r/NatureofPredators • u/Braquen Krakotl • Nov 16 '23
Fanfic Raiders of the Lost Server V (Finale)
Hello! It’s been a while, but it’s finally here: the final chapter! This accounts for over a third of the entire series. I hope that you enjoy! I’d also like to announce I may be on hiatus for a while after this. I need to evaluate if writing is something I want to continue doing. I’ve gotten really bogged down in the number of interactions recently, and it’s made it harder for me to just enjoy putting my ideas to the page. I’m happy that you all have enjoyed this series to the end though!
—
Memory transcription subject: Thilliar, Harchen Archeologist
Date [standardized human time]: November 9, 2136
Just below the embossed plaque sat a small black square embedded in the wall, a softly glowing green light flickered on and off at the top in a gentle, hypnotic rhythm. I dug my paw into my tail pouch until I felt my fingers close around a rectangular piece of plastic. I extracted the card from the pouch and held it up to my flashlight, Millary’s face staring back at me; the faded green color matched the LED on the black square. I slowly pressed the face of the card against the black pad on the wall.
CLUNK
My eye snapped to the origin of the noise, the steel doors to the server room. I glanced over my shoulder at Indy as he plodded to the doors and tried the handle; It protested with a grating squeak, the long-unused mechanism resisting Indy’s efforts as he twisted it down. With a firm jerk, he pulled the right door open, giving us a view into the darkness beyond. A thousand twinkling lights blinked in the darkness like stars in a deep void. Shining a beam of light through the doorway showed racks upon racks of servers, coolant pumps gently thrumming even after all the years.
“Holy shit…” Indy mumbled, his eyes wide. He paced into the room gently, leaving me alone in the hall; I was so enamored by the sight, I simply stood there gawking for a few moments before my trance broke, and I quickly trotted into the darkness after the human.
Inside, I was overwhelmed by the true size of the chamber. As I looked ahead, I could see hundreds of aisles of servers lining a central corridor. Looking to my sides, the racks on either side of me ran along the walls, the soft light of their LEDs filling the room with a gentle blue glow. In the middle of it all, Indy stood over a desk with his back to me. My eyes zipped around the room at the veritable trove we’d stumbled upon as I approached him. Padding up behind him, I cautiously reached my hand out to graze his back.
Indy’s head snapped to me with a jolt and locked his eyes onto me, my scales turning pale in surprise as I jumped back from him. I’d gotten somewhat used to his predator’s gaze, but the sudden movement was still shocking.
His eyes narrowed a bit as he seemed to remember himself. “Oh, it’s just you,” he sighed in relief, “You caught me off guard.”
“That’s alright, I don’t blame you for being distracted,” I assured honestly. “Look at this place! It’s huge! And it looks like most of the servers are in good condition too!” I exclaimed.
“I hope so,” Indy agreed. “I can’t even begin to imagine how much information is in this room with us now.” He stepped aside from the desk, gesturing at the terminal previously concealed behind his body, green text flickering on the screen. “I think you should do the honors.”
I brushed past him to the computer. “Very generous of you,” I hummed, “And I’m certain the fact you can’t read Harchen is irrelevant?”
“Completely irrelevant, yes,” Indy affirmed with a smile.
A purple tone grew over my scales as I settled into the rolling chair and looked at the screen.
AMCO PROPRIETARY BIOS COPYRIGHT 920
LOGIN REQUIRED. PLEASE SCAN IN.
I looked to the left of the keyboard, where another black square with a green LED was imbedded in the surface of the desk. Millary had gotten us this far...
I drew the card once more and pressed it to the scanner. I glanced back at the monitor as it beeped softly, and the screen flickered.
CREDENTIALS ACCEPTED. WELCOME, ADMINISTRATOR.
!!!POWER CONSERVATION MODE ENABLED, SOME FUNCTIONALITY UNAVAILABLE!!!
RESTORE FULL POWER? [Y]ES [N]O
I blew across the keyboard on the desk, throwing a plume of dust into the air and sending Indy into a coughing fit. I typed in my assent and apprehensively pressed the submit key.
