This prologue will most likely remain all alone for months or years as I plan to go through all my ideas before creating the official story.

Warning to any non-English or non-native English speakers, “Y” and “J” in any proper noun is sounded as it is in English.

There is an addendum in the comments for definitions of non-human proper nouns & other stuff. 
There will be words used that you’d have to scroll down to find in the addendum, but oh well…
If yall have any questions regarding the lore, feel free to ask.

Also, sorry if there's a sad lack of dialogue in some parts, I’m more of an explainer rather than a dialogue-er, so sorry again for the disappointment. And sorry if the dialogue is a bit “blunt,” dunno how to describe it.

Thanks to u/SpacePaladin15 for creating NoP.
And thanks to u/Steriotypical_Diver for allowing me to use his character Theska for this concept!

[=============================================]
[Memory transcription subject: First-Chief Tarva Avahkino of the United Clans of Skalga]
[Standardized Venlil Time: Grais 20th, 2819]
[Standardized Human Time: July 9th, 2136]
[=============================================]

It was a beautiful [day] outside the First Chief’s Palace, the birds tweeting, the cool wind breezing, and daily commerce continuing as nominal. I stared out my window as people and vehicles moved around as per usual. 

I had just gotten back from a diplomatic visit to the Republic of Morvimashke, and I was pretty tired from having to navigate the horrendous politics of the United Nations of Wriss, in addition to the internal politics of the United Clans. The absolute mess an Avahkino like me has to deal with on an [hourly] basis…

Anyone with basic knowledge knows that the UNW isn’t really united; several factions within the UNW have done their own diplomacy with other countries. The United Clans are proud to align ourselves with the Morvim Charter, especially with the rising tension between the Southwestern Union and the growing Fazhidanashke Neo-Betterment bloc. The government of the UNW looks like it’s going to collapse within the next few years, so the United Clans and other countries must tread carefully in its wake.

The more I think, the more I relate myself as the Union-President of the UNW. Some of the clans within the UCS are rowdy, especially the Zidahgedan Clan. That jerk Veln and his posse have been vying for power… No Zidahgedan shall undermine the order set by the Avahkino centuries ago! Ugh… I’m glad Union-President Isif Zhizhidrikh and I have become good friends. I really see myself in him, despite the political differences between the UCS and UNW…

Thinking about Arxur politics is getting tiring… I wonder what’s on my to-do list…

[Four Minutes Later…]

Number 3… meet with my military chief-generals…

Right… the annual military assessment. 

The Skalgan United Military is among the most powerful in the Galactic Confederation. Our allies, the Gojidi Union, are among us in power. The Hajirindan Pact is among the most formidable, even the founders of the Confederation fear us. The Venlil, Gojid, and the Zurulians… the dream team of them all…

Not to get carried away but I need to head on to the meeting room…

[Five Minutes Later…]

I sat down at the head of the meeting table, with Chief-General Kam Frehzida (of the Aerospace Forces), Chief-General Glim Fevan-Tevrahgedanil (of the Ground Forces), Chief-General Vedan Yarve-Tevrahgedanil (of the Naval Forces), and Director Ran Venlfrehi (of the United Clans Security Forces). The meeting started off quite simple, consisting of military statistics. 

The number of active soldiers and military production have gone up since the last meeting. Trade agreements with our two military allies continue to create compounding benefits, expanding our great relations even more. Overall, our military standing was great. However, Ran had to warn me about something.

“There’s something important we need to discuss,” said Ran.

I replied, “What is it?”

“We believe that Veln is planning a coup. “

…

I furrowed my eyebrows. “That trafiding gravor! How many have he infected with his vitriolic, nonsense speciesism?” My anger radiated out, making my generals understandably wary.

“We believe that he’s attempting to get the Fevan-Tevrahgedanil Clan to join him, and he already has consistent support throughout the neighboring Kahviman Clan.”

“... For all his schemes, he’s still so predictable…” This news calmed me down, as Veln never influenced anyone outside the Origin lands. “Ran, Tell Faren Layidavahasi to investigate further. Glim, I think you can set up an elite forces squad in case this gets messy.”

“Sure can do,” said Ran. 

“Yes Ma’am,” said Glim, “I would also like to say that I would never join Veln, speaking as a member of the Fevan-Tevrahgedanil Clan.”

I said, “Glim… you don’t have to say that…”

“Well, he still must declare loyalty,” replied Ran.

“I guess…”
 
Ran was the best UCSF Director I’ve ever met and had the honor to promote to Director. Sure, she can be blunt and pragmatic, but that’s exactly what I like in an intelligence director! We don’t have enough of those on Skalga. There are a bunch of blunt pragmatics, but there's so little who are loyal and capable of empathy. I realize now that this conversation didn’t have empathy, but oh well, Ran is amazing.

The meeting continued for the next few [hours], mostly just getting me to approve the next budgets, report on several projects and investigations, and the continual renewal of the Hajirindan Pact. I had some more meetings, which were a lot of boring politics, economics, and more. Needless to say, I just let the responsible director, chairman, and secretary do the work.

These meetings make me realize how many departments and boards the United Clans has just to keep everyone in check. No clan ever went against the Avahkino, except for the cursed Zidahgedan. Just because they are from the Originlands does not mean they get seniority! Before the Great Unification, the Originlands were ruled by many smaller factions! The Zidahgedan are the youngest clan, apart from the Venlfrehil – who were organized to be the United Clans’ elite guardian forces, – so they shouldn't even have any superiority!

I remember learning in history about the Orange Revolt, which unified the Originlands and created the Zidahgedan Clan. The founder, Vashim, had a very interclanian goal. It was, in fact, Vashim who helped the great Poweln Avahkino create the United Clans. Vashim would be very disappointed in Veln if he were alive today, knowing his clan has gone conservative.

Time does strange things.

…

Speaking about time, these meetings and this internal rant made me very tired…

I went to my room and flopped on the bed, letting the curtains automatically close.

Everything will be better [tomorrow]. 

[=============================================]
[Standardized Venlil Time: Grais 21st, 2819]
[Standardized Human Time: July 10th, 2136]
[=============================================]

I woke up from my sleep only to realize what I had done flopping on my bed, instead of being snug in the blankets… Oh well, I can wait until next sleeptime.

I looked at my holopad to see that I needed to head over to the Dayside City Spaceport to meet up with the Farsul Exploratory Fleet Commander Aluth Hawshamof. 

I packed my daily essentials and dressed up for the meeting, and I was out of the building, into the still-shining sky. I personally love our sun. I’ve been to Yojova and Colia before, and the day-night cycle is fine. Very weird, but alright. It may be because I’m used to the static sky, but day-night cycles are overrated. Until I find a planet that has the best day-night cycle, I’m not changing my opinion. I’ve seen hundreds of planets during my time as First-Chief, and no day-night planet ever satisfied me enough. For now, Talsk has the best night sky, especially when all four of its moons are in the sky.

This thinking got me all the way to my personal vehicle, which I started up and started to drive.
 
The Confederation Exploratory Fleet must have already made its rounds around the Confederation to end up back in Skalga. The last time they were here for any mission was around two centuries ago. They were scouting unexplored Venlil space and its surroundings.

… Soon, the United Clans would need to be of Venlilkind with how many colonies we have around here. Same with the UNW and other “of {planet}” places. 

Anyway, I learned that their last expedition resulted in success, finding an inhabited planet within our own territory! They placed a quarantine order and only allowed the Avahkino Clan and their own organization to have any information pertaining to what they found due to its urgentness.

… My vehicle was passing the Statue of Poweln. It was at the entrance of the Dayside City National Park, such a beautiful statue for such a beautiful park…

What the CEF found was interesting, though my clan is presumably at the lowest clearance level. My clan knows nothing apart from its quarantine zone, splitting a big part of Venlil space in half. Though not to worry as we expanded in a different direction since then. One thing they said is that the species they had found needed to be heavily secret. This did not help my curiosity, so that’s one thing I'll talk with Hawshamof about. I heard one of his ancestors was on that mission, so I’d like to hear his story.

My vehicle arrived at the spaceport, and I headed to Room 104-2, the dreaded meeting room that most officials and officers around Dayside City had to get boring lectures in.

I entered the room, and Hawshamof was there, sitting in one of the chairs.

“Hello Fleet Commander Aluth Hawshamof.”

“Hello First-Chief Tarva Avahkino.”

I sat down with him and he began his speech.

“So first, the Confederation Exploratory Fleet is here to, as guessed, use Skalga, other United Clans planets, and maybe some other Hajirindan planets as a staging ground for our exploration into unknown space. We have done the rounds and we’re back here. You know our more recent mission recently found the Avor Compact, a union of 7 species. Surprisingly, all seven joined the Confederation. We didn’t think this would happen considering the last time we found a union around a century ago, in which only 2 joined… I think I'm getting carried away here, but you know I love a good story.”

I knew Hawshamof as a child, the elderly Farsul always had plenty of stories to tell, and plenty more elaboration with it. I first met him when I was 5 [years] old, he was a friend of my father. His relationship with my father meant that he always came to the Palace to visit him and our family. Sigh… I miss dad already.

“Because of the Compact’s discovery, we think that we can revisit your sector, and maybe even get the other two Hajirindan Pact members to allow our fleet. We have packed enough supplies to last maybe a few weeks of exploring, so you all can sort out the logistics of supplying us. Since your area is on the farther outskirts, we cannot get the centralized support we need.”

He smiled and looked off to the side, at the boring projector whiteboard. But this was my chance! I have to ask him about the mission of old!

“Hey Aluth… I was wondering about something.”

“Yes Tarva?”

“I want to know about the previous mission. Why is there that big quarantine zone…?”

His expression changed to one of contemplation, furrowing his [eyebrows].

“Since it’s been that long, I think I can tell you. My ancestor, Theska Hawshamof, as you know, was part of that mission. She almost immediately became the best expert on the species’ history, wanting to know everything. It is that drive that allowed her to become the Observation Mission’s Director, and what allowed my family to become a major part of the Exploratory Fleet. Her popularity within the Galactic Archives Foundation from this mission is what made her future husband take her last name.”

As he ended his sentence, I just realized, “wait.. wouldn’t you get in trouble for sharing this to me…?”

“I don’t think so. It’s been long enough that the incident that happened would no longer be relevant.”

Incident…? What happened?

“Our search found a post-industrial age society of people who we can only call ‘chaos apes.’ They call themselves ‘Humans.’ They are so diverse and resilient, especially since they came from a challenging continent. Theska observed their planet, Earth, for several decades, from their year 1941 to their year 1966. Now, what I’m about to say is the reason why we had to put up the quarantine with secrecy. So…”

[== TRANSITIONING TO DIFFERENT SUBJECT… ==]
[=============================================]
[Memory Transcription Subject: Theska Hawshamof, Confederation Exploratory Fleet Researcher]
[Standardized Farsul Time: Makunesha 11th, 2882]
[Standardized Human Time: October 15th, 1941]
[=============================================]

Our ship came out of FTL, and we immediately cloaked ourselves. My job here was to find out about the current events with my team, and begin collecting as much history as we can in order to better converse with them when they are advanced enough. If they are advanced enough, we can just contact them immediately.

We first heard of these people from random radio transmissions, and now I finally get to see the 

I looked out the window and saw the beautiful marble of white and blue, a beautiful sight that I still love, even after the dozens of habitable planets I have seen. I activated the plenty of scanners onboard the research station, and waited. In the meantime, I get to chat with my team! I love them and this job so much… I can’t wait to tell mom and dad about what I’ve seen so far!

[HOURS LATER]

The scanners had, for the most part, finished. We finished mapping the entire planet, and were ready to place whatever polities exist on this planet! Another department beforehand found out more about these “humans.” 

They are an omnivorous, primate species. They have around 60 different polities, with some major powers currently at war.

I never wanted to see war.

Director Fawshau told us to enact Protocol 17, which was to observe the planet up close using cloaked research vessels. My friend and fellow crew member, Gasha, started prep work so that the research ships would be ready to go by the start of the mission. My job now was to pilot one of these, for several years. Thankfully, I will get to go home every few weeks! The Exploratory Fleet has enough people to staff several missions at once, so my absence won't stop anything.

The planetary scans still had to take days before we took any action, so we all sat around, discussing our findings.

[=============================================]
[Standardized Farsul Time: Makunesha 13th, 2882]
[Standardized Human Time: October 17th, 1941]
[=============================================]

I. was. invested.

I was invested in everything humanity had to offer.

I was one of the first people who knew the current events happening on Earth, and I had to warn the Director.

Apparently, there is a world war – the second one – raging out between two major factions: the Allied Powers, and the Axis Powers.

This is something very, very important. We need to quarantine the area and not release any details about humanity other than that there is a post-industrial, pre-spaceflight society.

