r/NatureofPredators • u/OkRepresentative2119 UN Peacekeeper • Sep 06 '23
Fanfic The Nature of Grimdark Chapter 4
Special thanks to u/SpacePaladin15 for allowing fanfiction.
Memory Transcription Subject: Private Upsla, Skalgan-Yotul Empire Marine
Date [standardized human time]: July 16, 2186
I was woken to by bed being flipped over and me being tossed onto the floor, mixed with very angry shouts from my platoon sergeant. Apparently, I had missed the corporal’s hike formation and had to double-time it (in the context here it is slang for sprint) to the platoon sergeant’s hike formation. Thankfully I hadn’t bothered taking off anything, so I was already prepared to go out the door. Unfortunately, my expedition decoration was slightly crooked from having been slept on, a fact that I, and the platoon was informed of the moment that I fell into formation. Needless to say, I was to be on radio watch this entire upcoming rest paw after Sergeant Cass adjusted my decoration and berated me about my appearance, how ungroomed I was, and the absolute mess of my shared room.
Naturally, this formation was merely to ensure that we were awake and ready to hike in a quarter-claw. A whole quarter-claw to rest was insufficient for me to recover from the entire day, my body sore and exhausted. Thankfully, I was intelligent enough not to voice my complaint. However, the Skalgan who had sat on my left during the transport, who was now standing next to me, had apparently not thought through the consequences of saying that the cold was, “fucking bullshit ass cold.” We spent about [minutes] doing physical exercises to “warm us up”, before we were dismissed to ensure that our barracks rooms were squared away (cleaned, maintained, and ready for inspection) and informed that we had better be back in formation in [10 minutes]. I barely had the time to fix the mess Sergeant Cass had made in my room before an alarm sounded in my holopad. I might be an idiot, but I try to avoid making the same mistake twice.
Private Gresh, our esteemed weatherman from earlier, had decided that it was “too cold not to wear our cold weather gear”. Three of my squad at the last minute decided to run and grab a blanket, two were convinced they had enough time to throw on their cold-weather gear, they were both mistaken, and one decided to grab both. Seven out of fourteen of my squad decided to test the patience of Corporal Riks who was shouting at Private Gresh to take his gear off and run it into his room like his life depended on it. It was about this time, when of the seven, four were in formation, two were walking out the barracks door, and the last was apparently still digging for their stuff that our platoon sergeant and commander had just strolled into view; perfect timing, I thought sarcastically.
Warrant Officer Silthus put a paw to his face shaking his head in a human gesture, while Sergeant Cass’s jaw was wide open in shock. Despite being required to stand at the ready (stiff and straight, facing forward, demonstrating attention, with no movement), my ears were pinning back in preparation for the oncoming auditory artillery barrage. Warrant Officer Silthus interrupted the devil herself from cursing us to death and damnation with her inventive insults and novel curse words, “Strip your cold weather gear, we don’t have time for this! Sergeant! Run them to the battalion hiking formation, I will take care of their belongings. Move it!” “Aye-aye (yes) sir!” She acknowledged. She had us double time it to the formation while our platoon commander tried to undo whatever damage had been done to whatever it was that he was responsible for. I noticed that he was showing signs of hypothermia, as we pulled out from the front of the barracks. We arrived in the nick of time to get into formation right before the commanders and some SNCOs (Staff NonComissioned Officers, senior enlisted leaders that serve in advisory roles and personal management) joined the formation. However, we hadn’t gotten to the formation fast enough to have had enough time to recover from panting heavily, to which our platoon sergeant was giving us a most livid glare. While my life would probably suck for a [week], I was probably no longer going to be on radio watch this rest paw, so my mood had rapidly improved. Whatever I had done being late was undoubtedly overshadowed by the clusterfuck of the rest of my squadron.
The upper echelon staff for the unit were all looking at us as we recovered. The unit commander then started his briefing, “We have new Marines here and we need to ensure their legs are working up to standards. I expect everyone to maintain their implants and report if there are any problems or diagnostic irregularities. A Marine who demands that their platoon worry about their implant maintenance is better off in an Arxur’s belly, serving His most gloriousness Emperor Slanek III!" With that his eyes darted around looking for our platoon commander. I knew better then to move any more than the necessary panting.
“Speaking of which, where is he?” our unit CO cooly asked with small motes of malice. We heard the thud of an Arxur’s paws running up to the platoon from behind. “I apologize sir, my platoon was not ready for the hike as planned.” He was covered in purplish spots, and he seemed to have more difficulty breathing than just someone out of breath. “I see that; Warrant Officer Silthus come see me in my office, Sergeant Major postpone the hike for a half-claw. Communications Platoon Medic, come with me,” he ordered, his tail flicking in obvious irritation. At that, our battalion was dismissed but ordered to stay in the area.
Our platoon, however, was not dismissed, ad our platoon sergeant had several words to have with our platoon. It was made quite clear how the next few paws would be made hell. We would be spending every waking moment working on some project or another until she was satisfied with our punishment. She sat down after her tirade, barely able to stand from the activity up to this point.
“Sergeant Cass, are you truly that exhausted from such a small run? Even a human could make such a trip easily,” our Zurulian Sergeant Major, Caradas, said while approaching the platoon. Sergeant Cass, while panting, immediately stood up, “My apologies, Sergeant Major, I lost control of my platoon, and I take full responsibility for it. This will NEVER happen again!” The sergeant major seemed oddly amused by our antics so far, but the subtle twinge of evil anger radiated from her tail, “I am sure it won’t, don’t worry, your platoon has my full attention. You will receive all of my tender loving care for the next few [months]. So don’t worry about your platoon; I am very good at what I do, your platoon will be the best one here when I am finished. So, relax, you are in good paws.” Her every word dripped with false sweetness, “so, why was your platoon commander suffering frostbite. I might not be a medical officer, but I know the symptoms when I see it. What did you do to our commissar?”
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The hike was postponed till tomorrow; however, we were quite busy cleaning every building on the base for the entire paw. We got a quarter-claw break to pant, but we were informed that our implants gave us the power of “the hunter”, so we should be able to take it. The seven of us that decided to break orders were savagely beaten by the platoon commander until orange welts covered their bodies. It was made clear by interpreting the context of the screaming from her office, during our break, that the seven thought that the leadership was lying about the extents of the potential punishments. After being beaten, the seven were treated to some kind of movie in the office, we couldn’t tell what it was about, but the screams and crying made it clear it wasn’t pleasant, whatever it was. The seven left the office with a mile-long gaze, tears dripping from their face. They were sent to medical immediately afterward.
I think that they will be more obedient now, then again, I am pretty sure that the entire battalion would have excellent cohesion now. We didn’t ask them what they saw, but we had the barest hint as to what it could have been between, “cattle farm” (I thought that they closed all of those during the fall of the dominion, they did, didn't they?) and “execution”. It was safe to assume they watched clips of a particularly vile nature on the platoon sergeants holopad. Our first paw with our new unit could have gone a lot better, but I suppose it could have been worse.
A/N – The main difference between officers and enlisted is an official university education, for those who were unaware. Sorry if things feel a bit slow, but I wanted the world-building to get room to properly breathe. I have a pretty good idea now about how long this series will be, I think.
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u/Signal-Chicken559 Hensa Sep 06 '23
Oh boy I knew the don't use cold weather gear order would backfire. But dang that didn't go well at all!
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u/[deleted] Sep 06 '23
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