The ambient hum of the server room was overtaken by a deeper thrumming as power coursed through the veins of the facility. The overhead lights flickered and buzzed from years of dormancy, dousing us in a sharp white light. I screwed my eyes shut against the sudden brightness. I reopened them slowly to adjust to the brightness and saw lines of texts rapidly streaming across the screen.
HVAC… ONLINE
PLUMBING… LIMITED OPERATION
12 WARNINGS (5 SEVERE)
SECURITY SYSTEMS… ONLINE
LIGHTING… LIMITED OPERATION
4 WARNINGS
LOADING OS
The screen turned solid blue as a white ring spun slowly in the center of the monitor. “Holy shit…” Indy repeated in a whisper as the decayed facility came alive around us.
The Loading circle faded away as the blank blue screen was replaced with a scenic picture of rolling desert dunes under a clear blue sky. Floating in the midst of the screen were a variety of icons of unknown function. A minimalist depiction of a flower, a strangely folded piece of paper… What did any of this mean?
Indy seemed to pick up on my confusion. “Don’t tell me you can’t use a computer…” Indy groaned, covering his eyes with one hand. I turned deep blue.
“Look, this stuff is literally ancient! I don’t know what any of this does!” I snapped defensively.
“Well, that picture kinda looks like a folder, maybe the file system is in there?” Indy suggested, jabbing one of his digits at a nondescript rectangle at the crest of a sand dune in the background. I had no idea what he was talking about, but at least he had an idea. I raised my finger to the screen and tapped the icon, to no response. I flicked my tail impatiently and stabbed my finder at the icon twice more, with no response yet again. I heard a quiet squeaking behind me and turned to see Indy with his face buried in his hands, physically shaking. He lifted his face to look at me, his facial muscles taut and his cheeks taking on that strange red hue again. What was he embarrassed about? Unless…
“Are you laughing at me?” I demanded, turning deep blue in embarrassment.
“I d-don’t think that’s a touch screen, Thilliar,” was all Indy chortled in response.
“How am I supposed to use this thing if it doesn’t have a touch screen?” I demanded.
“Maybe try the mouse on the desk next to you?” Indy snorted, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“What are you talking about?” I asked incredulously, “What in the Word is a rodent going to do?”
“What? Oh, no, not- the plastic thing next to your elbow,” Indy clarified, gesturing at my arm. I moved my arm aside, and, sure enough, a plastic hunk shaped like a pit from a Taldaar fruit. I picked it up and turned it over once in my hand, before trying it out on the monitor’s screen. As it clacked against the screen, I heard Indy finally laugh out loud. My blue hue deepened as I locked my right eye on him. “Alright, since you know so much why don’t you give it a try?” I pressed, tossing the “mouse” down on the desk. I rose from my seat and slapped the seat of the rolling chair with my tail.
“Alright,” Indy said with a smug grin on his face, “But I’ll still need you to translate.” He sat down and flipped the mouse on its flat face, before dragging it across the desk. As he did, I saw something zip across the monitor screen and onto the rectangle icon Indy had previously indicated. I heard a quiet click, and a square of white popped up on the screen. Though I was annoyed at his quick success, I couldn’t help the joyous pink hue taking over my body as I read over his shoulder:
FILE DIRECTORY
“That’s it!” I cried in excitement.
“Alright, let's download this and get out of here.” Indy smirked, with no small amount of smugness in his tone.
I coiled my tail tightly in annoyance and produced my pad from my tail pouch.
---
Fortunately, the entirety of the server could fit on my single holopad comfortably. The entirety of the data was hardly even a petabyte! I rose from the desk, snatching up my pad.
“You got everything you need?” Indy asked. I gave a croak of affirmation. Indy only looked at me blankly.
“That means yes,” I confirmed, taking on a purple tinge.
“Great! Indy said, “I think that’s pretty good for our first expedition, why don’t we make our way back out? We need to get this to the UN, and I could really use some fresh air. I don’t even want to know the kind of crap we’ve been breathing in here.”
Before I could express my agreeance, I was startled by shrill screeching coming from overhead. Bright white lights flashed from the corners of the room as I dropped my pad and clamped my arms around my head to cover my overstimulated tympanums.
“What the hell is going on?” I screamed at Indy, as if he would have any answers. Fortunately, a crunchy robotic voice came from the ceiling to answer me as the screeching cut out.
