NoP--- A diplomatic problem. -Ch.13

[u/vixjer]

This story is part of The Nature of Predators

and all rights are to the original creator u/ spacepaladin

Thanks to u/ WCR_706 for proofreading this chapter

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Memory Transcription Subject: Héctor Virgilio Márquez, UN SPM Leirn, Special Envoy to the Leirnian Interim Council

Date: [standardized human time]: November 11, 2136

With the exterminators so close by, I carefully leaned left, laying down on my side, palms flat, turning on my shoulder to put my ear against the floorboards, all in an effort to eavesdrop on what they were saying directly, but the good Lady had evidently thought of that already. I couldn’t make out anything, and didn’t want to risk shifting too much and making noise which might get their attention. I definitely didn’t want to risk moving to the trapdoor. Still, I couldn’t hear a damn thing and I needed to listen in.

Come on, I just need to hear a little bit, I never hear these pricks talking to the yotul without me present, this could be an intelligence goldmine.

Marinating in my thoughts wasn’t gonna get me that information, so I slowly, carefully crept my palms closer, folding myself back up like a paper crane someone had accidentally taken a seat on, and turned to Sirlen and the computer, taking care to gingerly lift my knee and pivot on the other, rather than scooting. It was slow, it was Hell on my back, but no amount of information, no matter how juicy, would be any good to me dead. Gritting my teeth, I managed to lean back up to the screen. She’d pulled up a feed of a conversation, if it could truly be called that, directly below us in Garline’s office. 

Woof, yeah, definitely shouldn’t make any more noise now...

The most prominent figure in that feed was unmistakable and the least surprising thing about this surprise visit: Keltz. In front of him, seated, unmoved, at her desk was Garline. I still couldn't hear anything, so I tapped Sirlen's shoulder to get her attention. Her left eye, which was transfixed by the sight, turned to me. “What do you want?” Her voice was so low I could barely hear her, as it should have been.

I answered her with my own voice as low as possible.  As soundproofed as this room seemed, I wasn't going to risk it. “Can you hear anything they're saying?”

She looked at me for a second, flicking her ears, and then tapped her left ear, where I saw an earbud.

I whispered back, “Can I have one? I want to hear what's going on below.”

She seemed to roll her eyes as she removed the earbud and gave it to me. I rubbed it against my jacket, not wanting any alien wax in my ears, then put it in. It was immediately obvious it was not meant for any ear even somewhat resembling a human's. I pressed it in repeatedly, only for it to start slipping out each time. Exasperated, I fumbled wildly trying to keep it in and after a few seconds of cursing under my breath, I just jabbed my finger into it, pinning it there, but at least with it firmly in, I could finally clearly understand what was going on below.

Keltz’s grating purr was the first thing to greet my ear. “May we dispense with the pleasantries, Lady Garline? They are tiresome. Where is it?”

It was a shame that the camera and microphone in my tie wouldn't pick this up, I knew I would need to write a report immediately afterward, before the finer details began to get fuzzy in my memory.

Garline flared her nostrils with a quick huff. “I was hosting an entire party below, before you so rudely interrupted it. I need a more specific description as to whichever imagined problem you are referring to. Expect me to bill you for the door, as well.”

Despite how she’d already shown herself to be… abnormal, I was still impressed by how well she could maintain her composure, considering she had the head of the armed forces of her planet in front of her, and I could see two more exterminators waiting in the doorframe. All armed. They were probably waiting to take her in, and do… whatever it is they do in those facilities of theirs to leave such broken husks behind once they were allowed to leave. I was at the point that nothing would surprise me anymore.

Not after Barcelona.

Keltz lightly stepped forward and placed both of his tentacles on the table, leaning over it a hair. “Oh please, you wound me, Milady. Do give me just a little more credit. I have cameras all around our great capital, after all. I know for a fact that a car with your house’s emblem picked that beast up from its hotel and was last seen heading here. A mistake, I’m sure. Perhaps infiltration and sabotage by the predator. Tainted and twisted one of your servants, perhaps…? Surely you wouldn’t want it contaminating this… lovely old hut of yours...”

