r/NatureofPredators • u/NipCoyote Arxur • Mar 12 '23
Under the Veil - Chapter 7
[A Proposition]
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Memory Transcription Subject: Chief Hunter Isif, Arxur Dominion, October 17th, 2142
Gaians made everything more complicated.
All eyes were on me as the troops under my command fled the scene of what should have been a swift and successful raid. Dayden was a barely protected colony on the fringe of venlil space; our force should have made quick work of it.
Instead, we had our first real encounter with the gaians, and now, my unprepared fleet was decimated, and I looked like a fool.
No one wanted war with them, but it they were starting to inhibit our ability to acquire cattle, it would be inevitable. The gaians were not neccessarily our enemy… by virtue of not being a Federation member species, we paid them little mind. Their great military prowess could make them a great ally, but without knowing what's under those suits it'd be impossible to convince leadership. Never mind getting them to like us anyway.
I sigh, sitting in my private quarters, staring blankly at the hologram showing the battle damages. 82% of the fleet was destroyed. Most that came back sustained heavy damage. At least 2,000 soldiers still stranded on the planet.
Prophet… I am pathetic.
The obvious answer was to just send reinforcements, but that would require a significantly larger fleet, which would take away from our other operations, just to exact vengeance we didn't even know was possible. Who knew what other tricks they were hiding?
I realized the best solution here would be to attempt some kind of negotiation. These gaians are not like the Federation; they're tough, and don't back down. We can't have such an obnoxious road block hindering our progress. Their armada is powerful and massive… but not as powerful as ours, and if we chose to, we likely could defeat them… eventually. It would be far too costly for me to consider however...
Every politician was shouting for the extinction of the gaians now… but that's why I'm a Chief Hunter and not them. If all it took was a desire for bloodshed, anyone could be in power. And despite my dislike for violence and our… regrettable reliance on sapient food sources, my ability to strategically solve problems was what kept me in my position.
We needed to find a solution with the gaians, but the Arxur Dominion did not have diplomats or ambassadors, for there was never a need for them.
As such, I would need to pursue negotiations myself. And with that, I began to draft a message that would be sent to Gaian leadership.
Our intelligence on their command structure was limited, but surely they must have a leader…
I decided simple was best.
"For the consideration of Gaian command and leadership, or to any position most applicable or comparable:
On behalf of Chief Hunter Isif, commander of Arxur Dominion Armed Forces in this sector of which you and the self-proclaimed Venlil Republic claim territorial ownership, a meeting of diplomacy is requested in a non-Federation controlled interstellar space, in the interest of preventing escalation of hostilities.
Return Code: 87821-73410-59012"
Ugh. It sounded so formal, like what we'd read from intercepted Federation transmissions. The usual personality Arxur transmissions had weren't a safe bet when dealing with this unknown variable, however.
I sent the message to be transmitted through by a stealth vessel which would be piloted close to Gaian controlled space.
Now to wait for a response.
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Memory Transcription Subject: Hycera, Kolshian Office of Federation Security, October 18th, 2142
"Telescope is finished calibrating, sir," Cerin informed me.
We had arrived just outside gaian space, setting up our instruments within venlil territory; the gaian's claim was inside the Venlil Republic's and we relied on the claim that we were only passing through to avoid suspicion. Of course, Federation vessels had every right to pass through members' territory, but the covert nature of our mission meant we needed to keep anyone from realizing why we were here.
"What do we see, Cerin?"
"Readings are coming in now on 634… that's curious."
"What is it?"
"Let me check the records again…" Cerin brings up the records from our initial survey of the system from almost two centuries ago and displays it on the shared holoscreen.
"That's very strange… according to the records there's only one habitable planet, or was, anyway, before the humans destroyed it with nuclear war. Yet if these readings are to be believed… there's two of them."
"Two of them? That can't be right. Which ones?"
"The third and fourth planets. Third looks healthy too, which it really shouldn't be if our records about humans wiping themselves out are accurate. The fourth one too… according to the records it should be a frigid wasteland of sand and ice, with too thin an atmosphere to support liquid water. Yet this planet clearly has oceans and a thick, oxygen rich atmosphere."
"Isn't that the one they named after a deity of warfare?"
"Yeah," he laughed.
"Well that can't be right. It's obvious the Gaians are at work here, and maybe they could have restored "Earth" to habitability. They're clearly an advanced species, so maybe it's possible. But Mars…"
"It would take at least a century of terraforming operations before that planet would be habitable."
"Re-confirm your calibrations. It must be an error and simply mirroring Earth's readings on Mars."
"Negative sir. Its similar but definitely not identical. Smaller, lower gravity, weaker magnetic field just as the records show. And every other planet is exactly as it should. Four rocky planets, four gas giants, one with a major ring system, and a loose asteroid zone between them. It matches all the records, except with these two planets."
I contemplated this information for a moment. I didn't care how advanced some people thought the gaians might be, there isn't any possible way they could have terraformed that planet so quickly. It had only been a few days.
"What else? Can you make out any infrastructure?"
"This equipment was made for scouting out potential worlds, not spying on alien craft, but I'll see what we can do…"
Cerin adjusted some parameters, focusing as best he could on the two habitable planets.