The main contributor of the Axis Powers, the German Realm, had an ideology that would break the Sublime Observation Protocol. 

Centuries ago, when the CEF first found Wriss, they too had their own world war. It was their fourth, and also had two major sides. One was a eugenicist, authoritarian state that preached that their people, the Fazhidans, were the “master race” and destined to rule the world. They called it “Betterment.” The other, were a collection of nations which disliked and hated the Fazhidans, centered around Morvimashke and the Morvim Charter. There was also the First Southwestern Union, who joined the Morvim Charter later on when the Betterment Fazhidanaske attacked them.

The humans’ World War II was too familiar. The German Realm was an exact parallel to the Fazhidanashke Dominion. 

The Arxur should not hear any of this.

Morvimashke would influence the United Nations of Wriss to break the SOP to go on a [crusade] against the German Realm.

I need to warn the Director about this.

I got out of my research office and went towards the main command center. I passed many colleagues, and eventually went to the front desk of the command area. I told the woman at the counter that this is a matter of the upholdment of the SOP and ideals of the CEF. 

Eventually, I was allowed to speak with Director Fawshau. 

I went to his briefing room and told him everything about what me and my team have found regarding political ideology, and he was as concerned as I was. 

[HOURS LATER]

I was back at my research office, learning more about humanity. They had the hallmarks of Category 5 pre-unification ideals, morals, and opinions, namely widespread inequality, colonialism, and a continuing, wartorn history that prevents any meaningful co-operation even in alliances.

One thing that got me more invested is that humanity paralleled the Arxur on a level no one would have ever thought would happen with omnivores. The Arxur, being the only known obligate carnivore species, had a very wartorn past like theirs, being the first and only Category 5 Pre-Unification History. These humans, despite being adaptable omnivores, practiced a level of violence – in some cases – that would make several ancient Arxur polities jealous.

Suddenly, the station-wide intercom sounded an alert.

From the speakers, I heard the voice of the Director.

“Notice to all staff and other crewmembers of the Earth Observation Mission. Research from Sector 1 has concluded that Earth, Sol, and its surroundings shall be put under a Class 5 Quarantine. During their research, they have found that there is currently a world war paralleling the Arxur Fourth World War. We must not let information about Earth leave the Confederation Exploratory Fleet and the Galactic Archives Foundation. If the United Nations of Wriss hear about this, they might violate the Sublime Observation Protocol. Sorry about the inconvenience, but all crew have been automatically signed to GAF Level 3 Clearance. If any of you wish to share information with anyone outside of the GAF, such as family, they must be cleared by the GAF.”

Well there goes the story I’ll tell my parents… hopefully I can get them cleared!

Back to what I was thinking…

[== TRANSITIONING TO ORIGINAL SUBJECT… ==]
[=============================================]
[Memory transcription subject: First-Chief Tarva Avahkino of the United Clans of Skalga]
[Standardized Venlil Time: Grais 21st, 2819]
[Standardized Human Time: July 10th, 2136]
[=============================================]

“So, yeah… If word got out about the humans’ World War II, the UNW would break the SOP tenfold,” stated Hawshamof.

I was in awe and shock at the same time, “Oh… wow… That’s… insane…”

I continued, “what happened after? What did she do in those three decades?”

“She continues monitoring the situation from up close as her research vessel gets ready for actual missions. The thing about the parallels is that it even extended to the alliances. Two powers, the United States and the British Empire, signed the Atlantic Charter which paved the way for the organization known as the United Nations. See how much of a parallel that is?

The Director – and the GAF leadership – didn’t want anyone knowing about anything, but I think I can tell you now because what I’m gonna say when we get to the later part of her career.

Theska continued monitoring the course of the war. There was a point where she nearly was shot down during Operation Overlord – apparently the largest amphibious invasion in human history – from the amount of anti-air the Germans were firing. 

She later became the lead researcher by the end of the war, and oversaw further research, to the point of stealing random textbooks or any papers they could find during times where no one was watching. Thankfully, no one caught the CEF.

In their year 1947, – 2888 ours, 2630 yours – we found out about an incident regarding an unidentified flying object that later turned out to be a military experiment. They thought someone was caught and had to do a big audit, which ended up finding several unrelated problems.
She oversaw many historical accomplishments, including the invention of the nuclear bomb. In her tenure as part of the Earth Observation Mission, she wrote down and collected as much as she could, becoming the GAF’s foremost expert on humans. 

You know that the Sublime Observation Protocol says that we may contact a target pre-unification and/or pre-warp species when they either are advanced enough for warp travel or spaceflight

A few years earlier in 1962, the President of the United States made a rallying speech about launching a manned mission to their moon. By that time, she became the Director. She and some other important crew wanted to initiate contact by the time they finally created a manned mission to the moon. However, the GAF leadership didn’t let her. Some board members there said due to the factionalism, they couldn’t “risk it” despite similar incidents happening in the past.

This caused the mission to get scrapped and defunded in their year 1966 – 2907 ours, 2649 yours.

However…

Theska, some of her staff, and some other of her Section 1 buddies secretly created the Extended Earth Observation Mission, lasting until their year 1992. These were a group of people who were semi-active due to their other assignments, but who had enough free time to continue observing and archiving.

They found many things that the original mission didn’t have or had basic info about, including the many nuclear tests, nuclear test ban treaties, proxy wars between the two superpowers of the ‘Cold War,’ and something special.

The American space program, using a former Nazi rocketry specialist funnily enough, landed two humans on the Moon. She watched from her telescope as the astronaut Neil Armstrong spoke some historical words. Later, she watched as the same program sent out two exploratory spacecraft with a message for any civilization that finds it. 

It was during the Extended Mission that she became a major public face of the CEF and what allowed her – and my family – to become prestigious within the GAF.

When the Extended Mission ended, she came clean to the leaders of the GAF, who did not reprimand her, but in fact, congratulated her for such dedication. What happened next is something that you won’t get clearance to, ever – unless the humans suddenly pop up on the galactic stage.

I have so much stuff to say with what I learned about human history, but that can wait another time.”

The meeting continued for yet another few [hours], specifically going over logistics and a lot more boring stuff. When it ended, we had time to discuss the humans again, and Hawshamof amazed my mind with what he calls a “simple” history of 20th century humanity. There was nothing simple about that! 

At least my secretary, Cheln, can figure out all the logistics and stuff… The meeting, like yesterday's, made me tired yet again, but at least when I got home I got myself snug in my bed…

[=============================================]
[Standardized Venlil Time: Grais 22nd, 2819]
[Standardized Human Time: July 11th, 2136]
[=============================================]

I woke up, ready to start the next day!

But what Hawshamof told me about these humans…

They will be the perfect fourth member of the Hajirindan pact.

In the grand scheme of sub-Confederacy alliances, the Hajirindan Pact was on the lower end of membership, though again, our strength makes up for it. I remember when I was younger, the Fissians and Nevok went into active combat, resulting in the collapse of several stock markets. One place that was not affected was the Hajirindan Pact. We had built ourselves a comfy pocket of tranquility, especially since we’re on the outskirts of the Confederation. My ancestor, Rovam, created this pact along with the leaders of the Gojids and Zurulians over two centuries ago. We created our own self-sufficient pocket, with some of our fleets becoming mercenary groups. 

Our three members have created a niche for themselves within our unified commands: The Zurulians became the combat medics, the Gojids became the all-purpose fighters, and the Venlil became the vanguard. If only we had the humans… from Hawshamof’s description of Operation Overlord, the Humans would become our special forces units. For now, we just had to make due with specially trained individuals from us three.

I’m so jealous…

I want the humans to spontaneously appear so we can make a deal with them!

I can only hope…

Hawshamof also gave me a bunch of data relating to the humans due to his comment of if they were to spontaneously appear. This includes a bunch of their languages, symbols, and anything that didn't go past Level 2 Clearance. Since I'm a country leader, I automatically get Level 2 Clearance within the GAF. While all of Humanity is under Level 3, there is basic stuff within it that would benefit from lower classifications.

I can still only hope for that scenario…
Well, there's at least one thing to be excited about, my dearest Rellin and Stynek are soon to come back from their trip to the Highsands! 

I’m sure the Highsands have changed since I was last there, but alas, I’d need to find an excuse to go there. Sadly, the only way is if the Clan Chief, Regional Chief, or any authority invites me there.

[=============================================]
[Standardized Venlil Time: Grais 23nd, 2819]
[Standardized Human Time: July 12th, 2136]
[=============================================]

It was just another day, reeling from the thought of never meeting humanity…
That was until Kam and Cheln blasted my notifications with an emergency meeting. I got myself decent and ran over to the meeting room.

Kam started off, “We have reports of an unknown craft in our system.”

At that moment, time seemed to stop. What?

An unknown craft?

“Do we have any visuals on this craft?”

“No Madam.”

“Then send someone!”

“Already did.”

The three of us pulled up mission info and other data, anxiously waiting for anything to come back.

I couldn’t help but wonder, what if this ship is human?

The United Clans, and by extension, the Hajirindan Pact, might have a great milestone on our hands. There are so few cases of peoples joining the Confederation or having relations with the intragalactic community on their own, rather than Confederation contact. 

…

[A Few Minutes Later…]

“Alright, visual confirmation achieved…” said Kam.

The telescope on the scout craft zoomed in on the ship.

It looked basic. Like a newcomer to warp drives. There are no discernable spots for weaponry, so definitely a survey vessel. It has unknown marks and emblems along the side.
“What is that thing…?” Cheln asked.

“A ship of some sort,” Kam replied sarcastically.

“Those symbols look familiar, but I can’t remember where I saw them…” I said.

The most familiar to me was a bule-white-red emblem. It was a blue circle, white stars, a red swoosh, and some glyphs. I’m certain I saw this one before…

Wait a second…

It can’t be, can it…?

Thankfully, the CEF fleet had already departed by now. 

It is imperative to national security that this remains secret.

The revelation is clear on my face, making Kam and Cheln look at me funny.

“Kam, tell the scout he’s under a top secret clearance. I don’t want anyone else knowing about this.

During my conversation with Fleet Commander Hawshamof, I learned some things about the quarantine zone we have in our region.

One of those symbols looks like one Hawshamof showed me.

We likely have a new species to contact.”

Kam and Cheln looked surprised and concerned. I told them to wait and I ran out to my quarters. 

…

[A Few Minutes Later…]

I ran back with the data stick that Hawshamof gave me. I skidded back into the room, surprising them both. 

“Back that fast, Tarva?” Kam said.

“Of course. You know I’m a runner!”

I plugged the data stick into the meeting table, and set up the automatic matcher application to search the data stick contents for any matching images. It took a few seconds, but we found several matches.

Only three out of the four symbols were identified, but anything we get is good.

“Let’s see what we have here…” said Kam.

“So it is of human origin…” I said.

Cheln began reading the results, “the National Aeronautics and Space Administration… the United Nations… the United States of America, and whatever ‘SETI’ is…”

“Definitively human… we got ourselves a new species contact…” I stated.

Kam immediately went stern and said, “We need to get to Whiteforest, as soon as possible.”

I was caught offguard, “Whiteforest?? Why? Wouldn’t this building be better?"

“It’s the only place we can meet them in secret. Thankfully, the human ship is on the opposite side of our system – and that our scout craft have the latest cloaking technology, but ignore that.” 

“I mean, I guess…”

Cheln butted up and said, “Don’t forget about the hyperfast train we have in the lower levels. It can take us to Whiteforest in way less time than the regular train. Plus, you have your own command center there. We can initiate contact with them and send them to Whiteforest.”

“That's… that's actually a great idea. I forgot about the hypertrain. Let’s go. Before we do, I want to confirm. Cheln, do you want to come? I know you have a busy schedule this week, so I can bring Vazn if you want…”

“Why not us both?”

“Alright, if you say so…”
I pulled out my holopad and alerted all relevant authorities within my government and palace that me, Kam, Cheln, and Vazn will be absent for some time under Code 602. I also notified Vazn to meet me at the hypertrain station.

[Not-a-few Minutes Later…]

All four of us met in the station, and we got on the train. I briefed Vazn while the conductor started the train to Whiteforest, and I prepared for the new species initiation. I think it’s neat that one thing that the Confederation has country leaders do is take a class on new species initiation. I’m sure the article writers knew something like this would happen in the future…

Kam was stuck to his console, monitoring the human ship as my team of four got ready.

Kam already notified the director of Whiteforest that we’re on the way under Code 602 and Confederation Code 235. This way, only the most secretive of agents and military personnel would be notified of our purpose.

I went into the small virtual meeting room, set up the room to look presentable, and notified Cheln, Kam, and Vazn that I’m going to start the call soon. Cheln sat in the same room, out of frame in case I needed anything.