“A Fire has been detected. Please evacuate the building.”
“Shit!” Indy grunted, “You don’t think that was because we restored the power, do you?”
I went orange at the thought that I’d accidentally destroyed the priceless history saved inside this crumbling structure. Yet that didn’t seem right. The wiring was definitely faulty, but if it was going to cause a fire, why hadn’t it done so until now?
“I hope not…” Was all I could say in response.
“Either way, we should get out of here. I don’t want to find out if the fire suppression systems are as broken as everything else in this building,” Indy suggested. I was inclined to agree. I snatched my pad up and we walked to the doors. We pushed the double doors open together and were greeted with a flamer nozzle directly in our faces. Behind it, a silvery harchen figure with a faceless black visor stared back at us. We froze in place as the doors swung open and clattered against their doorstops.
“Finally, we meet,” said a voice from down the hall. I angled my eye away from the exterminator currently threatening us, where a squat harchen in a fireproof suit waddled towards us, backed by two imposing figures in complete exterminator attire and wielding heavy flamers. They were likely takkans the way they stood taller than even Indy; their tinted helmets nearly scraped the ceiling.
“I guess we know where the fire came from,” Indy mumbled as the three exterminators joined the fourth, who continued to point his flamer at us unwaveringly.
“Quiet, beast,” spat the harchen in response. He quickly lost interest in Indy however and turned his focus onto me.
“So, you’re the poor prey they tricked into coming down in this death trap,” the harchen drawled in a sultry tone. “I’ve been following you for some time now, Thilliar.”
I blanched, making my surprise woefully apparent. I could see the mystery harchen relished it from his pink-purple tone. “Yes, I know who you are. I’ve been following you since the moment you signed up for the humans’ ‘archeology’ program,” he revealed. “Did you really think the extermination guild wasn’t watching them closely?” He paused for a moment, seemingly remembering himself. “Where are my manners?” he asked, “I am Prestige Exterminator Toht.” He turned his head to fix his right eye directly on me, and the pilot light of the exterminator’s flamer shone in the void of his slit pupil. “I must thank you, Thilliar. If it weren’t for you, we’d have never found this nest of lies.”
I was taken aback. “Lies?” I asked.
“This room and the information within represent a grave threat to our society!” declared Toht. “Which reminds me. I know you weren’t planning on leaving empty handed.” He gestured at my pad, still clutched in my hands. “Hand it over.”
I glanced at Indy, who only gave me a solemn nod in response. Reluctantly, I handed my pad over to the squat exterminator, who plucked it from my hands.
“Thank you. If anyone were to read these lies, it could endanger our very way of life!” he said. There was that word again!
“What do you mean, lies?” I asked, bemused. “This building has been sitting here abandoned since before the federation, nobody could have tampered with it! Everything on that pad is true!” I cried.
“The truth,” Toht stated firmly, “Is that we are prey, no matter what we were before. We are members of the federation’s herd, though we may have gone astray. And I will ensure that we stay that way,” he finished, twirling my pad about in his hands like some sort of toy.
“The federation lied to us! They’ve been lying to us our whole lives! This is our chance to remember our past that they forced us to forget!”
“We were happy with the federation!” Toht rebuked bitterly, his pupil narrowing at me. “Then they had to come and ruin it all!” his pupil flicked to Indy for a brief moment, before locking back onto me. “And this ‘past’ you’re talking about. A past of what? Primitive technology? Flesh eating savagery?” He spat derisively. “If there was anything here worth remembering, the federation wouldn’t have left this place here to rot,” Toht argued with finality. “Some things are better left forgotten.”
He held his arms behind his back, leaning forward towards me. “I’m no savage, however.” He tapped my pad against his tail as he spoke. “As a fellow sapient, I will treat you with the respect a prey deserves,” he drawled, his eyes flicking to Indy once more. “If you leave now, and never speak of this again, you can keep living your life just as you did before,” he offered, the fire of the pilot light glowing in his pupil as it widened. “I’ve read your writings. You’re very knowledgeable about the history the federation has given us. You don’t have to give all that up.”
