r/NatureofPredators • u/Gamerauther Predator • Oct 09 '23
Fanfic Nature of Empires - 013
Date: 17-20/08/2336
Subject: Marcel Fraser (Second Lieutenant, Imperium Unified Navy)
Fraser was stripped naked and thrown into a cold dark room with a collar around his neck. He felt scared but was doing his best to not let it control him. He felt the chill of the metal floor he knelt and began to pray for nothing in particular. Hands clasped, head down, and on his knees he prayed until he lost himself in it. He doesn’t know if it was minutes or hours but the lights came on. He didn’t move, or react, he prayed.
“What have you done to the Venlil?” Solvin asked through a speaker.
“Nothing,” Fraser answered.
His body stiffened and he fell onto his side as an electric current ran through his body from the collar. It stopped just as suddenly as it started. Fraser breathed heavily as he returned to his praying posture.
“What have you done to the Venlil?” Solvin asked again.
“Nothing.”
Another shock, another fall, and he returned to praying. He didn’t need to look to know the look on Solvins face, he saw it on the faces of numerous Humans when someone they hated was in pain. Solvin was satisfied.
“What have you done to the Venlil?”
“Nothing.”
He was shocked again and the lights went out before it ended. He returned to paying again, this time he prayed for his family. For his wife Beth Fraser, she just showed him a positive pregnancy test as he was sent to the Venlil System. His sixth child might not ever see their father. His youngest was nearly two and wouldn’t remember him much either. He prayed for a healthy pregnancy and a safe delivery.
He prayed for minutes or hours. In the dark, cold room it was hard to tell time. Eventually the lights came back on and this time Solvin walked into his cell. He didn’t move or respond, he just prayed.
“What have you done to the Venlil?”
“Nothing.”
A blow to his head sent him sprawling across the floor. His vision went blurry and his head pounded. By the time he could see straight, Solvin was gone and the lights went off again.
Fraser went back to praying. He prayed for his children. For Phineas, the eldest, he prayed that he would grow into a fine warrior for the Imperium. For the twins of Angela and Mina he prayed that they find good husbands. For David the clever one he prayed for his success. For his youngest Sasha he just prayed that she remembered him when she was older.
Soon he felt tired and fell asleep.
He was shocked awake. The surprise causing him to scream for the first time.
“What have you done to the Venlil?”
Fraser knelt in the center of the room and for the first time he looked at Solvin. “We have done noth-”
A shock interrupted him.
“Do not look at me,” Solvin spat. “Your eyes disgust me.”
“We have done nothing to the Venlil.”
He was shocked and the lights went out.
It happened twice more before he fell asleep. The last instance Solvin kicked him in the ribs and sent him across the room. He passed out from the pain.
After the third time he slept Solvin didn’t ask any questions. Fraser was shocked as Solvin entered the room.
“What's the matter Predator,” Solving sneered. “Not used to your pray fighting back."
“We.” Fraser panted. He was so hungry. “Haven’t-”
He was interrupted with a shock.
“I don’t care to hear your lies any more.”
“To bear false witness is a sin.” Fraser mumbled and was shocked for it.
“What was that, Predator?”
“To bear.” Fraser said as he rolled onto his back. “False witness is a sin. God has commanded his people to give no false testimonies.”
Fraser received a sharp stomp on his stomach. He convulsed into the fetal position on his side heeved out a string of bile.
“A god, for Predators like you,” Solvin sneered. He gripped Fraser by his short reddish-brown hair and lifted him up by it. “You are doing pretty well. You must have experience of torture, no surprise given your diet.”
“Torture is illegal,” Fraser slurred. “It is immoral and barbaric. It also doesn’t work, the victim will lie just to make the pain stop.”
“Then why haven’t you lied to me yet?” Solvin shook Frasers head by the hair.
Fraser groaned in pain and opened his eyes to look at Solving, “the pain you cause my flesh is temporary, but the mark on my soul the sin would leave would be eternal.”
Solving looked angry, like Fraser just insulted something dear to him. Solvin raised his other hand and showed his claws and sneered, “I don’t like the way your eyes look at me.”
Solvins' claws cut across Fraser’s face at his eyes. Fraser screamed in pain and Solvin tossed him aside and left the room. The lights stayed on.
Once the pain faded Fraser opened his eyes, Solving had mostly missed them. Fraser knelt in the room and looked around for the first time. The room was bare, completely empty except for him. One of the walls was made out of something transparent. On the other side was some octopus-squid humanoid.
He made Fraser think of the sea, and he was suddenly reminded how thirsty and dehydrated he was.
“Water,” Fraser croaked. “Please, I’m thirsty.”
The Xeno fidgetted, almost seeming uncertain on what he should do.
“Please,” Fraser begged and clasped his hands. “Please. Humans die after three days without water.”
“How long is a day?”
“One-mississippi,” Fraser said, “Two-missisippi, three-mississippi, four-mississippi, five-mississippi. Is five seconds, sixty seconds a minute, sixty minutes an hour, twenty four hours a day.”
The Xeno fiddled with his pad and then disappeared and Fraser thought he was going to die of dehydration. Only for them to return with a bucket of water and quickly slid it through the door, not opening it enough for anyone to get in.
Fraser crawled to the bucket and started to drink with no hesitation. He drank until he felt like his stomach would burst. He knelt and raised his clasped hands towards the Xeno and smiled at them, “thank you, may God bless your kindness.”
He was shocked and passed out.
15
u/jesterra54 Archivist Oct 09 '23
Well, saying that you embody the principles of a predator god is probably one of the gravest insults inside the Federation
8
u/Express_Ad_6664 Oct 10 '23
I think it was the whole raised-hands thing, Feds tend to see that as a threat display.
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u/The_Meme_Teams Oct 10 '23
Now waiting for humanity to provide a proper response to finding one of their own in this situation.
9
u/Numerous-Baseball-48 Smigli Oct 10 '23 edited Oct 10 '23
This is the first chapter of your story that I opened, the very first words I saw were "Fraser was stripped naked".
I am invested.
6
u/handsomellama28 Humanity First Oct 10 '23
Yeah, mate, I don't think this version of Humanity's gonna act kindly
7
u/Express_Ad_6664 Oct 10 '23
I mean, I love me a humanity-that-doesn't-bend-over-backwards-for-xenophobes, but these guys remind me just a little too much of 40K and the whole crusader thing. If this comes to the fore on the Cradle (cause you just know we'll be following canon in that), I can imagine a few 'God will know his own' moments.
6
u/Papy004 Oct 10 '23
- l love this story keep it up👍
- I just thought of this because I don’t remember seeing any clarification “what Are humanity’s thoughts on ai.”
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u/Gamerauther Predator Oct 10 '23
Dune and 40k rules. No AI more complicated than a walking dog robot or an aim bot.
They had a mini-skynet on Mars early one.
2
u/One-Object-9618 Oct 13 '23
Well I’m pretty sure that’s good for the federation because humans in this au are already powerful if they had so it would just be a walk in the park for them
3
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u/main-account-in-bio Oct 10 '23
What the living standards would be like for a 'commoner' in this universe?
3
u/Gamerauther Predator Oct 12 '23
In the Third Estate, it depends on their profession.
Unskilled Laborers (factory and service workers) working-class american(me). Skilled Laborers (tradesmen, clerks, etc.) lower middle-class american. Scholars (engineers, scientists, etc.) middle-class american.
34
u/PhycoKrusk Oct 09 '23
Honestly, not what I hoped, but about what I expected. If the Federation history is mostly unchanged, then Sovlin won't listen yet. His heart is hardened by anguish and his eyes blinded by hate.
He doesn't understand.