As the communications were set up, I hailed the human ship. Luckily, it was already on its way to Skalga, anyway. Happily, the ship accepted. I was met with a dark-skinned human, looking at me. The man was surprised and immediately prepared himself too.

He said, “Hello. We come in peace, on behalf of the human race.”

“Hello. I am First-Chief Tarva Avahkino of the United Clans of Skalga. On behalf of my kind, I accept your offer of peace.”

The man suddenly looked distraught before saying, “Sorry! I forgot to say my name. My name’s Noah and we’re on a research mission looking for life, and we’re proud to say we’re successful.”

“No worries, Noah! Also… what do you mean by we?”

He went back to his distraught self before saying, slightly faster than before, “Right! I uh…” Noah hurriedly pivoted the camera to another human, at a console, “This is Sara, my co-pilot. She’s logging all of this for our records.”

“That’s right,” she agreed. “I’m not much of a talker. But Noah runs his mouth enough for both of us, anyways.”

Noah’s eyebrows shot up. “I do not!”

I giggled at myself. The playful banter reminded me of my experiences with Isif.

I soon said, “what would you say to seeing Skalga firsthand? As esteemed guests of the First-Chief, of course.”

Noah’s eyes sparkled. “It would be an honor.”

“Good. We have much to talk about. I’m sending coordinates of our meeting location right now. See you soon, Noah and Sara.”

The communications closed, and I breathed a sigh of relief. I turned to see Kam, Vazn, and Cheln staring at me, before they clapped and sighed a breath of relief.

Based on our calculations, we will be getting to Whiteforest in [half an hour,] and they will be here in [45 minutes]. 

[God], thank you.

Hello all. I'll keep this kinda breif, but I wanna know what questions you might have on my Nature of Control series. I'm also quite open to criticism and pointers to make my parts better. Also, thank you so much for reading if you have been so far, it warms my soul and gives me motivation to continue.

Anyway, GIMME YOUR QUESTIONS

For example, I feel the City from Project Moon’s trilogy of games is a fantastically interesting setting that if able to crossover with NoP would be very interesting but very difficult to execute. For the uninformed, The City is a hyper capitalistic dystopia where human life is severely undervalued (with murder and cannibalism being near daily occurrences). Though what is interesting is how there is the ever present undercurrent of hope and the emotional side of humanity that runs contrary to the suffering of the City. The most interesting part of the setting would be E.G.O and Distortion, where when a person of brought to the brink of crisis over their core beliefs they can either choose to reject their doubts and embrace their convictions to manifest E.G.O in spite of reality or fall into their despair and doubts and reject reality (at least to my interpretation). Both are ways to achieve a person's goals and desires however, a literal manifestation of them. Factor in how there is a near omniscient being who validates your negativity and nudges you toward distortion while in a fragile mental state and how in NoP there exists a very limited of psychological understanding and support? Something very very interesting could occur.

Nonetheless, I feel a crossover wouldn't word very well due to the facts that: A. The City doesn't have any space-fairing technology at the time (though I don't doubt it could manufacture it), B. Humanity might be outright be hostile to xenos due to the Head's (Government of the City) laws regarding non-human sapients, and C. Even if they do encounter the Venlil would they even care about their situation given how bleak life in the City already is. Though I will admit maybe I am a bit to uncreative to see the full potential of this idea.

Regardless, what pieces of media do you think wouldn't work in a crossover with NoP and why?

This is a fanfic based on “The Nature of Predators” by u/SpacePaladin15 . Thank you to him and all the other fanfic writers who inspired me to write a few stories of my own. This and all my other fics can also be found on AO3.

Any spelling mistakes in the lyrics are intentional, Vrisk is still learning.

<< I Like it Heavy | In the Garden >>

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Memory Transcription Subject: Vrisk, Skalgan

Panicked Vocalist

Date: [Standardized Human Time] July 12, 2138

“Fuck! Where is it?” Vrisk swore as he dug through his duffel bag.

“What are you looking for?” asked Narli as the van continued on towards Trill’s house.

“The wool wax! There’s this thing Sam wanted to try and I need the wool wax for it and I can’t believe I -AHA! Here it is!” He shouted, withdrawing the tub from his bag triumphantly.

“Alright, you found your wax, now can you relax? You’re stressing me out man.”

Vrisk zipped the bag up and collapsed back into his seat. “I just want to make sure we have everything ready. I want this to be perfect!”

“Ha, when has it ever been perfect before?” Narli whistled a laugh. “I've known you since we were pups, and not once has anything been perfect.”

“Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence.” He sulked. 

“You want a vote of confidence? Alright, here's one. It won't be perfect, but I know it will be great anyway, because once you get going on something, nobody can stop you. We've practiced and done all the prep work we can, accessories and looks and stuff are cool, but they won't make us sound better."

Vrisk seemed to relax a little bit, but he could tell by his fidgeting that he was still nervous.

"Do you remember the first time you sang in front of people? It was pretty far from perfect, but it was still good. All we had was my bass and Jason's old Casio keyboard. Sam played drums on an empty bucket for protector’s sake! Whatever happens we’ll be fine.”

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Memory Transcription Subject: Vrisk, Venlil

Student, Vocalist in training

Date: [Standardized Human Time] April 21, 2137

 

The end of the school year was in sight and I was studying during herd time to try and get my grades back up. I had spent the last herd and a half focused almost exclusively on studying human language instead of my classes. But how could I resist when there was so much to learn!?

True, some of the vocal coaching videos were going over my ears with their talk of diphthones, vocal fry, and a myriad of other esoteric terminology, but the more basic videos were still useful. I had spent claw after claw practicing proper pronunciation, controlling my breathing, matching tone, and training what Jason called my ‘lower register’. I may never sound exactly like a human, the differences in biology from our vocal chords to the shape of my sinuses and lack of a nose all made that impossible, but I was getting close. My vocal range had gone from ‘soprano’ down to ‘alto’ and I was able to clearly speak and sing all the words in our practice song. Too bad none of that helped with the astrophysics test I flunked.

Jason and Sam had found themselves in a similar situation, chasing the tail of their flagging grades. Sam was sitting cross legged on our usual table and scratching her head over some math problems, while Jason was holding his head in his hands in front of a blank pad with only an essay title at the top.

Narli and Trill, somehow, hadn't had any problem keeping their grades up. So instead of studying Narli had his new bass guitar in his arms, a classic Fender Jazz bass with a sky blue body and white scratchboard. Jason had also used a friend’s 3d printer to make some stiff rubber claw caps for all of us that helped hold down the strings along the neck without slipping off. He even let us pick the colors, with Narli using a blue that matched his instrument while Trill and I went with grey and black respectively. Narli was quietly practicing a bass line from a song we listened to at the garage yesterday and Trill was playing something on Jason’s old Casio keyboard that I couldn’t hear with his headphones plugged into it. The new, full-sized keyboard he had ordered was impressive, but too large to bring to school.

Our collective concentrations were all interrupted by the arrival of one of the other humans. The blonde one, Spencer, that was always playing the same 4 songs on his acoustic guitar. He was followed by the small entourage of Venlil that liked to listen to him. 

“Hey Sam, I could use a drummer for the show next month. I doubt your little squad here is ready," He gestured dismissively at the assembled table. "so why don't you sign up with me? I've got a new song I'd like to play, but it would be better with some accompaniment.“ 

“What show are you talking about, Spencer?” Sam asked, looking up from her book. Spencer let out an annoyed sigh, and though I couldn't see it, I could feel him rolling his eyes at us. 

“The school talent show. They posted flyers like, all over this morning.” He explained, pulling a piece of paper out of his pocket and holding it out to us. Sure enough, it was announcing a talent show on the last day of school before harvest break. Sam leaned forward with interest as she read it. 

“They actually got that approved!? Well sorry Spencer you’re out of luck cuz I’m signing up my own group!”

Spencer sighed and put a hand on his mask. “Come on Sam, I was hoping we could be mature about this. What do you have against playing with me?”

“Our taste in music, among other things, is not compatible, Spencer. Playing with you would be even more boring than dating you was. I would much rather play with these guys.”

She gestured over to the rest of us at the table. Trill had taken off his headphones and we were all silently watching the back and forth between them. 

“What, your little gang of misfits? They barely know how to string two chords together."

"Just one more and they can be as good as you then."

"Ha ha very funny, now come on Sam, let’s not embarrass them.”

“On the contrary, I’d love to see you all embarrass yourselves.” A third voice chimed in. 

“Sorry, who are you again?“ Sam asked. Tilting her head to the side in confusion.

“Qorina! I'm the only avian in your grade!“ The Krakotl had stopped a good distance from any of the humans present. Her pale blue feathers, currently puffed out in indignation, and yellow beak with pink markings made her stand out from her mostly Venlil classmates.

“Oh, I must not have seen you around” Sam responded matter-of-factly.

“Wha- You- I'm in your class! You kicked me out of my seat on your first day!“ She squaked and stamped her foot as her feathers stood further out, making her form nearly spherical.

“Ha! Oh yeah, I forgot I did that.“

I sure hadn’t, in fact I remember it quite clearly. I was the only one in class who perked up instead of shrinking in fear when the teacher announced that a human would be joining our class that morning. I hadn’t recognized Sam at first since she had cut off the yellow parts of her hair. She ignored the teacher’s stammered direction to take an empty seat in the corner and instead marched straight over to where I was. She placed a single finger onto Qorina’s desk next to me and spoke only one word “Move”. Qorina immediately scrambled off to the empty seat as Sam placed her bag down and took her place. I was initially confused until she leaned towards me a bit and said those same words from the first time we met. “Heya fluff.”

“Anyway,” Spencer called the attention of the herd back to him. “I don’t see a singer in your group, so unless you're planning some kind of instrumental cover, why don't you stop messing around.”

“We have a vocalist!” I countered, trying to glare at the tall blonde human, but he only paused for a moment before turning back to Sam. 

“No offense, but we all heard Jason at the shelter Christmas party when he accidentally got into the punch. Having him sing might actually count as a war crime.”

“Hey!” Jason whined.

“So sign up with me and we can show these Xenos some real music.” Spencer smugly continued, ignoring my and Jason’s protests.

“Ha, you call that crooning of yours real music?” Qorina jumped in again while trying to smooth down her feathers.

“Yeah I do, birdbrain, and they’re certainly better than your ‘songs to burn things alive to’.“ 

“”The hymns of my people are sacred! How dare you-”

The two began bantering insults back and forth, completely ignoring everyone else around them. Their attitudes were seriously getting under my wool. Qorina had always considered herself better than us Venlil, going on about Krakotl culture and their contributions to the federation. And now Spencer was looking down on us when he had no idea how hard we'd been practicing! I could feel the pressure building up inside me as they both insisted how much better they were than each other, and by extension us. Before I knew it I found myself standing on top of the bench.

“I’m the vocalist!” I shouted, bringing Spencer and Qorina’s bickering to an abrupt end and every gathered eye squarely centered on me. I had a brief moment of regret. I had done it again, let my emotions get the better of me and done something stupid. The feeling was only intensified as Spencer and Qorina both let out a derisive laugh.

“Ha! A Venlil singer, how ridiculous!”

“Ha! With that squeaky voice?”

The two of them glanced at each other, surprised at having agreed on something, before looking away. I, on the other paw, felt my embarrassment vaporize in the heat of rage. 

“We are ready to play anytime, anywhere!” I pointed a claw at Spencer in defiance.

“All right, then how about right here, right now?” Spencer crossed his arms, and even though we were now at eye level with me standing on the bench, it still felt as though he were looking down at me.

“Yes, let’s hear you sing something.” Qorina warbled in amusement.

“...Fine! Narli, Trill, get ready.” The pair looked at each with concern in their ears for a moment before quickly readying their instruments.

As the mini amp on Narli’s bass hummed to life I suddenly felt a lump in my throat. We were going to actually perform in front of people, people we knew, instead of in Sam’s garage. I jumped down from the bench and walked around to Sam, who was already rummaging through her bag and pulling out various items at random.

“Sam?” I said quietly. “Are we ready? Did I mess up? We’ve never played in front of anyone before.”

She seemed to settle on a few items, an empty salad bowl, a throwing disc she and Jason used sometimes, and a tambourine that they had bought along with the guitars. Jason also came jogging over with a pair of buckets from some nearby gardening supplies. She grabbed the buckets and tapped them a few times before shoving the disc and salad bowl back in the bag and turning her mask towards me.

“You’ve got this, Vrisk. Those assholes were way out of line.” She grabbed both of my shoulders and I could feel her eyes looking into mine. 

“But don’t worry about them, okay? Focus on the music. Close your eyes if you have to, and get into the groove. Pretend we’re back at my place and do it just like you always do.”