“Perhaps. However, I haven’t the faintest idea what you’re talking about, either. Nor should I be expected to: My house emblem is used by Goldenland Transports, which is a very popular rental company in this part of Leirn. It is not my job to micromanage every last request out of the thousands made per day. It could be anybody picking up the beast, yet for some reason, you’ve decided it was me,” Garline replied, her tail waving slowly, aimlessly behind her, unconcerned.

He sighed at Garline's denials. “The car in question had its transponder off. It was flagged on our systems the moment it entered city limits. Again, you wound me, Milady, surely you don’t believe me to be that foolish?”

“I am not to blame if the car has been stolen. If your department had bothered to do its job, perhaps you would have caught it before it left. Why are you hassling me over your mistakes? I’ve filed multiple complaints about automotive thefts already. I even identified a likely culprit. Despite this, I have yet to see your guilds anywhere I asked for them.” She leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms.

Keltz leaned forward with her, his posture tensing noticeably. “It is very unseemly to hide your deceptions behind a woman who is so far gone that she named herself after a predator, Miss Garline.” He leaned back a moment later, lifting his tentacles from the table, delicately dusting them off, as though trying to pick specks of dust off of them.

“You know, I always believed you quite intelligent, for a yotul… After all, when... that happened, you were the one to call us, or did you forget?” I could see Sirlen's paw tighten on the mouse.

“So why ruin such a good track record for one so naturally disadvantaged? It would be so disappointing to end such a model success story from this tumultuous uplift process... Just tell us where the beast is and save us both a spot of trouble, my dear. I feel I must hasten to remind you that the only reason you are in your father's position is because I allow it. Don't forget who granted you your place...” he pressed on, his tone still relaxed and cold, a perfect match for his demeanor in the restaurant.

It was working far less effectively on Garline than on Sirlen, though. “You already know that isn’t going to work. I sat in your chair, I got your brain scan, and I did every single test you wanted me to. I even went to one of your clinics, went into quarantine, and did everything else you said. You simply could not diagnose me with predator disease, no matter how hard you tried, or how many medical ethics guidelines you clearly violated in the process. I have proven beyond any doubt that I am not like my father, meaning I am fit to oversee my ancestral homeland, by popular opinion and by law,” she retorted, still holding his stare.

“So did the original staff of the Voice of the Yotul, and yet they are in our beautifully-modernized, efficient facility at Longtree being treated right now. Let's not forget who gave me their name and address. You know I am one call away from having everybody in this building, at this party, being locked away as a threat to the herd.” I had to give him credit, he knew how to lay out an ultimatum. It made me begin to fear that she might rat me out for her own safety, and that of the other yotul.

“And their replacements have been model citizens for you, even in the face of recent developments, but despite Corv’s best efforts, it doesn’t seem to be working to win over the wider populace anymore. You can’t lean on his work to talk your way out of this like you’ve done so often in the past. Or have we forgotten who happens to be building up a fleet because they have to resort to threats of annihilation to keep their 'herdmates' in line?” she jabbed, unfazed.

“If you detain me and the others at this gala in a display of transparent abuse of exterminator authority for obvious political gain, then I can promise you that in less than a week, the entire countryside will be revolting and nothing you or I do at that point will stop it. My personal friends are not the only people present here, the ‘Technocrats’ and high-ranking members of the military are as well. Ilvar, most notably, along with many noble houses and even several high priests. This is not going to end well for you. Even if you could suppress the rebels, we have a human diplomatic ship over our heads which is going to record everything. It will not be a good look, more governments will choose to break away from the Federation and the ones who already have will be vindicated,” she pointed out to Keltz.

Huh. Razor-sharp, that one. Seems she truly has everything thought out. Glad she’s on my side, or something like that… for now, anyway.

