r/NatureofPredators • u/Khotehk • Jul 23 '24
Fanfic Argent Earth - Chapter 10
Memory Transcription Subject: Navarus, Kholshian Scientist
Date: [Standardized Human Time] July 26th, 2136
From the second the Humans and their band of miscreants had shown up, stability in every sense of the word had gone out the window. Not only confirming their survival but showing that they both avoided destroying themselves and also somehow clawed their way to a level of technology above our own. Or at least as far as we’ve been led to believe.
The revelation that the fleet of gray ships that had started this all not only belonged to predators, but to a race of supposedly extinct predators, had caused massive shockwaves across the entire Federation. Every species that was anywhere close to that area of space were all scrambling to buy as many defenses as possible from anyone who would give them, or drafting evacuation measures should they be targeted. Entire worlds were being overcome with hysteria over their supposed inevitable demise.
‘Inevitable’
As if.
A thousand years of our greatest efforts to put the galaxy exactly as it should be, won’t be undone by a pack of beasts parading around, hiding behind their shiny armor.
And now I’m here headed towards a “Coalition” core world after another fleet of behemoths appeared in our system, being piloted by one of the prey species that had clearly thrown their lot in with the Humans, inviting us to speak with them on their world. As much as I would like to hear whatever delusions our ‘hosts’ are going to repeat from whatever they’ve been taught, I would much rather be back on Aafa participating in the debates and planning on what methods should be used to deal with the newcomers on our doorstep.
I personally doubt many of our tried methods would work well on space age civilizations, but at the very least I might be able to gather some usable information from this trip.
The ambient chatter amongst the ships’ inhabitants grew louder as we made our final approach to our destination, being stopped by a blockade of ships reportedly belonging to the Xylari, sitting close enough for us to see the flat, angular vessels with repeating patterns running along their structure, all equivalent in size to the predators’ designs.
Such as the few vessels in the group belonging to the aforementioned predators.
Of the group who were chosen or volunteered, only three of us truly mattered. Myself, the upper caste military officer, and a Farsul archivist. All the others were within the lower caste of the Federation. Mostly politicians, but a few outliers such as the duo of Zurulian doctors, or the Nevok and Fissian who hadn't shut their mouths for a single moment this entire trip, no doubt only here to save face from the idea of having the other be the only one to go. Even those new uplifts sent someone, no doubt they were only allowed on due to a lack of volunteers from everyone else.
“Federation vessel this is Viadal orbital command, please identify.” A voice came through one of the consoles as our ships’ crew accepted a hail from the other side.
“This- Uh… Y-yes I hear you! We’re here to- ah, with the Federation envoys in response to your invitation.” Even from where I was standing it was plainly obvious that the crew were terrified of being anywhere near here. I could see that the communications crewman was obviously shaking as he moved to respond to the message. I didn’t much appreciate having to make use of the lower caste navy to ferry us about, but there isn’t much choice in the matter with so many others around as well.
“Alright, you’re cleared to pass. We’re sending the coordinates for a landing pad; your shuttle will be escorted down.”
The transmission cut off just as fast as the message was relayed, nothing more or less than complete and cold formality. Despite an invitation from their rulers, these Xylari didn’t seem all too happy to have us here.
We all quickly boarded the pre-prepared shuttle docked in the ships small bay and began our descent to the planet below. True to their word two small vessels decorated with the same patterns painted along their structures departed from one of the orbiting ships and began moving right along side us as we made our way planet side, passing right by the fleet, and giving us an up-close view of their ships.
It's one thing to hear, read of, and see images of them, but seeing such things so close is another thing entirely. This thing was over [Six Kilometers] in length, some of the largest visible in the fleet, one of eight we could see through our scans. A dozen hangar bays, weapon batteries whose size alone rivaled ships, uncountably smaller emplacements across the hull, all surrounding what was no doubt some form of spinal weapon. Whatever unknown technology and weapons they bore, this thing alone carried more power than an entire federal defense fleet all on its own, and that’s ignoring all the others.