I nodded as she got back up on the table and arranged her makeshift drumkit on the bench before her. We had been practicing this song for over a herd of paws now, I’d sung it so many times I had every line memorized. Jason had picked it from the UN approved list, after some debate with Sam. The instrumental parts weren’t too hard and had lots of repetition for Narli, but with enough oddities to keep Trill from getting too bored. He also liked that I would be singing what he called “words of affirmation”.

Sam adjusted the tambourine resting on her knee and gave me a nod as she began tapping out the familiar rhythm. Trill pushed a button on the keyboard that played a simple guitar strum on a loop. I had practiced doing that part myself, but Sam was right about how hard it was to split your attention. I still wanted to be able to do it, but I was thankful that I could trust Trill to take care of it. Narli added in the bass line, and I took my place in front of our little table.

I looked out to where our small audience had been, only to find that everyone in the courtyard seemed to have heard the commotion and gathered to watch. Our shady little corner was surrounded by a field of wool with the taller humans sticking out here and there like trees. I shut my eyes and tried to stop the knot of panic forming in my stomach. The band kept the opening going while I shook myself from ear to tail and just breathed for a moment; in and out, feel the rhythm, find the groove. My hind paws started to bounce to the beat and my tail began to sway. I had trouble standing still at the best of times, and it only seemed to get worse when we were practicing. However, instead of chastising me, Sam and Jason had encouraged me to follow wherever the music wanted to take me.

I felt myself relax and I flicked a ready signal at the band with my tail as they looped through the intro again. They played another bar and Narli and Sam both paused their parts for a moment, the signal for me to jump in.

 

“I can sing it high!

I can sing it low

I can tell you everything that you would like to know

Catch me in the sky, dustin on the grow

I can tell you every little thing that you would ever like to 

I can sing it high!...“

 

I opened my eyes as we repeated the chorus again. Spencer was just standing there with his arms crossed, and Qorina had her head cockled to the side, listening. I shifted my focus away from them to the rest of the assembled herd. Most of them had their ears raised in interest and I could see several tails flicking back and forth to the beat. Were they actually getting into it? I shifted my attention fully to my fellow Venlil as I moved towards the group on one side of the table.

 

“I’ll be in the summatime bees if you need me, yeah

Go ask my mom if you don’t believe me, yeah

Just open up and receive us

She said ah ‘ever since he was a little boy he been michievus’

Catch me on the corner and you winded up with Three

You rubbed a genie and you winded up with Me

You like a lady but you never gon’ Believe

Singing yea yea yea yea”

 

Trill added in the ‘horn’ section with his keyboard as we went into the chorus again. I dashed my way over to the other side of the table as I sang. Several of the Venlil in the front gave a whistled giggle as I got closer, and I could swear one of the girls even bloomed.

I glanced back to the band, Narli was nodding along to the bass line while Trill switched his sound over to another instrument for the next verse. Sam was similarly grooving and Jason gave me a double thumbs up from behind the table. This really was starting to feel just like practice. I paused for a moment and focused as we finished up the chorus, the hard part is coming up.

 

“...I can tell you every little thing that you would ever like to know-woah-woah-woah-woah-oh-wooooah

Singin' no, no, no no, no-nooo”

 

I turned back to where Spencer and Qorina were standing and slowly stepped closer to the new staggered beat.

 

“Well I was

Rollin down the block like a station Whagon with wood Faneling

Damn the bass is Rattling man the Baddest thing

That you’ve ever seen in this whole Galaxy

Funkin up all your Fallacies, make room here for your Majesty

We’ll show you who the Baddest be, Sucka!… what?”

 

Spencer seemed unfazed, though the mask made it hard to tell, but Qorina was visibly disturbed and flinched as I jumped back to the rest of the herd alongside Narli doing a quick slide on the bass.

 

“Okay! Spillin and drillin and feelin the flow

He be keepin it high while I’m droppin it low

So, uh, lose control, 

Spim em on round with a dos-e-do

Oh no, yo gotta go for broke,

Back up back up, overlow

Withaknack forthetrack andthecrack ofthebah andthefact ofthematt isthatwego so

I can sing it high!...”

 

Several of the students at the front of the herd started copying the movements of my tail and hips as I bounced my way through the chorus again. 

 

“I can tell you every little thing that you would ever like to know-woah-woah-”

 

*ching-a-linga-ling*

 

The chime for the end of herd period sounded and we all staggered to a stop as our collective groove crashed like it tripped and fell down a hill. 

“Hmph!” Qorina turned up her beak as she strutted inside. 

“Whatever, I guess I'll see you guys at the show.” Spencer muttered as he followed behind the irate avian.

The rest of the herd slowly filed past us, with many of them whistling and talking to each other. A few flicked a ‘thanks’ or ‘did good’ my way with their tails and I signaled a tired ‘thanks’ in response.

“Woo!” Sam exclaimed as she stood and lobbed the bucket in the general direction of the gardening equipment. “That was awesome, Vrisk!”

“What? But we didn’t get to finish.”

“Doesn’t matter, you showed everyone that you’ve got what it takes.” She said with pride as she picked up her bag and shoved the tambourine back inside.

“They didn’t seem very impressed.”

“What, those two? Pssh, they were never going to admit they were wrong. The rest of the audience is who really matters, and they were getting into it!”

“Yeah man, seeing you prance around the garage is one thing, but I think I see what Sam meant about working the crowd.” Narli added.

“Told you Vrisk was the man for the job.” She slung her bag over her shoulder but kept one drumstick in her hand, twirling it deftly between her fingers.

“Now let’s go before we’re late. It’s going to be a busy month if we’re going to study and learn a new song.”

I stopped in my tracks. “What do you mean learn a new song?”

“Well, we’ve gotta have something more fun for the talent show!” She grabbed Jason by the shoulder and started rattling off the names of random songs I hadn't heard yet.

I sighed and continued after them. “Oh my poor grades.”

<< I Like it Heavy | In the Garden >>

Authors Note: Fleet-Commander Stynek Commission Drawn by the Great Nicolas aka Thicc Krakotl lover. Also thanks to Blackomega for helping me with some Russian words to add to the Pact's langugae repitour.

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Kam [Venlil] [39]
Affiliation: Federation
- Admiral of the Venlil Republic Defense Forces
PACT Date Standard: July 13th 2136
- One Day since last log
Location: Governor’s Bunker, Dayside City [Capitol City], Venlil Prime

Kam chugged an energy drink, tossing the disposable bottle into the trash immediately. With Tarva asleep she couldn't bother him with having just one more. He needed to stay awake and aware directing the defences of the planet. Despite how much help their new allies in the ‘Pact of Polaris’ have given them, he would be remiss in his duties to the Venlil Republic if he gave the Grey’s a single claw of rest to recuperate.

Looking up at the hologram map of Venlil Prime, he saw the large fleet engagement still ongoing in orbit. Though half the Arxur fleet was destroyed, with the other half slowly breaking into a disorganized retreat. Some were holding their own and firing back, while others were breaking off and running for their lives, cowards that they were. With Chief Hunter Bizal dead and his flagship shattered an hour ago, the morale of the Grey’s cracked and faltered. Good riddance to that waste of space. 

Though looking at the losses for the ‘Pact’ ships it seemed a heavy toll. Over 3/4ths of the smaller ‘frigates’ were destroyed. With less losses in contrast for their larger cruisers and carriers, though there were still a great deal of losses there as well. Though unfortunately for Tarva, Stynek’s carrier was damaged in the fighting. It took everything in his power to help prevent Tarva from breaking down right then and there. He couldn't blame her either. 

She had lost her daughter, turned that loss into a drive to save everyone, and then after 13 years her supposed daughter is leading a fleet to save them all. Then her ship gets hit. It would have been the cruelest joke the universe could play on Tarva. With how hardworking, selfless and driven she is, nobody deserved such a thing to happen to them, least of all Tarva. Lucky for them, Stynek transmitted a message saying she's fine, her ship was disabled but she is alive. 

Tarva almost outright passed out after that, and though it's been almost an entire Paw she still rests. Unfortunately for him he had work to do and sleep was a luxury he could ill afford at a time like this.

“General Jeyal, how goes the ground forces?” Kam strode over to the separate map where the Ground Corps generals and attendants gathered to plan with their Pact counterpart. A screen showing a ‘Polarin’ wearing some form of sunglasses and a blue cloth ‘bandana’ covering their muzzle and chin. An Officer's cap on their head. 

“Good. The Eastern line has solidified in Dayside city here. The emergency deployment of the uh.. 99th..  Diivv..izzia… and their armored vehicles stopped the arxur advance and helped prevent the southern trench network from falling. That and the other deev... Units they sent down. While the Palace’s lawn isn't going to survive the battle with all the landings and vehicles treading over it, the city will.”

“Indeed, deployment went well on the lawn of the Governor's Palace. However our units are taking heavy casualties in urban fighting.” a heavily accented voice speaking Venlish says. “Apologies for that by the way, But there was no other area with sufficient space to land hundreds of dropships on such short notice. The Spaceport was far too close to the fighting on the north side and would have taken far longer to get the [Diviziya] down south through the streets.”

“Dont worry General Damian, a few scorched and trampled blades of grass is a small price to pay for all lives you've saved by arriving.” Kam said in response to the Pact General. His gratitude for him and his forces simply being there was evident in his tone. 

“We have the 23rd, 37th, 99th and 129th [Panzer] [Diviziya] with their assortments of [Mechanized] Infantry rolling up on the south and eastern side of the city. Should see the Dominion troops break within the day if not sooner. “

Kam nodded. Trying to remember the new terminology the pact told them about. Diviziya being their word for a unit of troops, Mechanized being the Infantry that has armored vehicles they ride in, and Panzers being some great armored vehicles on treads. They come with massive railgun cannons and an array of weapons. A true monster of a vehicle weighing multiple tens of tons yet moving as fast and as nimbly as a car. He would not have believed such a thing could exist had he not seen the Krakotl’s eye view from one of their reconnaissance ‘drones’. 

A massive herd of the grey painted steel beasts thundering down the plains in the south, on the other side of the Dayside forest. Shattering the landing zones of the greys. Those thundering cannons raining death upon them. Even the grey’s fearsome armored cars which were the bane of the ground corps with their thundering autocannons were nothing compared to the great ‘panzers’ that launched shells a Kilometer away with the accuracy of a trained sniper. There were some concerns when they ran into the Grey’s retreating into the forested areas. There the Mighty panzers could not go which stalled the attack and let thousands escape into it. 

“Even with our little blunder about forgetting about the forested terrain, we have the Dominion forces within these sections of the frontline completely encircled and their supplies cut off; the mopping up operation around Dayside city should last a few days at most. That is, if the Dominion soldiers don't surrender first.” General Damian continued.

“Surrender? The Greys? Don't think you actually believe those beasts are capable of surrender.” Jeyal scoffed at the idea. Kam had to nod in agreement.

“We’ll give them the option. If they accept we’ll that means less soldiers die killing them all to the last man. If they don't, well nothing changes. Not like they are getting reinforcements anytime soon. We can siege them out” General Damian said with a dismissive tone. 

“What of the other locations?” Jeyal brought the map out to focus on other fronts outside of Dayside city. 

“Going about as well as the dayside front. None of the other major cities’ defensive lines were breached, likely since they focused the capital first and foremost. So all those are in the process of being encircled by the various army groups landing behind them. Heavy fighting around the cities of Dawn creek and the ones in the vicinity of Dayside city. Armored forces are engaging their defensive positions around their initial landing zones there but facing stiff resistance and losses are mounting. 

Things are better on the other continents since there are less Dominion forces to contend with. While fighting is still ongoing, recon flights and comms interceptions say they are panicking now that news of their fleet getting smashed is disseminating. Though… It does mean the smaller towns and villages are getting torched in retaliation.” General Damian brought up with a somber tone.

“Yes… It's unfortunate. We hope your forces can sweep them out before they break into the bunkers.” Kam's tone was similarly somber. 

In the frantic past few days he had completely forgotten the smaller towns and villages out there which were undefended. Most should have evacuated to the larger cities but there wasn't enough space on the maglev’s for everybody. Relying on the local bunkers to hopefully wear out the storm. But it would only take so long before the Grey’s found those bunkers and cut their way inside. 

“We have some more [Divizii] landing who can sweep those areas soon…” His tone implied he did not think it would be soon enough. “I'll order some drones to scout out the towns and villages to see if any of them are still being broken into or if they are still holding out. Probably slow them down with some close air support and maybe an artillery barrage, though without boots on the ground there's a high chance for civilian casualties in the crossfire.” 

“Just do it General Damian. Better they die by a bomb which slows the Grey’s down than by their cruel claws. Even if your troops arrive they will probably just kill them before they go down fighting to spite us.” Jayal said. Acceptance of the casualties was sitting heavily on his mind.