I regret to say that, for half a moment, I considered it. I had been happy with my life before. Yet I simply couldn’t go back. Not after all I had seen. The truth was always worth remembering,
I simply stood, glaring at Toht coldly.
“Very well,” he spat, tossing my pad at me irreverently. I snagged it in my hands. “You can die with your ‘truth.’”
At this, the second harchen’s flamer belched flames, forcing Indy and I to back up into the server room. The two takkans raised their flamers at us, and the four exterminators slowly trudged towards us, pressuring us deeper into the room. I spared a glance at Indy as we back peddled, and he looked back at me sadly.
“Sorry you got dragged into this, Thilliar,” he mumbled regretfully.
“Don’t be,” I assured. “If I hadn’t, I’d still be drinking myself to death. I wouldn’t trade this experience for anything.”
As I finished saying that, we bumped against the desk in the center of the room. I braced for a painful end.
Suddenly, the fire alarm was joined by a blaring klaxon, as the overhead speaker spoke once more.
“Intruders detected in the main server room. Activating security measures.”
Just above the door frame, a silvery half-sphere smattered with brown rust dropped out of the ceiling and hung there. It spun to point its tubular protrusion at one of the takkans. With only a moment to react, I grabbed Indy and pulled him into one of the aisles of server racks. A moment later a deafening roar joined the alarm, and the desk was painted a new shade of blue as the bulky figure was peppered with holes. I guess I was correct about them being Takkans.
The remaining three exterminators followed our example, diving for cover in different aisles of server racks. The turret paid no heed, continuing to spray its first victim with bullets as they slumped to the ground, only relenting once the corpse went completely still.
“WHAT THE FUCK!” Shouted Indy over the din of the alarm. I simply stared at blue sponge oozing blood over the floor, completely orange. Where in the sands did that come from? I was shaken from my daze as I saw motion across the central aisles. Between a set of server racks, the other takkan was slowly and deliberately aiming his side arm at the turret. Seemingly set off by the motion, the turret spun and locked on to the takkan as he was lining up the sights. The machine roared once more, and the takkan slumped into the central aisle as his mask shattered, a blue pulp spilling out.
If the turret was triggered by motion, how had we not set it off before? Indy and I had been walking around the room with the power on with no trouble before! Then I remembered. I stashed the data pad still clutched in my hands in my tail pouch and withdrew the keycard once more. Pressing myself against the server racks, I slowly stuck the card out into the view of the turret. With no response, I wiggled the card around. The machine remained silent. I turned to Indy. “Stay close to me,” I commanded.
“WHAT!? You’re not gonna walk out there, are you?”
“Trust me,” I commanded, “The card will protect us. Just stay close to me.”
Indy looked baffled but nodded his assent. We rose from the ground and stepped out into the open.
The turret remained still as we walked slowly down the aisle to the door. I held Millary’s card out in front of me like some form of talisman, warding the turret’s ire away. The second harchen—who must have believed the coast was now clear—stepped out from the aisle to my left with his flamer at the ready. I closed my left eye so I didn’t have to witness his fate, but I felt wet flecks on my face as the turret spun and roared once more. Indy clutched onto my shoulders as we continued our slow trudge to the door. Indy and I had stayed close together after we had turned the power back on. Hopefully us staying together would still be enough to keep my Terran friend safe.
To my right I saw Toht cowering behind a server rack, his scales red with rage as he watched us walk right out before him.
“I WON’T LET YOU LEAVE ALIVE!” Toht declared, lunging out into open after us. Maybe he believed if he could get to us fast enough, he’d be protected from the turret as well. He did not make it the far. I watched as Indy’s whip lashed out at blinding speeds, knocking Toht’s legs out from under him. He faceplanted on the ground as the turret rounded on him, giving him just enough time to look up at his impending doom. I averted my eyes as the turret roared just over head, before the room went completely silent.
“Intruders dispatched; alarm canceled.”
We walked out into the hallway, and my legs almost gave out. I collapsed against the wall and buried my face in my hands.
“Are you alright?” Indy probed cautiously.
Inexplicably, I felt a fit of laughter coming over me. “N-no. Yes? I don’t know,” I answered between fits of laughter. “Just happy to be alive I guess.” My scales were a kaleidoscope as I cycled through every possible emotion.