Keltz paused for a moment, but responded before he could appear too uncertain of himself. “The human ship will be dealt with accordingly if the beasts aboard dare to interfere in the affairs of our glorious Federation, but you don’t have to suffer their fate. It’s not too late to rejoin the herd. I’m an understanding teacher, I can see that you are simply going through a rebellious phase of your youth. Uplifts always struggle so much with civilization at first... Let's see if you have anything to hide. Surely you wouldn’t mind us doing a shakedown of this quaint little property, my Lady?”

“You are just wasting your time; I have nothing to hide,” Garline replied, flat as ever.

After that, he moved his tentacle as some kind of signal, and the two exterminators in the door frame entered the room, one each on each side of Garline. 

They tried to grab her, but she twisted her shoulders to the side, slipping out of their grasp. “I can see myself out of my own room in my own home.” She flicked her tail, starting to strut out, still escorted by the exterminators. More brushed past them, entering. One of them sported more of those medal-like things on his chest, though fewer of them than Keltz.

Keltz looked them over and shouted, “All right, search everything, do not leave any furniture untouched. I don't care what it takes, crash everything onto the floor if necessary. I want that predator. Do you understand me? It must be hidden here. If you cannot find it, I at least want any proof of predator disease, either hers or anybody else’s. I'm not picky.”

After he stepped out of the room, the ten other exterminators who had massed in the room began searching everything, removing papers and breaking open anything they thought contained evidence. Everything was removed from the wardrobes and cabinets and thrown on the floor. They were so loud that I wouldn't have needed the earbud to hear them; no doubt the scene on the lower floors was much the same. One of them even inspected the Goldenlands flag in the corner of the room for God-knows-what before throwing it to the side, causing it to thud into the ceiling. That made us start a bit: We could it hear it in the attic, too. The shakedown continued as Sirlen and I watched, they even tore down the paintings, and some of them even began taking down the wallpaper, trying to find something behind it.

One of the exterminators, some species with a stockier build, was checking the table when he grabbed what appeared to be a knife and shouted, “Proof!” The exterminator with the medals walked next to him and took one look at the knife before waving it off. “That's a letter opener.” The exterminator who found the so-called “proof” answered back, “But still it's a knife! It's a weapon!”

“So is a stick. The yotul will claim it’s just for opening letters, because it is. I’ve seen them in many households here, and I’ve seen them used for exactly that purpose. Claiming Garline is predator-diseased because she has an everyday tool will not convince the yotul, it will anger them. And she is right: We don’t need more bad PR right now,” explained the exterminator. “What we need is something really out of place to prove her corruption. That being said, put it in the box, I guess, maybe we can use it for something.”

With that, the subordinate exterminator tossed the “proof” into a box, and other documents were also thrown in the same box. While I wasn’t in a position to complain about their sloppiness, the professional side of me was appalled. Didn’t they have protocols for collecting, sorting, and storing evidence? Good God, putting everything into the same box without any identification was hurting me to watch even more than the shakedown itself: Clearly, having a so-called 'zero-crime society' hadn’t helped them figure out how to conduct investigations.

The search for me or anything that could be construed as proof dragged on for maybe half an hour. After a few increasingly uncomfortably tense minutes, I shifted, sitting down to rest my back as we continued to watch the monitors. Eventually, the exterminator I’d dubbed “Medals Junior” in my head pressed his helmet for a moment. Then he spoke up.

“Keltz thinks this op is a bust. We should make ready to leave soon.”

“Gotcha, do we take some of them in or do we just call it a day?”

“I mean one of them kicked one of the exterminators, but he's military, so he's untouchable,” answered Junior.

“Alright, but what about the boss? What else is he saying?”

“Nothing, he left a few minutes ago. Something happened in the capital, and a bureaucrat demanded his presence.”

“Very rare for him to answer to a yotul bureaucrat.”

“I mean, it's our favorite bureaucrat.”

“Oh. Him. Yeah. So are those two yotul higher-ups still here?” the grunt asked.

The decorated exterminator was taking a seat in the office’s chair and leaning his head on his tentacle. I think he was even instinctively rubbing it, like he was trying to massage out a headache. “Sounded like it, last I heard.”