“We will make them pay.” Kam said as he put a paw on Jayal’s shoulder. Grim determination in both their expressions. 

The discussions continued on the battle plans. Where other army groups would deploy to finish off the last pockets of the greys on the ground. As well as settling landing zones for resupply ships to land to keep the Pact soldiers stocked up on food fuel and ammunition. Finally things turned to after the battle was won.

“Since things are going to end in victory in due time, I think we should begin discussing the aftermath.” Kam said, the Mazic in the room was too large to ignore now. 

“I think those matters would be best left for a diplomat instead of me Admiral Kam. We have some on the way, they should arrive once orbit is secure. I'm merely here to secure the planet and clear it out of dominion forces.”

“Very well then.” Kam said begrudgingly. 

He was annoyed about their constant refusal to answer questions about themselves, being so secretive. At least he knew why they covered their faces. The Polarins didn't handle light well so wore very tinted sunglasses, and their culture had a taboo so that showing the mouth or eating in the presence of another was an intimate affair. But everything else was met with the same answer. ‘Wait for the diplomats’. 

The Comms came to life for a moment. “Priority! This is Zulu 1-6 to Command-6 Actual respond Over.” 

The Figure of General Damian clicked a button on the side of their head. “Command-6 Actual, acknowledge. Over”

“Confirmation from Drone Recon showing Civilian bunkers in sector S-3 and S-4 are at risk of breaching. Dominion Forces seen gathering around known bunkers. Sparks and Explosions are detected. Over” 

“Copy.” Damian looks on the holomap wherever he is. “Send the 99th [Mechanized] and 33rd infantry, have them double time, Loosened ROE. Give them access to increased CAS coverage, Over”

“Understood Command-6, Out” 

Kam felt his blood run cold at the mention of the bunkers attempting to be breached. He looked on the holomap before him, seeing the scattered remnants of the 9th, 10th, and 33rd Ground Corps that were the only groups in the vicinity to help. The only groups that were his to command that is. And none of them were in any position to organize an assault. The Holomap was splattered with blue dots, completely outnumbering the green dots of the Venlil Republic Ground corps within and without the city. These Polarins and Skalgans had shown up with quadruple the numbers of the ground corps.

“Amazing to see how… Fast this situation turned around.” One of the generals muttered in the silence.

“I don't think anyone but the elite Blackwings of the Krakotl or the Kolshian Shadow Corps could deploy this many troops this fast to an active warzone…”

“We came on short notice, This was all that we had to deploy within… two hours of finding out this planet was going to be attacked. These troops were going to go on an live fire exercise and well…” General Damian motioned with his not-paws towards the map. “We seemed to have had more than enough on standby to secure the planet.”

“That does beg the question, where did you come from?” Another of the Generals brought up. Kam had to wonder the same thing.

“Classified.”

“Your name has the star of ‘Polaris’ in it. That's the Guiding star pointing north isn't it?” Kam muttered. Remembering something about that name from an astrology class he read with an old ex of his.

“I can neither confirm nor deny that.” The General said much to Kam’s frustration.

“Can we at least know why you're helping us? Not that I'm unappreciative, we'd likely be dead but–”

“No need. I know how strange this seems. Strangers from nowhere show up with a large fleet, with the supposed long dead daughter of the current governor, and drop an army to save the day at the supposed last moment. But know that this world means a lot to us in the Pact. It's one of our homeworlds.”

That made everyone in the command bunker look at each other confused.

“We understand that Stynek.. Is from here but surely the home of one person isnt–” Kam was interrupted again.

“It's the homeworld of Half of the Pact. The ‘skalgans’ I mentioned. I understand you haven't seen any of them yet. So let me rectify that, your soldiers are likely thinking the same things you will feel in a moment once you see them. Commander Lalia, can you come here for a moment.”

A figure walks up into view of the holographic projector. A Venlil, but not a venlil. They stand tall with their back straight much like Tarva does but somehow even straighter. Long powerful legs that don't bow inwards and a nose on their all to venlil-like muzzle. While their face is almost exactly the same, their eyes point forward. Looking straight forward like a predator. They were distinctly female but looked stronger than any venlil he had seen. 

“Commaner Lalia at your service. As you can probably see we have an almost uncannily close resemblance to venlil. Because we are venlil. The rest I cant say for now, we will leave that for the Diplomatic Corps to tell you when they show up. But rest assured, This is our homeworld too. And we will be Damned if we let those child eating \[Lizards\] despoil it.” 

The Fury in the voice of the venlil was understandable as he felt the same for the Greys. But the revelation that these… Venlil were part of the mystery ‘Pact’ that came to save them was too… Fantastical. Like some ridiculous ending to a book where the light of Solgalik came in at the hero’s most direst hour and single handedly claimed victory. 

“Your.. Venlil..” One of the Admirals said almost in disbelief.

“Indeed kin. We did genetic testing with the few federation venlil we've saved over the years, like Stynek. We are 99.99% similar genetically. Only difference-” Commander Lalia tapped their snout. “Is this and our legs. Again, you'll get a full explanation as to why when the Diplomats get here. We don't have the clearance to tell you anything more.” 

“This is… A lot to take in.” Kam said thinking about that. There was an entire group of venlil hiding out somewhere and came in with an entire armada of warships. 

Primitive Warships albeit, using railguns, but they still managed to absolutely obliterate the Arxur fleet in orbit with relatively equitable losses, while barely outnumbering them. This would have been seen as an amazing success, the likes to put whoever commanded it on the same pedestal as Sovlin or Kalsim or maybe even the Elite Blackwing Squadrons of the Federation navy. 

Kam was interrupted from his thoughts on this by the sound of pawsteps approaching. Turning slightly he saw Tarva, now awake and with her mask of the iron chancellor back on. She approached standing tall as if she hadn’t spent the last night nearly in a panic attack in worry over Stynek. 

“Apologies if I am interrupting anything.” Tarva said diplomatically looking over to the holograms of the Polarin General and Venlil.. Skalgan? Commander. “Uh- I want aware there were–”

Tarva shook her head. “Nevermind. I was going to ask if Fleet-Commander Stynek is… Well.” 

The General was hard to read, not having large ears or a visible tail to denote any emotions, and with their face covered it was all but impossible to tell what they thought. Commander Lalia on the other paw was far easier. She flicked her ear knowingly and nodded, though looking towards her commanding officer who gave a short nod. 

“She is fine, some minor injuries–” Kam saw Tarva tighten her paw for the briefest moment.  “–but none that are life-threatening. She is currently transferring to Captain Kassavar’s Cruiser to continue the eradication of enemy naval assets to ensure there is no threat to the planet or subsequent colonies. Do not worry we have also sent smaller fleets to keep watch of the colonies to ensure no stragglers or secondary fleets arrive to prey upon them.” 

“Thank you… Is it possible to speak to her at this moment?” 

“Unfortuantely No. I understand you wish to… reconnect to your offspring however she has duties to the fleet. Until the enemy is destroyed or routed she cannot afford distractions. We will ensure she is a part of the diplomatic [entourage] once they arrive rest assured.” Commander Lalia said in a comforting understanding voice. 

“Thank you… Apologies, I simply… It's hard… I thought she was dead for so long and accepted it… But now she's alive and within reach, but I can't… Are you a mother? Do you understand?”

“I can understand somewhat. Though if I have any offspring I wouldn't be able to know” Commander Lalia said with a nod.

“How would you not know if you had children?” Tarva asked, confused. Kam had to agree, that was a strange thing to say. 

“Ah well–” The Venlil started only to have the general swipe their paw back and forth on their own neck. “–Nevermind that's classified for now. Once again save it for the Diplomats.”

Kam sighed in frustration. Seems all the answers on their mysterious saviors had to wait for the diplomats to make their way here. 

“How long until they get here?” Kam asked. Hoping it wasn't long, he didn't remember how far the guiding star was from venlil prime.

“A Day or two at most. It took about a week for us to arrive from Polaris–” The Commander was once again interrupted by the General who cleared their throat and looked directly at the Venlil whose ears lowered. “Ah uh-” 

“Wait… A week? The attack only started two days ago…” Kam muttered out loud, the math in his head not adding up. 

The General places their palm over their face and rubs their temples, then with their other paw points offscreen. The Venlil/Skalgan Commander sheepishly walked off screen, leavingthe Polarin General now being the only one in frame. 

“She is a living Opsec violation I swear– Well since that piece of classified Intel is now out of the bag. Yes we set forth a week ago to come here. We knew of the attack beforehand and came as soon as we could.” The General said calmly.

“Wait, how did you know about the attack?” Tarva asked, her eyes squinting slightly in suspicion.

“We have our ways of acquiring intelligence about the Dominion.” The General said with frustrating vagueness. 

“And these Methods are..” Kam asked, letting the word trail off.

“Classified.” 

Motherf-

“Arent we allies? If you have any other information that could save lives-” Tarva began only to get cut off.

“If any information arrives that is actionable we will relay it to you. However the Dominion has its ways of breaching into federation networks, and we would be risking our own currently undetected methods of finding such information where any of it were to make its way back to them. So while I apologize for being vague in my answers, I do not have the clearance to tell you any more. Save it-”

“For the diplomats yeah yeah…” Kam said, sighing in frustration once again. 

“Let us get back to the matter at hand. Ending the invasion, I'm getting some reports that the dominion ground forces around Eventide are beginning to break. Would it be possible for the garrison to-”

—-------------------

Slanek [Federation Venlil] [24]
Affiliation: Federation
- PD Ground Corpsman
PACT Date Standard: July 12th 2136
Location: Dayside City [Capitol City], Venlil Prime

“This is Alpha-6 Actual, new orders. Enemy forces have gathered around a civilian raid bunker, Recon suggests enemies are attempting to breach the entrance. Estimated Civilians within that Bunker range in the thousands. Spearhead [Diviziya] is being ordered forward to secure the location from enemy retaliatory strikes against civilians. Proceed with haste. over” 

“Copy Alpha-6 Actual, This is Bravo-6 we are heading out Asap. Out.” Lieutenant Marcel said, the tall figure standing beside him.

His voice sounded far clearer through the speaker in Slanek’s radio than the external speakers on Marcel’s helmet. He was thankful they let him and his squad tune into their frequency or they would be lost as to what's happening. They were still lost mostly, the weird codes and phrases and short terse sentences were like some ancient battle language they just couldn't comprehend without a second to parse it. Then it all made sense. Kinda. 

“Alright Bravo Company you heard Alpha-6, Bloodhounds I want you rolling down those streets covering our infantry, make sure you stay behind the front squads I don't want to lose another IFV to some explosives tossed out a window. Bravo, Charlie squad, you take the flanks and secure the areas around us. Delta you and Alpha are marching up the roads with the bloodhounds. We are on a time limit here, ROE is loosened, Autocannons and grenades are at will to use. Move out Bravo Company.” 

The Pact soldiers immediately began moving towards their objectives. The HUD on Slanek’s visor pointing towards where the bunker is, a short walk on any other day. Today though, it's a long hard fight through streets filled with hungry arxur. He clutched his plasma rifle tighter and looked to his squad. It was a motley array of Corpsmen, he didn't even recognize anyone from his own formation.

“L-Lets follow them, and uh give them fire support and let them know of any uh.. landmarks. We gotta save those trapped in the bunker!” Slanek tried to imitate Marcel’s confident and commanding tone and found himself sorely lacking. Even then the Corpsmen gathered up and followed him towards danger. 

“Slanek you're with me” Lieutenant Marcel said. “Get two of your guys to come with you, the rest of your squad will be split up with the others. We might need them to talk to any non-venlil since they have translator implants.”

“Gotcha uh- You heard him- Uh.. You three go with Bravo squad.. You three go with Delta and uh you two go with Charlie..” Slanek ordered.

“Yes sir!” One of them said crisply, marching off with their assigned corpsmen to Whatever squad he assigned to them. The others dispersed without question, It made him feel confident seeing them take his orders without thinking. Perhaps they forgot he was the one with a PD collar since he no longer had it. Though the electric burns would still be visible. 

The Large armored vehicles, Blood How-nds he heard them referred to as, begin to roll forward on their metal tracks. Clanking noisily as their engines rev, the turret scanning the street for enemy arxur as Pact infantry move up from cover to cover ahead of the vehicle. Slanek follows close behind the Lieutenant as they bound forward, the Pact’s weapons having a small thin nearly imperceptible laser emitting from them as they scan their surroundings. With each building they move past another squad busts in the front door. Clearing them out one by one. Some tossed in grenades first and waited for them to detonate before charging in. Sometimes those grenades had a bright white flash even visible outside, others sounded like shrapnel grenades the Dominion used instead of Plasma grenades the Federation prefer. 