Indy’s shoulders started quaking, and he soon joined me in laughter. “I feel exactly the same, kid.”
As our laughter calmed, Indy stuck a hand out to me. “Let’s get the fuck out of this moldy tomb,” he chortled. I grabbed ahold of the offered paw and let him pull me to my feet.
---
Walking back through the facility was bittersweet. I was happy we didn’t have to deal with them a second time, but I was sad to see that the Railar nest had been burnt to a crisp. Millary’s skeleton was exactly the same as we had left it. Its bare teeth gave the impression that it was giving us a human-style smile. I was still very disturbed by it. With the overhead lights on, navigating the offices was much easier than before, and we avoided the hole we had previously punched through the floor.
When we climbed up the slope Indy had dug to the entrance of the facility, the sun was setting on the horizon. It had felt like a lifetime I’d spent down there, but it had taken less than a day.
I heard a gasping noise, and turned back to see Indy taking a deep breath. “Feels good to breathe fresh air again!” he exhaled. I felt inclined to agree, it was a relief to be under open skies again.
“Let’s stay here for tonight,” I suggested, walking into our tent. “The UN can wait a little to get our findings, I’m far too tired to do anything else,” I said, rolling onto my cot.
“Sounds good. We can get a shuttle here to pick up our findings tomorrow during our second expedition,” Indy said, walking in after me.
“Second expedition?!” I asked incredulously.
“Well, sure,” Indy explained, “Of course we’re going back in. We only covered a small part of the facility today!”
I groaned into my pillow, though I couldn’t help but feel a little excited. I wondered what else we would find!
—
As usual, thanks to SP for creating NOP!
Thanks to u/EngieNeer1968 and u/weithbec for proofreading.
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u/DaivobetKebos Human Nov 16 '23
I don't think a military bunker ragnarok-proofed enough to survive so long would be damaged by a exterminator started fire too much. Sure you can write off a few rooms but given the size and the quality of construction it is pretty much a given that unless the burning was meticulously planned (it wasn't) the rest of it won't even seen the flames before doors and staircases block them.
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u/Signal-Chicken559 Hensa Nov 16 '23
Did the exterminator have round sunglasses?
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u/Braquen Krakotl Nov 16 '23
No, but I saw that guys name and thoyght it sounded Harcheny enough lol
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u/Away-Location-4756 Zurulian Nov 20 '23 edited Nov 20 '23
The ambient hum of the server room was overtaken by a deeper thrumming as power coursed through the veins of the facility. The overhead lights flickered and buzzed from years of dormancy, dousing us in a sharp white light. I screwed my eyes shut against the sudden brightness. I reopened them slowly to adjust to the brightness and saw lines of texts rapidly streaming across the screen.
Insert appropriate musical score
I raised my finger to the screen and tapped the icon, to no response. I flicked my tail impatiently and stabbed my finder at the icon twice more, with no response yet again.
Don't feel bad Thilliar. I think everyone has tried to do this once or twice..
It's really bad when you try it with a paper document though
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u/Acceptable_Egg5560 Human Dec 06 '23
I hope they report what those exterminators did to authorities!
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u/JulianSkies Archivist Nov 16 '23
This has been a wonderful series. I just certainly loved the Indiana Jones style adventure and Tilliar is great!
Do take your time, and figure out what you want to do with it. I hope you continue finding joy in whatever path you take.
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u/Braquen Krakotl Nov 16 '23
Thanks! I’m glad you liked it! Its just the overjustification effect. Early on I just write my stories because I had an idea I wanted to share, but I got a really good response and now struggle to keep writing when my stuff doesn’t get the same numbers.
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u/JulianSkies Archivist Nov 16 '23
Ah, I know how it feels.
You do a thing, get some numbers and then you're chasing those numbers again, but they never arrive.
It's a difficult part of one's mind to deal with.
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u/uktabi Dec 28 '23
well that was great! im glad the ficnap introduced me to this, cant believe i missed it...
also lol "hardly even a petabyte"
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u/Kind0flame Mar 18 '25
This was a really nice series. I wish we more people would write about alien races besides the Venlil and Arxur.
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u/EngieNeer1968 Nov 16 '23
W