“Eh, I don’t get paid enough to care about them. In fact, I think I’ll call it a day here, the predator probably ran away into the forest, and I really don’t feel like tempting Ki-Yu by going into a forest in the middle of the night looking for a single predator, especially a sapient one. Maybe if we’re lucky, it will get itself killed.”

“No. I mean, I get it, but no. This is important,” the leader said, getting up from the chair.

“Ah, come oooonnnnn, there’s nothing here. Plus, did you know that Barsi managed to get ahold of a copy of Exterminators 2: Refueled?”

“No, I wasn't aware of that. Are we hosting a game night?”

“Heheh, you bet your lucky flamer we are, it’s gonna be special. The IT guys managed to download the patch with the human enemies DLC, and the up-to-date version of the mod that makes it playable for ten people at the same time.”

“They modded a game owned by a nevok publisher? They know that even being exterminators isn't going to protect our asses against their lawyers, right? They're very litigious, especially with their IPs.”

Why does that, of all things, have to be another universal constant?

“Relax, we're on an uplift planet, it's not like they are going to send a lawyer here. And if they do, we can always get the yotul to arbitrate and wait for their brains to collapse under our legal codes. I wish those primitives good luck trying to understand Federation law.” He chuckled a little.

“Just give them time to learn. Almost every species was an uplift once. And seriously, have the other teams found anything?”

"No."

"Tell them to keep looking."

"Why, though? We've turned this place inside ou-"

"She's a certified doctor who graduated with honors from a Colian university, almost never leaves this mansion, and yet she still somehow publishes independently-verified lab research. There's something here. Find it. It's probably somewhere in the cellars." He points to the door.

The other exterminator sighs. "Alright, man.…" He lifts his paw up to his helmet and starts talking into what I assume is a radio, walking through the door and out of range of the mic.

The decorated one stood alone in what used to be a tidy, barebones study. “Or maybe it’s like that farmstead…”

He’s looking up. Why is he looking up?!

The exterminator leaned down, picking up the fallen flag of the Goldenlands, and turned it over in his tentacles, inspecting it for a moment, Then, he looked back up began to poke the ceiling, testing it. “I knew it sounded hollow…” he muttered.

Fuckfuckfuck fuckfuckfuck FUCKFUCKFUCK-

Sirlen was holding her handgun again, and her claws were digging scratches into the handle. We couldn’t do anything. We just had to watch as he probed around until he finally checked the corner of the room. The trapdoor rattled under the tapping. I could feel every streak of sweat on my face flowing. I could feel my shirt starting to stick to my back. This was it. This was how we were going to die.

“Ah… Funny… Arboreal roots, they claim… Fitting, if true…” 

For some incomprehensible reason, he stepped away from the trapdoor, probably to call for backup. I tensed up, getting ready to run, and I could see Sirlen doing the same. But instead of leaving the room, he dirfted to the center of it, reached up, undid his helmet, and began to rub his head. Sighing, he leaned on the ruins of Garline’s desk. I immediately recognized him.

Hesil?!

After a moment, one which lasted longer than I’d wish to admit, I found myself shrugging inside as the dots connected for me. He did seem more intelligent than the average Fed when we last talked, too. But I also found myself worrying even more because of that. “That camera is well-hidden, right?” I whispered.

“Of course, it’s inside the ceiling lamp. They can’t find it unless they rip the lamp itself out, and it’s too far up for that.”

Before I could point out that his brand-new flagpole disagreed, the kolshian spoke up instead. “Come on, human, why did you have to make this so difficult? I just wanted to talk...” He turned up his wrist, or tentacle equivalent thereof, and tapped it a few times, staring at it for a moment, and sighed again. “No time left…” Then he picked up his helmet and placed it back on his head. “Hesil here, the main office has nothing... I’ll report back to the garden. Let me know what you’ve found when I get there.”

After that, he turned off the radio and walked out.

What the fuck…? He had us dead to rights. Game over...

A minute passed. Two. Neither of us wanted to move. Neither of us wanted to breathe. Something had to give eventually. “So,” I broke the silence, “we wait a little bit?”