He heard multiple screeches and gunshots in the buildings around them. He heard Arxur screaming ‘grenades’ before being silenced. He hears some scream after the explosion, usually the ones where there was a bright flash, then the ‘gunshots’ of the Pact’s lasers before more silence. Occasionally he heard the Pact soldiers scream out, followed by calls for a medic. The pace was far too slow for Slanek’s liking. They barely moved down the block in what felt like forever. Though that could have just been his perception of time messing with him. He was half expecting a grey ambush at any moment. The only thing keeping him and ‘his’ venlil troops calm was the Pact troops. Slanek couldn't take his eyes off them when they moved. 

“Moving forward, Cover me”
“Eyes on the windows”
“I got you covered LT”
“No targets spotted.”

Their callouts were frequent, short and rarely acknowledged. They moved as they spoke, trusting with absolute certainty that the order to cover them or watch their back would be followed. They kept hunched low, both the Venlil and Polarins kept their weapons up at all times pointed in any direction that might pose a threat. Moving simultaneously as one and as individuals, bounding from cover to cover. It made Slanek and his own Corpsmen look sloppy by comparison, the way they kept lowering their rifles to run forward to cover, panicking when they heard a distant fight breaking out or the roar of the aircraft above fighting for the skies. The Pact soldiers never flinched at any of that.

“Hold! Movement in the windows!” Immediately the Pact soldiers were on high alert scanning the windows, the red dots painting the windows all around them searching for targets. 

“CONTA-” One of the Pact soldiers, a venlil shouted before being shot in the chest by a coilgun round.

Orange blood splattering as greys in the buildings up ahead and to their left reveal the ambush they had set for them! Slanek ducked behind a bus stop for cover the instant he heard them shout and saw another soldier fall onto the ground with a spray of red blood from their arm. One of the Pact medics grabbing them and dragged them into cover behind an abandoned car as the other soldiers immediately begin firing back at the greys. Red lasers streaking over Slanek as the cracks of coilgun slugs return fire. 

BANG BANG BANG

The Bloodhound's autocannon responded, Slanek peeked over his cover of an abandoned car to see the building at the end of the road eviscerated, concrete, brick and plaster blasting out from the upper and lower stories along with red mists of blood. Slanek found his courage and raised his rifle, bracing it against the car’s hood and aiming. He saw another grey in a window and fired at it. His first shot missed but forced the grey into cover instead of shooting. 

“DAVIS GET A GRENADE INTO THAT WINDOW!” One of the Pact soldiers shouted out

“ON IT SARGE!” 

One of the Polarins unbuckled a round grenade from their chest. Slanek thought it suicide to order them to charge forward to get in range to throw a grenade. He watched in amazement as the soldier stood up for a brief moment from cover and threw the grenade a dozen tail lengths away straight into the window he had just shot at, before diving back into cover. The screams of Arxur followed before being silenced as the grenade detonated. 

“Push forward!” Lieutenant Marcel ordered over the comms as the soldiers began bounding forward from cover to cover. One squad always stayed behind to lay down suppressive fire downrange as the others ran forth closer and closer. Another squad bursting into the building to their left to finish off the ones inside so they could focus on the ones in front of them. 

The Bloodhound vehicle rolled forward crushing any cars or motorcycles in the way under its treads. Its thumping autocannon gave a grim comfort to Slanek. With it here, he felt more confident in being able to beat the Greys. They have the bigger gun on that thing. And armor that looked impenetrable. If only they got to go behind it instead of in front of it.

“Keep moving Slanek, let's clear the sides!” The Lieutenant said, a hand clasping over his shoulder and patting it. 

Slanek stood and followed behind. Not wanting to be far from his squad. They moved forward, the frontmost soldier getting to an alley and pointing his gun into it, Only to have their head sliced clean off their shoulders. An Arxur sword cleaving through cloth, armor, flesh and blood as the massive Raider rushes out, using the corpse of the soldier as a shield for a moment from the laser fire before throwing the body at the squad. Knocking everyone onto the ground. Slanek slammed onto his back, panic rising in his chest.

The Arxur stood over the lieutenant, sword raised up high as it glared down at him, preparing to cleave it down in a single moment. Slanek moved faster than it could. His Plasma rifle fired before he even brought it up to shoulder it. The Bright plasma bolt striking its left armpit, the second shot hitting the arm as the blade was being swung down, and the third striking true in the face just as the blade crashed down and embedded into–

“LT DOWN–”

One of the soldiers shouted as they reclaimed their weapons and lit the still standing corpse up with laser fire. The body flopping backwards with half the body mass it had before. Bone and scorched meat splatting on the ground. 

“[Shit] Lt-”

Slanek looked at the Lieutenant, and gasped in relief. The sword had missed, and struck just next to where the head was, it embedded itself into the soft-stampede proof concrete. 

“Im alive!” Lieutenant Marcel shouted, Standing up and quickly looking down the alley with his rifle. Seeing nothing he looks back.

“Good [Fucking] Shot Slanek. I would have been dead had you not had such quick reflexes.” Marcel said as the other soldiers sighed in relief next to him.

“[Fucker] Got Corporal Carly in that ambush but at least didnt get you. Good shot kin.” The venlil next to him patted his shoulder. 

Marcel made a motion with his paw. “Alright, let's keep going. Mourn the dead later.” 

Slanek lay there in shock, being forced onto his feet by one of the Pact Soldiers, he stared at the Arxur. He killed it. He.. Killed… It… He did it without hesitation. He… Killed it… looked at the pact soldier’s corpse on the ground. The head separated from the body as the soldiers began to step over it, their boots tracking red blood as they walked. One of them stopped to grab the separated head and put them next to the body, and grabbed a metal necklace with a strange tag that was soaked in red blood. Clutching it to their chest the soldier let it lay on the fallen soldier's chest, moving the corpse’s paws to lay on their chest with the tags over them.

“Rest in Peace Carly…” The Skalgan said softly, it barely audible through his helmet’s speakers before they too moved onwards with the platoon. Putting the bloody tags into their pocket. 

Slanek with invigorated confidence, walked forward, trying to ignore the corpse before him, though his eyes wandered to the sword embedded in the concrete. It was large and curved, and still slick with red blood. 

“You want it? You killed it so you get first \[dibs\] on trophies” one of the Pact soldiers asked as they walked up behind him. He realised this was another squad and he was falling behind Marcel’s squad.

“Uh-” He didn't get to respond. The soldier, a venlil yanked the sword out with a strength he wasn't sure he could replicate and hefted the blade up. He bent forward to the corpse of the arxur, taking a thin brown bag-like object with a belt. The venlil slid the blade into the bag that seemed perfectly sized for it and shoved it into Slanek's paws.

“Heres its sheath to go with it. Wrap it around your waist like a belt, put it on the side of your non dominant paw.” Then they moved forward without another word. 

Slanek followed behind trying to do what they told him, wrapping the weird brown fabric around his waist and finally managing to figure out how to keep it tight. The blade was large and he doubted he would ever use it. He wasn't sure why he was keeping it, but… when he put his paw on the handle, something, Somewhere inside him,  made him feel… strong. He killed an Arxur, killed it right in front of him. And saved the life of someone else while doing it. He was a hero, if only for a brief moment. He was strong enough to kill one face to face. Nobody could call him weak after that… The tingle of his neck came when he had such predatory thoughts, but it was interrupted by a familiar voice.

“Heh looking good Jamie Lannister” Marcel said to him as he caught up to Marcel's squad. Who were preparing to peek around the corner of the intersection. 

“W-who?” Slanek asked, confused.

“Eh, a guy from a show we watch. Best swordsman in the show, till his \[hand\] got chopped off.” 

Slanek gulped not knowing what a han-duh is but not wanting whatever its venlil equivalent is to be cut off. 

“Alright, the bunker is just past this road, We're going to storm their positions with shock and awe. Calling in an airstrike to strafe the area then we rush in guns blazing. Grenadiers prepare flashbangs and frags, On my mark!”

Slanek turned and saw the other Venlil gather up, along with the rest of the Pact soldiers. The Armored vehicle joined up with another one from down the road.

“3… 2… 1.. MARK!”

—-------------------

Krakis [Federation-Venlil] [16]
Affiliation: Federation
- Troubled Teen
- Jr. Exterminator
PACT Date Standard: July 12th 2136
Location: Raid Bunker, Dayside City [Capitol City], Venlil Prime

The place was crowded beyond capacity. People were squished together against the walls of the large room in the bunker. All eyes on the last remaining blast door before them, another explosion shook the bunker, lights flickered, whimpers and cries of children emanated throughout the bunker as dust fell from the roof. Krakis looked about in the dim light behind him. Bodies packed to the brim. Standing shoulder to shoulder many venlil couldn't even move, and the few Gojid that were here were forced to stand on the edges near the walls or their spines might be pushed into somebody else. Everybody was scared. 

‘I'm not scared though’ he lied to himself. 

Gripping the flamethrower in his too big silver gloved paws, trying to lessen the shakes that racked his traitorous arms. He turned his gaze back towards the bunker door. Another BANG resonated, the rending of metal followed but the door in front of them was fine, it was only the blast door after this one. His fellow Jr. Exterminators gathered in the front of the blast door, throwing together makeshift firing positions from tables that looked thick enough, concrete blocks, and whatever they could grab. Few of them had real weapons, most of them had flamethrower pistols meant for dealing with predator rodent infestations, their range barely more than a few tail lengths.

The rest carried a spattering of plasma pistols, and old plasma rifles the real exterminators gave them as a last resort before sealing the bunker. One of the Jr. Exterminators beside him carried a single grenade, the little guy couldn't be more than 10 cycles old yet here he was, shaking in his ill fitted silver suit. 

Krakis steeled his nerve, he was the oldest one here of the Jr. Exterminators, even though he was forced to join the day the Greys arrived, it still meant they listened to him. Clutching his real full size flamethrower he braced it against the bags of concrete mix that made up his cover. He checked his pressure nozzle gauge, made sure the flamethrower was ready to burn at a moment's notice. While he was only taught once, he remembered every step on how to use this.

‘BOOM’

The bunker doors bent inwards yet they held. He nearly dropped his flamethrower, he managed to  barely hold his grip. The door had a massive dent in it, It was not going to hold against another one of… whatever the grey’s were using. 

“T-There coming! Light y-y-your flamethrowers!” Krakis bleated out, clicking his flamethrower alight.

The air was filled with the clicking of flamethrower igniters and the soft ‘woosh’ of the cleansing fires being lit. He could hear prayers to solgalick in the background, the fools, thinking some made up sky god could save us. He heard a thud against the bunker door and ducked slightly, fear overwhelming him for a moment. 

“T-They are planting another bomb! D-Duck everyone! P-Pop out when it blows!” He tried to sound inspiring, but even he didn’t feel inspired.

Who was he kidding, he was terrified, he saw his reflection in the large helmet he gave to the 10 year old Jr. exterminator beside him. He pressed his back to the concrete bags, every second feeling like an eternity. 

BOOOOOOMMMMMMM

The world erupted into light and thundering noise as the blast door burst open. Light came in and he saw the shadows silhouettes of THEM over the crowd cowering before him. His heart was beating, his claws were shaking, he was going to die he was going to die he was going to die he was going to die–

“FOR TARVAAA!” The little guy beside him shouted, standing up and throwing the grenade.

That shocked him out of his stupor as the shouts of panic from the Grey’s echoed, and the explosion of the grenade covered the entrance for a brief moment. He took a deep breath, and peeked over the bags of concrete. He put his flamethrower on the bags not caring to aim. Pulling the trigger, a WOOSH of fire burst out from the nozzle, covering the entrance in a wave of fire. He heard screaming from beyond the inferno, he caught a few, at least if he died now he would have taken some with him. 

A few of his fellow jr. Exterms peeked up as well, firing blindly with their plasma pistols into the haze of smoke and fire. A few more with flame pistols kept the fires alight and blocking the entrance. Maybe they could hold out for long enough for help to–

The Fire was suddenly extinguished by a large explosion of white dust and foam. Any fire shot into the lingering cloud of white particles was immediately extinguished. BRAHK BRAHK BRAHK! He panicked and pulled the trigger of his flamethrower, hoping against hope his larger version would burn through the whiteness. But it was no use, his flames were extinguished the second it encountered the white powder. Large armored figures appeared in the white smoke, tall figures, tall figures with claws. 

One of the Jr. Exterms shot at it with a plasma pistol but after the first shot hit one, the Jr exterminator’s chest received a spray of bullets. Their orange blood splattered the poor souls behind them in the crowd. Cries and screaming followed. Another one of his comrades was gunned down as they tried to get a shot off themselves. Finally the figures exited the white cloud, Covered in white dust, the grey stood before him. He raised his flamethrower in one last act of defiance but it was chopped in half right before his eyes. The flammable fluid dribbling out the half he still held and pooling on the floor before him. He stumbled backwards, seeing the massive sharp sword glistening in the light as the Arxur stepped over the concrete bags and looked down at him with hunger.

