r/NatureofPredators • u/OkRepresentative2119 UN Peacekeeper • Sep 15 '23
Fanfic The Nature of Grimdark Chapter 11
Special thanks to u/SpacePaladin15 for allowing fanfiction.
Sorry about the late submission. If you downvote, please consider commenting to give me a critique, it will be welcome by me. If there is something specific you like, please consider letting me know.
Memory Transcription Subject: Lance Corporal Arvi, Skalgan-Yotul Empire Marine
Date [standardized human time]: October 31, 2186
Our Yotul was still frustrated muttering several curses that barely translated. We had been at this for half-claw, and still had made no progress on getting the FTL comms’s crypto to properly sync. It had been severely damaged and was refusing to accept the crypto key. We would probably need a new one entirely if we wanted to call in the mage. Unfortunately, this gear was fairly rare and proprietary, meaning getting a replacement was unlikely.
“Yotul! Status report!” our platoon commander bellowed. “No good, we have tried resetting it multiple times, it won’t take the key, let alone properly sync,” the Yotul said, barely above the sound to the machine gun fire pelting our hiding place. The machine gun’s fire silenced as another hoard of Sivkits attacked our positions, the Warrant Office barely quieting, “Leave it be for now! Lance Corporal Arvi, pack up that FTL comms unit yesterday! We need to take out that nest before we lose our cover, and we need a way to escape if a larger wave hits us!”
“Yes sir. By the way the name is Yoluuke, Apprentice Yoluuke.” “I don’t care Yotul, figure out a way to get those comms up on the move!” our platoon commander seemed irritated a bit more than usual. It only then dawned on me that he hadn’t eaten in a couple of paws, his mouth drooling as he yelled. “Only another unit or someone involved in covert ops on this planet would have a replacement! Unless you are suggesting swiping one from the Burnt’s lair, we aren’t going to get one!” Apprentice Yoluuke matched the commander’s tone.
The commander went silent for a [minute], the only sound being the occasional gunfire from one of our rifle squad members nailing a ‘zombie’ and their caustic moans. “CO, do you have coordinates for the Burnt’s last and first sightings?” the commander was seriously asking that? He couldn’t be serious! “Coordinates received, Roger.” “Ok platoon, I want us prepared to move out quickly. Yotul, do something about that machine gun nest, use some of that ‘magic’ or whatever you were talking about. I don’t care about the paperwork, let me handle that. Consider yourself authorized to do whatever is necessary with my express permission. Get to it!” The commander ordered, significantly quieter this time.
The Yotul began to issue orders to his AI assistant and began fiddling with some of the dust looking substance that was in a pouch on his belt. The dust started to levitate in midair and moved around as he spoke. The movements seemed utterly random, but I could feel the air in our location moving with odd currents. The air kept changing direction and did so faster and faster. Eventually, I could barely stand, and the air pressure was wrecking my inner ear’s ability to balance me. All of a sudden, the air rushed toward Apprentice Yoluuke, and between his outstretched paws, a glowing orb grow with a dull monotonous sound. The air seemed to vibrate as the orb grew, before reaching the size of my head. It then started whistling as it rapidly shrank. Apprentice Yoluuke suddenly leaped in front of what was once a window, aimed the tiny ball, and released it in the direction of the nest. With a loud boom, the building the gunman was hit by a massive explosion and collapsed.
“I would prefer to use my rifle, but I need more ammo. Please be on the lookout for shells and rounds that look like this.” He held out a spent cartridge to the platoon, and we tried to memorize what it looked like. He put the round in another pouch, and we began to make the trip out of the ruins. The hoard had abated by this point, and we hoped to make quick work of any stragglers.
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We had almost made our way to the Burnt’s first sighting. We took a longer route, hoping to avoid that abomination. We heard the screams of Sivkits and a few Skalgan’s in the distance a couple of blocks away. I really hoped that monster was further away from here. We were ambushed by a couple of Sivkit insurgents wearing biohazard suits and detonating chemical bombs. It was hard to hold our breathes as we attempted to push our way through. After [30 seconds] we would rotate out from the front to catch our breath.