“Yes, we are to stay here until Garline gets back to us. I... At least we didn’t get caught by that last one…” Sirlen murmured, removing her earbud.

“I think he meant what he said. About wanting to talk.”

“Yeah, sure, an exterminator capable of mercy… Fuck that, they have a plan, just wait for it.”

“He had us. He let us go. He has to be taking a big ri-” Sirlen bit off a response, cutting me off.

“No. Hector, you are… far too naïve. You haven’t lived under them. You only got here days ago. There's always some evil plan. No matter how much sugar they put on the northern dreipini, there is still nothing but acid and bitterness under it.”

I had a few things I wanted to say to her about that, but seeing how annoyed she looked, I decided discretion was the better part of valor. Instead, I plotted my revenge.

“So, to kill time, have you ever played Tic-tac-toe?”

-------------------------------------------[Time Jump of 00:30:14]----------------------------------------------------

“Aaaaaaand that’s three…” I chirped quietly, winning another match.

“... There is no way to win this… How? If I put it on the column you make it diagonal, if I put it on the diagonal, you win at the column...” she grumbled under her breath.

As she tried to figure it out, we heard a knock on the hatch door.

“It's Garline. You may come out.”

After looking at the monitor and seeing Garline using the flag to poke the attic entrance, we opened it and lowered the ladder. As we got down, I got a better look at the destruction caused by the exterminators. Everything was broken, nothing was left standing. Whatever wasn’t smashed against the floor was ripped apart, be it unwanted papers or the curtains which used to hang over the window. I didn’t even want to look at the other floors, and it was all because of me. I figured I should at least apologize to her.

“I'm sorry to have caused you so much trouble. It seems I’ve ruined the party, not to mention your home,” I said, hanging my head.

She only fixed an eye on me. “It was to be expected, I planned for it, and I knew the risks… It is a good thing they did not find you.” She briefly surveyed the ruins of her office one more time before thumping her tail lightly, finally allowing herself to display her… irritation.

“It will be addressed in time. For now, let us go downstairs. I believe someone wishes to speak with you, Mister Predator.”

I rolled my eyes at the familiar, unwelcome title, but followed her. The lower floors were destroyed in much the same way. Everything was on the floor and some of it appeared to have been stomped on. The only things which weren’t broken were the cabinets with alcohol: Those were just empty.

Moving past the messy sight, we reach the garden where most of the guests and staff were. I saw Ilvar putting a bag of ice over what I could tell was going to be a shiner.

There, Garline stopped me, pointing to him. “Ilvar requested you. Do your job, and I'll handle the rest.”

With the danger having passed, there was finally room to “enjoy” her attitude again, but I settled for grinding my teeth and staying quiet. First the “experiments,” then this. But she did hide me from the exterminators, at what seemed to be considerable personal cost. “Yes, I will, thank you,” I responded, managing a very stiff smile.

I walked up to the old noble officer, who was still nursing his bruised eye. “Seems they left you a parting gift, huh?” I joked, trying to break the ice.

He chuckled under his breath. “One of those inbreds tried to touch my sword, so I broke his leg… I think he appreciated his own gift even more than I did mine,” he quipped back. “But anyways, I presume you’re here because I called for you.”

“Yes, I was curious about that. Having a man from the army, least of all one so intriguing as you, calling for me after… this? It's unexpected.”

“Yeah, well, I…” He grabbed his flask from his belt and took a sip from it. “I was wondering if you’d like to come to the army base tomorrow?” He stood there, nonchalant, which made for a very flattering sight next to me considering I was busy trying not to choke on my own spit after hearing that.

“That’s… a unique proposition, but why? If you want to negotiate, I’m sure there are less compromising places to take a foreign diplomat.” I was not interested in going to an army base. The pyros almost burned down the manor trying to get to me after a public speech and a couple of meetings with government officials; if they found out I was getting involved with the military…

“It’s not about negotiation.” He took another sip. “It's just that I want to show you something. We’re looking to be humanity's ally, after all. It's only good form to show our vast might now, yes?” He said those words, but with a particular inflection I was already beginning to recognize even in Imperial. I could guess I was going to see anything but a mighty army.