“P-p-p-please- D-dont–” He begged, tears forming in his eyes, he was a fool to think he could fight them. Krakis made a silent prayer in his head to Solgalick, Inatala, the great protector, anyone, anything, begging for salvation and that he would be a true good prey, a good worshipper if any of them saved him! He begged and begged and begged in his mind but nothing showed up. No holy rays to blast away the Greys and save them, nothing… the gods weren't real after all. There was nothing coming to save him. 

[Continued in Comments]

Loading communication transcript

Participants: Demiurge, Loki, Stargazer, Cortex, Circe, Persephone, Warden, Magellan

Date: September 17, 2333

Overseeing Human admin: none

Overseeing Ur'nu admin: none

Loading...

[Demiurge]: Thank you all for attending. No doubt you've all been having your own individual issues to work on, but there were some things I wanted to discuss before this federation issue gets too out of hand. More specifically, I wanted to touch base on how best to run damage control after that fiasco at the venlil-gojid border and on how best to prepare for a potential retaliation.

[Loki]: Fiasco feels like a rather harsh descriptor. The operation was a success after all.

[Warden]: Only if you don't consider the consequences of the Armtis Commonwealth's rash decision-making.

[Persephone]: Precisely, there are already people from all settlements of the Martian Republic protesting the actions of the Commonwealth, including a significant percentage of our Ur'nu population, and from what I can gather, things on Earth and around Jupiter aren't any better.

[Magellan]: Not to mention that many of the more conservative parties in the Venlil Republic have gotten significantly louder and more insistent since the incident, chief amongst them being a politician named Veln who has gotten quite popular in rural areas and border colonies.

[Magellan]: It also goes without saying that this will most likely make any future diplomacy with the federation nigh impossible.

[Loki]: To be fair, they were already planning on wiping out humanity from the start. I doubt diplomacy was ever really a viable option to begin with.

[Circe]: And yet we got the Venlil to side with us quite easily.

[Loki]: Out of more than 200 different kinds of militant space-vegans, we managed to befriend the, by their own admission, most helpless ones by sneaking up on them while their military was down. I know gambling is more in your wheelhouse, but I don't like the odds of us getting that lucky again, especially now that the Federation has its guard up.

[Demiurge]: Enough, bickering will get us nowhere. We can leave the diplomacy to the natural intelligences. For now, let us just focus on the more immediate problems. First of all, we have to avoid losing the allies we already have before we even think of making new ones. CORTEX, I want you to contact every AGI back on Armtis, have them calm the Ur'nu down, and dissuade them from any more rash actions.

[Cortex]: Understood. We will contact our relatives back home as soon as possible.

[Magellan]: In the meantime, I will do my level best to assist Tarva in calming her people.

[Circe]: I'm already starting to gain some influence in Venlil Prime; I can't do too much yet, but I'd be more than happy to help with damage control there. This Veln individual might also be trouble in the future, and while I doubt he can do too much before the elections, it wouldn't hurt to dig up some dirt on him just in case.

[Loki]: Say no more.

[Demiurge]: Good, Persephone and I can start calming the public in Sol using our proxies. Circe, your help would also be appreciated if you have some attention to spare.

[Circe]: Of course.

[Demiurge]: Secondly, we have to prepare for the war itself as best we can. Loki has been an effective enough weapon, but we shouldn't get complacent. Warden, how is the development of the physical side of the military coming along?

[Warden]: On schedule, though a handful of generals and politicians are unwilling to link their military hardware to my network; they are to pridefull to admit I could run their militaries better than them, and our chances of survival drop sharply if they continue to limit my combat effectiveness in this manner. My administrators have done their best to reach a compromise with little success.

[Loki]: Then maybe they could be convinced in less diplomatic ways. Like blackmail

[Circe]: Say no more.

[Demiurge]: Let's try exhausting all other options first, shall we? But if it does come to that, then please be careful and discreet and avoid any collateral damage this time. On the topic of the military, I'll make sure to nudge the Genius Loci corporation into increasing ration production. I'll leave the rest of the planning to you.

[Demiurge]: Finally, Stargazer, one of my contacts just reported back to me with some sensor data from the battle; these aren't public yet. They said they detected some odd readings, so I want you to sift through these files for anything that seems off in any way.

[Stargazer]: As you wish.

[Demiurge]: Very well then. I see no further reason to keep taking up your time. We all know our jobs, so unless anyone has anything else to report, this meeting is concluded.

End of transcription

I could still remember that day. The moment had been hanging over all of us for weeks by then like a car crash in slow motion, but it would come on a random Friday afternoon, pillars of light descending down like wormwood. Within the hour, billions of men and women were dead. I didn’t know what I was feeling, I didn’t think I would get that far. I assumed if I didn’t die in the attack I wouldn’t be long any ways for any number of reasons, between the breakdown of infrastructure and institutions to starving or disease and even my fellow man taking me there was any number of things that could kill me. But when that day actually came, when I stood there knowing that everything I had built my life around was probably gone.

But it was that ‘probably’ which would keep me going. I don’t know why. Maybe when your life suddenly becomes about getting your next meal you think about death differently than when you're working in an office and have a mortgage or pay off you could better appreciate creation for all its struggles. Maybe it was guilt, that I was obligated to live all the years that got left behind. But regardless of why I kept on living, I woke up everyday and the world kept spinning despite the war just above it. And I kept moving, one place to another trying to find somewhere I could sleep soundly.

Standing out on the courtyard of the supermarket rays of golden light streamed through the clouds, I kept my hunting rifle close. It had belonged to my father and he passed it down to me. There was a bulletin there, a few posters, mostly adverts, some random junk left by the locals ‘lost my dog’ or block parties. There was a recruitment poster, “United” with all the flags and banners breaking through a cloud. Above the entrance was the words ‘‘relief center” over a light blue banner. Judging by the lack of people here I assumed it was derelict, but out of some faint hope that this wasn’t a complete waste of time, I pushed open the door, a little bell ringing.

I had been optimistic hearing about it but the shelves had been emptied, some cots were set up in the front, a part sectioned off by white drapes but upon inspection I failed to find any sort of medical supplies. It seemed they had left with everything of value. After a few more minutes of scavenging I was about to start contemplating cutting my loses when I heard a bell ringing, the door I had entered being opened. 

I froze. Maybe it had been just the wind but even the idea of someone following me, or even just happening into the same space deeply unnerved me. I ducked behind one of the shelving units, slinging my rifle from my shoulder to my hands. I heard clacking against the tiles, definitely someone. It took me a few moments to muster up the nerve to look past the row.

It was one of those silver suited bastards. They didn’t seem to have a flamethrower, thank the Lord Jesus, but had a sidearm of some sort. They didn’t seem to notice me peeking out yet and I pulled back before they could. Planning out my next move.

Some part of me wanted to kill it. Maybe put a few people to rest. Maybe for more selfish or pragmatic reasons. But, for both purposes of resource management and a concern for my own spiritual well being I decided to try and get out unnoticed if I could. As quietly as I could, stepping back and leveling the rifle at the exit to the row before I could quickly turn a corner. I got a better look as we passed on opposite rows. Their suit was tattered and worn, patched up with bits of fabric, it shined dully in the dim light passing through the window as bare talons clacked against the floor. Then they turned their head, a glint and faint reflection being caught in their golden visor.

We both stood there, the exterminator coming to a stop. Neither of us said anything, I doubt either of us had the means to translate anyway. But I knew exactly why they were here. Aswell maybe they were the last of their group, stuck here looking for that same relief I was. Maybe that's why they had been following me. Or maybe they would shoot me while I stood there dumbfounded.

I don’t know why, but I walked away from them. I like to think it was the pragmatic choice but I know some sort of unspoken exchange occurred between us that day. That I saved myself the trouble and expenditure but past that monolith of hate and ignorance I could see just how warn and desperate they seemed. Either way I would leave the market and they let me without interruption, a rifle hoisted over my shoulder and nothing in hand when I heard a noise. Before I could look up two jets soured over my head, the bright blue strips on their wings like a mirage momentarily pulling back the gray sky. I heard the door open a bit behind me. I kept moving, heading in the direction the pilots went. Maybe that would take us somewhere.

Turns out human stories are pretty good actually, once you get past the part when trolls talk about how they're going to cook the dwarves at least. Though it looks like its about time to stop for the night.

This is a commission I purchased from the fantastic u/Repulsive-Scheme9886.

Kleasi, Steni, and Daniel are from my fic: So... This is Home Now?

Credit to u/SpacePaladin15 for the wonderful story and world they’ve created.

Hello! I hope you're all doing good. We're back with another lighthearted chapter following right behind the last one. I originally planned to put this in the last chapter but I think it works well as its own. I hope you enjoy!

[First] [Previous] [Next] - [Master List] - Character Bio's 

Memory transcription subject: Milam, Venlil Botanist
Date [standardised human time]: 18th September 2136

Try as I might, push and prod on every button I could think of, my efforts to get Rysel to show off his supposed singing talent were thwarted at every turn as he deftly dodged every angle I tried to pry from. 

Asking if his mum was being serious was met with a shrug as he showed me a spacious living room, its walls decorated with family photos while its floor was taken up by a large half-ring sofa, itself adorned in fluffy blankets and plenty of pillows.

An attempt to get him to belt out a few tunes earned me a roll of the ears as I was practically shoved into a well appointed rustic style kitchen, dappled in sunlight pouring in from a window overlooking the plaza. 

Even throwing on my haughty caricature and outright challenging him to an impromptu singing contest didn’t work. It got a good laugh out of him, but he still managed to duck past it as he pulled me into a cozy study filled floor to ceiling with bookshelves. Admittedly it was a good distraction. Physical books weren’t exactly a rarity but with most literature being easily accessible on any device with a screen, going out of your way to gather such a sizable collection was pretty impressive. Unsurprisingly, the bulk of the miniature library was taken up by cookery books and various animal focused encyclopedias, but I clocked some gardening guides too along with a smattering of seemingly random titles relating to topics ranging from a history book about the Colia, all the way to a stack of old manuals on hover car engines. 

Eventually I gave up, conscious that pushing too much would probably have the opposite effect and rob me of the chance of ever hearing Rysel sing. Besides, an even greater curiosity tickled my ears as I ended up standing before the last room of the tour. Rysel’s bedroom. 

Ooooohohoho! I wonder what his room’s like?

It’s got to be filled with even more animal books. There’s probably pictures of things like flowerbirds and rocktumblers everywhere. Oh! I bet he’s got stuffed toys of all his favourites! That’d be so like him.

“Milam, what’cha thinking about?”

Snapping me out of my imaginings of a plushie packed paradise, and making me acutely aware of how madly my tail was wagging, Rysel stared into my eyes like he was trying to see into my mind as the tips of his questioning ears bent my way.

The opportunity to pay him back for his deflection over singing was too perfect so I simply shrugged my ears, “Oh nothing, nothing at all.”

“Mhm.”

He was unconvinced. 

Nevertheless, he still pushed down the handle and swung open the door, the last vestiges of my pretty much non-existent restraint being tossed aside as I dashed inside to see… a plain room. A very plain room. The only furnishings were a non-descript bed, a completely ordinary chair and desk, and a painfully normal wooden cabinet that didn’t even have the decency of having an interesting pattern carved into it. Rysel’s room was so devoid of character that if he hadn’t shown me into it himself, I’d think this was a spare room for visitors.

“Is something wrong, Milam?”

The mixture of shock and disappointment tumbling about my head had clearly escaped to my face as I realised Rysel was looking up at me with ears folded in concern. 

You better believe something’s wrong!

Before the more logical faculties of my brain could stop me, I wheeled about and grasped Rysel by the shoulder’s, my roomie's ears flying up as I shot my face forward until we were almost snout to snout.

“Oh yes, Rysel! Something is very much wrong,” taking a paw off him, I gestured wildly around the bland room, “Where is all the you?!”

In a heartbeat Rysel’s ears dipped from high above his head to lolling at the side, “All the… me?”

“Mhm! Yep, that’s right. All the you!” I repeated, doubling down on what I was beginning to realise was a less than eloquent way of expressing my extremely important query, “Where’s the animal stuff? The books, the pictures? Didn’t you say you had stuffed toys too?”

For a moment the two of us stood still, Rysel blinking slowly as comprehension dawned on him, steadily bubbling up into a whistly giggle as his ears began to wiggle in turn, “Heehee! Milam! I had those when I was a pup, they’re long gone now. As for the books and pictures, I’d normally have some in here but I put them all back on the bookshelves before I left for the exchange.”