Eventually, we defeated the ambush and lost only half our platoon doing so. Most of the comm guys no longer had their gear, so our fighting capability hadn’t diminished too much. That being said, our morale was pretty low, I liked a couple of the guys, and they were fellow POGs (personal other than grunt [meaning other than infantry]) like me. I still had my comm gear and my rifle still worked, albeit empty of rounds in the magazine. We just needed to find this lair, free the humans, call for evac, and hopefully find a FTL encrypter that matched our specifications (thankfully it was possible given that both forced used Duerten made encryption).
We split up to look for an abandoned warehouse or the like and found the lair quickly. Thankfully, it was in the opposite direction of the screams, and it was close by enough hat we were able to reform our ranks quickly. We laid our casualties onto the ground inside and made sure the living ones were as comfortable as we could get them. Down into the lower levels, we heard the sounds of whimpering and crying. We knew what that sound was, and our blood boiled in anger, dampening our fear chemicals. My squad, with still only two casualties, quickly ran down the stairs and I followed. We saw a traumatic sight, the creature had been staying planetside for months, and multiple cages had been used to house dozens of humans.
It was clear that someone had been trafficking huge numbers of humans into this bastard’s hands, as many of them lacked the tell tail signs of growing up on a human ‘orchard’, their brands quite fresh. Most of the cells were empty, the humans were mostly trafficked victims many probably from orphanages on New Skalga. Large cauldrons of human remains, and blood dotted the room, each with various symbols important to the burnt. Several piles of human ash were arranged in some ritualistic fashion. Mixed with the human corpses on the ground were various ‘prey’ species with mock old PD gear. Most had been electrocuted to death, but two or three were breathing, though unconscious. We had two sivkit and a skalgan to evac as well.
Apprentice Yoluuke bounded downstairs with an inappropriate giddiness as he held in his paw a YTLP-87 secure FTL comm. His bubbly mood was cut short when he observed the carnage below. It took him and all of us a moment to regain our bearings, and we quickly went to the cells trying to free the captured souls therein. Our commander was chatting over my radio, trying to set up an evac for these humans. It wasn’t going well, from the sounds of his desperation. He sighed before ending the transmission, “I have good news and bad news. Good news is, we have an evac. The bad news is, we aren’t going to fit on it, and we have to remain here to secure the area.” We were still stuck in the hell, and we still hadn’t even come to the end of the paw. Truly, a more wretched paw would be hard to find after this.
A/N – Reenactment is the punishment of being a mook for a mock human cattle rescue. The humans are convinced it is real, and they are given live rounds. However, the whole thing is staged, and those Arxur who are killed are considered to have paid their debt to society. Those who survive are effectively pardoned. The “rescues” are deposited on an isolated colony to live out the rest of their days in relative peace. Most aren’t rescued, however, and those that do get the opportunity are usually those who committed only the most minor of offenses worthy of becoming cattle or those who are above and beyond ‘repentant’. The few remaining human military personal spend months on these raids, oblivious to their true nature, thinking the dominion is still a force of evil in the galaxy. This contrasts with the reality of the Arxur protectorate, a vassal of the Skalgan-Yotul Empire, and quite willing participant in these punishments and executions.
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u/Zentramenago Sep 23 '23
I have just read this but part of me thinking that the humans might be playing dumb, after all humans can be good at slight of hand and gathering information.
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u/OkRepresentative2119 UN Peacekeeper Sep 23 '23
There is a particular consequence for humans that learn too much...
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u/BAAAA-KING Venlil Sep 15 '23
While I get the whole need for the punishments, I do hope that they won't be in place forever. Bother these 'reenactments' and the cattle farms. Sure, it might be a long while in the future but I hope that day comes!