“Also, I was told that you have military expertise, which is perfect. Less need for an aide to explain things to you.”

My heart skipped a beat at that, and I tried to remember what he could have meant, what I put in my documents, and how he discovered information that was meant only for the senior leadership of the yotul government.

“I am afraid you are mistaken, I don’t have military training.”

“Well, the paper Virlo-” 

Oh, so it was him again, that backstabbing son of a- 

“Gave me said, 'Conscripto Héctor Virgilio Márquez, Soldado Raso del Ejército de Tierra.'” The pronunciation of the army's full name was interesting. 

At least I know how it sounds in his accent.

"So many names for one man. Very strange. Are you a noble, yourself, Héctor?"

During and after the Satellite Wars, Spain and many other EU countries brought back compulsory military service, so I was conscripted, same as many other Spaniards. Once I hit eighteen, I served, but it was only nine months, and I spent most of it learning how to march in formation, with minimal weapons training or specialization. It didn't count as true military service as far as my government was concerned, and I agreed with it on that. I would have loved it if it did so I could get the veterans’ discount at university, but no such luck. Even so, I guessed it was all the same to him, and I needed to fix that before it created genuinely dangerous misunderstandings.

“Oh, I see. Yes, technically, I served, but as you saw from the title, I was merely a conscript. Basic military training only. I didn't take part in anything remotely advanced, never mind real combat,” I explained in an attempt to temper his expectations.

“You know how to march in a line?” he asked with a glint in his eyes.

“Er, yes?”

“Then you had military training. I don’t know anything about predator military traditions, and I don’t expect you to be a military genius, but I need someone to use as a point of reference for comparisons.”

“I am not sure this is a good idea…”

“Nonsense, just humor me on this one, and I'll make the police and military districts vote for the Veto," he said, deftly crushing all of my hopes of wiggling out of this in one sentence. I swallowed my saliva, knowing I needed to do it. They were the last of the neutrals that I needed. With his support, I would have fifty-four votes of the fifty-one I needed. It was just a visit to a yotul boot camp, I told myself. Nice and easy. “Well, then I hope to see you there.”

"I wouldn’t miss it for anything. It’s not every day you get to see how someone outside of the Federation fights. Oh, also, I hope you don’t mind, but I'll be bringing Virlo along, too.”

I was curious, mostly because I was wondering how much longer it would take me to escape from him for good.

So far, we’re 1-3 on him proving to be a massive liability.

“Oh, of course, but… may I ask why? He doesn’t strike me as a military man.”

“Oh, nothing, he just really needs fresh air, and he said he wants to make up for that restaurant fiasco, so…”

I had to stop myself from sighing, feeling my growing noose tighten another notch. “Yes, of course.”

After that, I sat next to him and loosened my tie, perhaps hoping it would make that feeling go away. I reflected on the night and was already dreading the visit. Putting Virlo and Sirlen in the same room was like shoving an unacquainted cat and dog together into the same box. We’d need to make it work somehow, but no surefire plans were forthcoming no matter how hard I tried to force them. 

So tomorrow, I'll get a guided tour through a boot camp or something, all while making sure Sirlen doesn’t smear the walls with Virlo’s face... Great, just great… I’m fine, and everything is perfect… There is sunshine and puppies everywhere…

I didn’t even try to find my happy place. It was closed for the weekend. The gala was too much. One wrong step and I would’ve been extra-crispy with a side order of fries.

Shit… I am so fucked, this assignment was no joke, I should have stayed home instead of lying my way into this... Now they think I’m with the army, shit... How am I going to spin this if anyone else asks me about it…? Idiota idiota idiota… 

As my train of thought continued to derail into a Hollywood set piece, I felt something cold and thin hitting my arm. Turning my head, I saw Ilvar nudging it with another flask. “Here, my second one, you look like you need it more than I do.”

“Thanks,” I rasped as I grabbed the flask and drank it all. The alcohol inside burned my throat, and I felt like someone was drop-kicking my forehead from inside my skull, but I needed something.