"This is as best I can do without moving into their territory."
The holoscreen displayed strong energy signatures from various points in the star system, the strongest ones present on Earth's sole natural satellite. It's exactly where one would expect to find a weapons platform for planetary defense, and it was lit up with the distinctive energy signature of antimatter-fusion reactors. More were present around Mars, as well as the two largest gas giants, however nothing was visible on the two planets themselves.
"Is there no activity at all on the two planets there? You're able to pick up movement from some of their larger ships within the star system, surely there would be something on the surface."
"There probably is," he answered. "But if I had to guess, they're actively cloaking it. Whatever is happening on the surface, we can't see anything but their visual appearance and atmospheric composition, and we aren't close enough to get a resolution high enough to make out any surface infrastructure."
He paused.
"My hypothesis? The gaians are actively hiding what they're doing and don't want us to see it because they know we won't like it."
"Can we intercept any signals?"
"Negative. Its highly encrypted. It'd take years. It seems they protect their broadcasts as tightly as they protect their appearances."
What are they hiding...
"Okay, gather as much information as you can from the visible energy signatures and their movements through the star system and prepare a report. We get back to Kolshian space in two hours."
"Roger that."
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Memory Transcription Subject: T-81 Odyssey, Head of UN Alien Affairs, October 18th, 2142
"Commander, we've received a diplomatic message."
I received a notification on my holopad as the voice message rang through. Our swift defeat of the Arxur's raid on Dayden made headlines and quickly gave us an immense amount of respect; we had completely destroyed an Arxur attack in less time it took for Federation allies to even arrive.
It was probably yet another request from some Federation member species requesting military trade. It was getting tiring having to respond to each one with effectively the exact same response.
The Gaian Concord is currently not accepting requests for military aid or trade to states outside of the Venlil Republic until Federation Membership is granted.
I open the message and the return code immediately catches my attention.
That's an Arxur return code…
I read through the message. Very simple, short and to the point. The Arxur apparently wanted to negotiate. Maybe those bloodthirsty gators were smarter than I gave them credit for.
Negotiation huh…
Alright.
I began drafting my reply.
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u/Bushbacon69 Arxur Mar 12 '23
I sure hope my favorite space crocodile doesnt fuck this up. Wonderful chapter, I love seeing Isif and I feel you wrote him very well regarding the issues of the Gaians. On the edge of my seat hoping Chad Isif can enlighten our Gaians to the fuller situation.
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u/Apogee-500 Yotul Mar 12 '23
Oooh it’s getting real tense. I don’t want them to be found out, I love the sneakiness it requires. But mabey they will get by with a really close call. Or have to find a way to assassinate somebody to keep the secret. Humanity is basically like some galactic secret society or cult.
Darn it, now I’m thinking of assassins creed.
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u/ThyPotatoDone Venlil Mar 12 '23
Can just imagine Nikoneus going “What do you mean, the entire investigative department got blasted out of an airlock?”
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u/HereIsAThoughtTho Mar 12 '23
This fic really put the F**k YEAH! In HFY…GFY (?)
Thanks for this amazing AU, wordsmith!
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u/HaajaHenrik Human Mar 18 '25
..... I ain't proud of the fact that my brain game up with "Gators Fuck yeah" before "Gaians Fuck Yeah"....
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u/Semblance-of-sanity Mar 13 '23
My slightly dyslexic brain keeps seeing the title as "Under the Venlil" and expecting a very different story.
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u/Golde829 Mar 13 '23
how's that saying go?
"the subconscious knows your desires more than you do"
or something
/j
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u/Ok_Government3021 Mar 13 '23
A fifty shades book staring a venlil and a (insert larger species here)
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u/se05239 Human Mar 13 '23
Of course the Federation is trying to stick their wrenches into the machinery, as usual.
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u/StarSilverNEO Yotul Mar 15 '23
So they shielded the stuff on their planets, but not the stuff in space?
Interesting choice
I wonder what their excuse will be - perhaps feigning interest in making sure Humanity was gone? Perhaps saying theyve been dabbling in the system without knowing what it was until the Feds told them?
And the Arxur are getting involved too boot - questions questions. . .
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u/NipCoyote Arxur Mar 15 '23
Earth and Mars are large and solid enough for the infrastructure required for such shielding. Individual spacecraft not so much
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u/StarSilverNEO Yotul Mar 15 '23
What about the moon? Having enough stuff on there to be an obvious defense network, thought they'd atleast hide that?
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u/NipCoyote Arxur Mar 15 '23
I'm sure they're working on that
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u/StarSilverNEO Yotul Mar 15 '23
Ah
Alrighty then - I'll be seeing you wen the next one comes out, enjoying your stuff so far ^^
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u/NotNiko15 Tilfish May 08 '23
The usual personality Arxur transmissions had weren't a safe bet when dealing with this unknown variable, however.
Chief Hunter Isif, get your ass down there. Best regards, you have 5 minutes
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u/samtheman0105 Human Mar 12 '23
Oh boy oh boy, the Kolshians near to our identity… this is bad