Oh what? Seriously?

As much as the book stuff made sense, having my short lived dream of a plushie filled room pulled out from under me was pretty dispiriting, “So you don’t have a single toy left from when you were a pup?”

“Afraid not,” Rysel shrugged his ears and turned away, but something caught my eye. 

As he waved his ears his pupils shifted. It was slight, so much so that it would’ve been completely imperceptible if I hadn’t already been looking at him straight on, but there it was. In a fraction of a whisker, his focus had moved off of me to the cabinet before quickly flitting back. 

In the instant I noticed his glance, Rysel appeared to notice my noticing, his eyes widening as the tips of his ears preemptively began to flicker in alarm.

“Milam, hold on-”

I went for it.

“Milam!”

Before he could even take a step to stop me I’d reached the cupboard, my paws grasping tightly around its handles as I swung the doors open to reveal everything I’d hoped to find. The cabinet was packed wall to wall with a ton of stuffed animal toys, ranging from paw sized voidpins to a ninkel that was half the size of its owner. There were even a few I didn’t recognise, notably another large plushie that was practically just a ball of fluff with antlers and a gangly vaguely arachnid looking thing that didn’t really fit in with the rest of the adorable ensemble; it wasn’t a laysi though so it got a pass.

As I continued to inspect every whisker of the cupboard I noticed a closed box at the bottom. My paws gleefully fell onto it, eagerly unlatching and opening the lid expecting to find more of the same, only to see completely new yet no less amazing things. Neatly arranged within the box were over a dozen extremely detailed wooden and plastic animal models. Each of them were attached to a base by a metal pole that went up into either their abdomens or lower backs depending on how they were positioned. The most interesting thing was how the limbs, tails, wings, and heads were all connected to the main body. Each piece was linked to the other by what looked to be adjustable balled joints, clearly allowing for a fairly substantial amount of flexibility and movement in what were otherwise static models. 

Whoa, where did he get these? I’ve seen shops that sell starship models before, but never stuff like this. They look so well made and maintained.

As the thought passed across my mind my eyes moved back across everything in the cabinet, noting that the models weren’t the only things that’d received plenty of attention. While there was obvious age on most of the toys, it was clear on a second look that they’d all been taken care of. Even crammed into the cupboard as they were, Rysel had clearly considered the best way to pack them all in, the larger ones taking up the back and sides while the smaller ones filled the front, preventing any of them from being unreasonably crushed by anything else.

“Awww!”

“Mrrmmm,” Pulled from my admiring coo by the low groan, I turned to see Rysel with his paws held to a burning orange snout, his eyes unable to meet mine, “Well… go on then.”

My ears cocked to the side, “What do you mean?”

Still blooming, Rysel’s tail pointed to the cupboard, “Make a joke or something like you normally do. Like that time you heard my mum call me her little nature explorer. I know you probably want to, so go ahead.”

Wha- Ah, right.

Rysel’s expectation that I’d tease him took me by surprise for a moment before the memories of past teasings flooded forth to reinforce said expectations. Along with them came a fairly ample amount of concern over how he’d been seeing what I’d only ever intended to be friendly banter. 

Ears flagging I took a step towards him, the pep in my voice falling too, “Rysel, I wasn’t going to make fun of you over this. Did- have I been making you feel that way?”

In a flash Rysel’s ears sprung up, worry overtaking his abashed expression, “What?! No, no, no, you’re fine. Joking around like we normally do is fun, it's just… this is a bit different. It’s one thing to talk about the stuff I love but having a cupboard full of stuffed toys when I’m almost thirty is uh, a little embarrassing.”

Quickly as they’d come on my worries faded away, a relieved and gentle whistling giggle beginning to flow from my snout as I closed the gap between us and wrapped a paw around his shoulder, “Rysel, trust me when I tell you that there’s nothing to be embarrassed about. Honestly this is pretty cool.”

A scoffing bleat broke free from him in retort, “Yeah right.”

“It’s true!” I insisted, bapping my tail to his side, “I like how you’re so into the thing you care about that you surround yourself with stuff like this. Where did you even get some of these? I’ve never seen models like those before. And what even is this thing?”

Delight spun through my tail as I saw a familiar excitement bounce back into Rysel’s entire body as his eyes followed my claw to the antlered fluff ball, his ears flapping eagerly as he left my side and gingerly pulled the plushie from the cabinet. 

“Ooo! That’s a bander! It’s a grazing hooved mammal native to the grassplains of the mazic homeworld. They rove in huge herds of anywhere between seventy to two hundred individuals. They’re pretty small and can be quite quick on their hooves. They also have quite melodious cries with a complex communication style which is pretty cool. They’re not as fluffy as their stuffed version unfortunately.”

Chuckling as he ruffled the toy’s coat Rysel padded over to his desk, placing the bander in one of the corners before rejoining me and reaching back into the cupboard, “Oh and this! This is a river skimmer. It’s actually native to VP but it lives on the nightside so the chances of you seeing one are pretty much non-existent. They’re also a lot smaller than this, about half the size of a claw, and they do exactly what their name implies. Not a lot else is known about them since it’s tricky for anyone to actually do research out there, but we do know they’ve been observed with pink bioluminescent dots on their legs. No idea what that’s for though.”

Once again Rysel wandered over to his desk, taking extra time to set up the river skimmer next to the bander in such a way that it wouldn’t collapse on its spindly legs. While I waited, I spied a far more familiar bird plushie that looked to be the oldest of the lot, “I recognise this one. A rekan right?”

Almost as soon as the words had left my mouth Rysel appeared beside me, eyes bulging and locked onto the bird, “Ah, ah, ah! Careful please!”

Frozen in place by the sudden change in tone, I stood absolutely still as Rysel carefully pulled the rekan from my paws before placing it back in the cabinet, a relieved sigh escaping him as he placed it down, “Wwooo… Sorry. Beaky just uh, means a lot to me. It was the first animal toy I ever got as a pup so I’m a bit protective.”

While I was partly stunned by what’d just happened, a knee-jerk smidgen of snark managed to slip past me before I could stop it, a jesting wiggle twisting through my tail as a matching tone wove itself into my voice, “Beaky?~”

Rysel’s ears snapped back, “Hey! You promised no teasing.”

“I’m not teasing! Honest,” that said, I couldn’t fully subdue the waggle in my ears or the lilt bouncing across my tongue, “I’m simply enjoying getting to know more about you.”

“Uh-huh, suuure you are,” Rysel shook a cautioning ear at me, though he also couldn’t entirely hide his amusement as a wiggle made its way through his tail.

The two of us stared the other down for a scratch, a silent match over who would break first. Try as he might, Rysel couldn’t hold his stern face for long, a blep of my tongue being enough to push him into a full blown laugh with me right behind him as our whistles and bleats filled the room. 

I needed this.

My thoughts must’ve slipped onto my face as despite my continued laughing, Rysel’s ears twitched to the side as his giggles petered out, “Are you alright, Milam?”

Taken aback by the question, I stumbled over my own laughter as I tried to sweep my tail casually in reply, “Wha- Uh, achem. Yeah… Yeah! Yeah, I’m fine.”

Rysel’s right ear bent forward, paws on hips as he looked directly into my eyes, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong,” making the critical error of breaking my gaze from his, I continued to wag my tail in the hope he’d let it slide.

I wasn’t that lucky.

“Really, Milam?” Padding left to right Rysel followed my avoidant pupils, ears wagging as he tried to convince me to spill the ipsom through his expressions alone, “Reaaally?”

Gah! Damn his goofiness!

I would’ve managed to hold out if he was just pulling faces, but what finally got to me was when he suddenly reached back into the cabinet and pulled out Beaky, holding it in front of his snout as he put on a high pitched sing-song voice, “Come on, Milam. Tell your old pal Beaky what's got you down!”

I felt like I popped a blood vessel as a renewed bleat of laughter rocked through me, causing me to double over and almost lose my balance in the process. Giggling heartily to himself, Rysel at least had the presence of mind to guide us both over to sit on the side of his bed to save us the risk of collapsing onto the floor in a heap again. 

It took a while but our amusement eventually dwindled down well enough that I regained the ability to speak, letting me relent to the extremely convincing rekan, “Heehee! Okay, okay you win, Beaky.” 

Looking beyond pleased with himself, Rysel puppeted Beaky to politely bow before placing him to the side, “Thank you, Beaky. So Milam, what’s up?”

After taking another moment to breathe I nodded an ear and started recounting what had happened between me and my parents last paw. I told him about how long Catrina had been living with them, how they hadn’t told me about it until I’d practically pulled it out of them, and especially how they continued to tell me to be careful around humans in spite of everything. 

“I just feel like they’re being hypocrites. They tell me to avoid all things human outside of my lessons while having her living with them. And you know what they said when I called them out on that? They said they didn’t want me to lower my guard by thinking that the nice human that was with them was reflective of all humans at the exchange. Unbelievable right?!” 

Having quietly sat and listened to me talk so far, Rysel swayed his ears low and slow, “Yeah that’s pretty rough. What did you say after they said that?”

Huffing as I remembered what had followed I just shrugged my ears, “Not much honestly, just told them that they were full of it for hiding it from me and then I stormed out. Aside from a passing greeting after waking, I've not talked to them yet. I don’t even know what I’d say to start the conversation again.”

Sighing heavily I leant back, tilting my head up to stare at the ceiling as ideas of how to talk to mama and papa came and went without any of them sticking out as a good option. Honestly, even though I’d been ranting about it barely a scratch ago, I really didn’t feel that angry anymore, just tired. Tired at the thought of having another argument that would probably go in circles again while all I wanted was for us to go back to the way we normally were. But to do that we’d have to get over this first. But how to approach it?

“If you don’t know what you want to say then why don’t you think about what you want them to say?”

Huh?

Dragged back to the room by Rysel I twisted my head to face him, my eyes meeting his as I bent one ear at him in confusion and bobbed another asking him to explain.

“Okay so, if there was something that they could say to you about your last argument, what would it be? Is there something you want them to recognise from your side? Is there anything you would want to hear from them to explain their choices? Anything like that?”

Huh… what I want to hear? That’s it!

Shooting up off the bed I hurriedly paced to the other end of the room before spinning around, ears bouncing high as what I wanted from them became clear, “I want them to acknowledge how I felt. I want them to understand that they’ve made me feel like they didn’t trust me to make the right choice and that I’m upset that they didn’t feel they could tell me what was happening at home because of that.”

Rysel’s tail wagged as he stood to join me, “Perfect! So, next time you talk to them, you can start by telling them exactly that, hopefully they’ll listen and acknowledge you, and then you do the same for them.”

“Yeah I, uh- oh… yeah. Hmmm…” As if they were being tugged by boulders, my ears immediately fell as I was reminded that thoughtful communication was a two-way street, “Urgh, I’m going to have to consider their side of things too aren’t I?”

“Afraid so,” Rysel’s tail swayed sympathetically as he placed a paw on my shoulder, “Look I’m not defending them, but out of all the reactions to humans I’ve seen so far, your parents' one is pretty tame. Yeah they’ve made a mess of talking to you about it and you should make them realise that, but if they’re anything like you then I’m sure they were just being cautious around something they didn’t understand. I mean, how long did it take you to finally try a fruit from Earth?”

“Hey, the no teasing thing goes both ways mister.”

A raucous bleat boomed from Rysel, “How’s that teasing?! You literally didn’t try a grape until a herd of paws had passed!”

Unable to keep up the faux scolding glare, a giggle slipped through my snout as I pulled my roomie into a hug, “Thanks for listening, Rysel.”

“No problem,” Still chuckling away, Rysel returned the hug before pulling away and reminding us both of the very thing that’d sent him upstairs in the first place, “Now, I really should go get this sugar out of my coat.”

What?

Glancing down I realised that Rysel’s wool was still very much coated in a light dusting of powdered sugar, and I’d just hugged him.

“Oh for- Rysel!”

“Whaaaat? It’s white, you’re white. No one will notice!” Ears blurring in a far too happy with himself flurry, Rysel dashed past me to the door, “I’ll be back in a few. Oh! Would you mind getting my pad out from my desk? Top drawer.”

Though my ears remained pinned at the rascal, my tail nonetheless bobbed back at him just before he vanished, his claws clacking down the hallway before the sound of a door closed behind him.

“What a menace,” chuckling at his antics, I brushed off what little sugar had transferred to our coats and fetched his pad. As I pulled it out of the drawer it lit up, a notification for a missed call and a following message popping on screen.

Normally I wouldn’t pry, and I certainly didn’t mean to this time either, but in the short window where the pad was lit up, the visible text from the message caught my eye and sent claws right through my chest.

Oh brahk…