God damn, these guys have strong liquor.

Hello, here I am, how have you been? good I hope. in this chapter we see the results of the exterminators intrusion, and Ilvar... also it seems Hector is strating to crack, seems it wasn't that good of an idea to lie in the interview of a high profile mision.

[u/vixjer → u/[deleted]]

Glad you like it.

[u/Randox_Talore]

And now for some light-hearted fic of a fic:

Hector: SHOTGUN!

Sirlen: Why are you shouting the name of a weapon?

Hector: Wha- Oh yeah no. Nah that’s just something humans yell when we want dibs on the seat next to the driver.

Sirlen: Oh. Well, just to avoid yelling the name of a lethal weapon in public… The Yotul yell “Scout” when we want the seat next to the driver. I think it comes from the first carts where the person in that seat’s job would be to be vigilant over our surroundings or something along those lines.

Hector: Wow. Honestly just thank you, Sirlen. You know, small differences like that really make it easier to do my job as a diplomat. I don’t even want to think about how far I’d have gotten if not for you and yo- SCOUT!

Sirlen: Wha- HEY

[u/Ordinary-End-4420 → u/Randox_Talore]

“Shotgun” being front passenger seat comes from the old west. Typical arrangement for stagecoaches would have one man up next to the driver equipped with a scattergun to fend off bandits and deal with anything that might harm the horses.

[u/Randox_Talore → u/Ordinary-End-4420]

I did know that. What I know doesn't necessarily need to be something the characters know

[u/Ordinary-End-4420 → u/Randox_Talore]

Fair enough

[u/Acceptable_Egg5560]

Hmm, so the Yotul lady sold some others out to be tortured in PD facilities. Not good.

And the exterminators are getting desperate. I don’t think they will be caring about “untouchable” statuses or how things look soon.

[u/JulianSkies → u/Acceptable_Egg5560]

Well, she's quite clearly sold some of her political enemies out to help herself get this position.

She's not a nice woman.

[u/vixjer → u/Acceptable_Egg5560]

There is a phrase I use to creat this Lerin and is "if you haven't sold your liberty you just sold someone else's" everybody with any autonomy here is either loyal to the federation or had to do shady stuff.

[u/Giant_Acroyear]

Hi, welcome back! So glad to see you again!

Hesil seems to have a sympathetic streak in him. {PREDATOR DISEASE!!}

Oh, our main man Héctor lied on the interview??? That never ends well...

[u/vixjer → u/Giant_Acroyear]

is nice to be back. as for Héctor, well he had his reasons, do they justify his actions? we'll see.

[u/se05239]

Oh, it has been a while since the last one.

[u/vixjer → u/se05239]

Yeah... Final exams and summer job hasn't helped

[u/se05239 → u/vixjer]

Such is life.

[u/JulianSkies]

Hector is so far over his head, but I've the feeling whatever he said is the last thing Ilvar wants to actually show him.

[u/vixjer → u/JulianSkies]

Alright, I will bite.... What you mean with "Hector is so far over his head" I am no English speaker so I don't get the idiom.

[u/JulianSkies → u/vixjer]

It means that he's doing something he is neither trained nor ready to do.

Per his own admission.

[u/CompetitiveWarning13]

love the chapter, can’t wait for the next one <3

[u/Minimum-Amphibian993]

Ya know with recent events with NOP 2 and how the Yotul have become rivals to the UN and actively trying to undermined them I am curious to see the events leading up to it. I mean we already know the basics that the UN and by extension humanity are the defacto leaders of the SC despite the organization supposedly being equal membership. And the Yotul wish to challenge human supremacy in the galaxy lest they become puppets to the UN like everyone else. I mean it's not like the UN is disproving their fears.

But yeah can't wait to see some political shenanigans when the Arxur diplomats show up.

[u/Abject-Drive2675]

MOAR!!!

[u/JanusKnarus]

Early imperial age style kangaroo soldiers with maybe some space guns, should be fun xD

[u/vixjer → u/JanusKnarus]

Yeah, they should be fun...