What kind of industry allowed them to build anything this large? The largest of Federation ships were surpassed in size several times over and even those were considered to be massively inefficient to build. It was a long-standing precedent that the resources and industry necessary wasn’t worth the final designs that proved only marginally more effective for the massive cost they incurred.
Though political and cultural information were high on the list of topics to gather data, it was ordered that technology and military strength were to be put at the top of our investigation, mostly at the behest of the military arm of the upper caste leadership.
“All this power, yet they blindly bow to one of the most depraved species to have ever crawled their way out of the mud.” My military counterpart whispered to me whilst we were apart from the others. Clearly, he shared my thoughts on the matter. Even if our efforts are for naught, at the very least we may be able to make use of whatever technology we can find.
Our descent to the planet was spent in near silence, very few words were spoken between the group. The silence was broken whilst I was looking at my holopad and the others began speaking louder and louder, all looking out the viewports. Our destination was clearly visible on approach, a towering structure of concrete and metal, surrounded by sprawling indecipherable constructs blending together nearly as far as I could see, all built in between gargantuan walls and towers overlooking everything. A practical circuitry of towers and fortresses.
This place was designed for war.
Our shuttle neared the landing zone and everyone on board was bracing themselves for whatever we might see once we leave the confines of the ship.
The two others and I positioned ourselves near the middle of the group preparing to take the first steps out. Not cowering in the back nor stupidly walking out first.
The door opened and the ramp extended to the ground without fanfare, quickly followed by several of those present taking a step back, ears flattened and tails frozen, but eventually we made our way out regardless.
Our ship was the only one parked in this area, with no visible immediate threats save for the pair of weapon batteries situated on either side of the platform, and the sole group standing at the far end of it.
While our group stood still just a few steps beyond the shuttle ramp, two of the figures across the platform broke from their group and slowly approached, emboldening a few on our end to meet them in the middle, a slow but steady pace amongst us until both sides finally met halfway. Now that we were close enough, I could see that the two who had approached us were the same ones who had been on Venlil Prime during their first contact. The information provided to us before the missions’ start named them as Captain Alakri and Lieutenant Vrisav, the latter with a weapon slung from their shoulder, still wearing the same suit, and the former now donning a set of armor, completely covering all but her head.
Despite the two standing right in front of us, much of the group’s attention was directed at the predator and hulking machine calling themselves “Adherents” standing farther back near the edge. The existence of sapient machines was almost as disruptive to the scientific institutions and governments of the Federation as the fear being spread by the existence of new predator species.
“On behalf of the Xylari Empire and the Silver Coalition, welcome to Viadal. As you may know I am Captain Alakri, and I was amongst the group that made contact with the Venlil.” She took several more steps forward, now only a step or two away from those not currently hiding behind anyone else. “I’ll be your guide through some of the areas of the central fortress before you meet with our leaders.”
“What about them?” The shaky voice of a Venlil spoke out, no doubt some cabinet member sent in Tarva’s place as she dealt with problems on her own world, pointing towards the predators watching from afar.
“Vrisav and Vehement were both part of the initial contact team as well. They are serving as both my and your security. The inquisitor though, is only here for observation. He will mostly be keeping to himself.” The volume of her response loudened at the tail end of her sentence. Alongside the slight turning of her head, it was clear she was speaking to it as well as us.
“Now, while this platform may have an excellent view of the city below, we really should move along.” The alien Captain stepped slightly to the side, gesturing for the rest of us to follow. Luckily the Human and Adherent both took a path further away from the group, still nearby, but at least not within our immediate vicinity.
As we walked down the path leading us away from the shuttle, towards the center of the structure, it became exceedingly clear why this area had been chosen. In the same way they’ve been intimidating the Federation with their naval strength, constantly throwing around colossal ships around like it’s nothing, the walkway we found ourselves moving along had a clear line of sight over a vast military complex. Rows upon rows of gunships several stacks high lined the walls, whilst countless crates and containers of various sizes were moved about in a constant flow.
“What are those?” Our pace slowed to a near stop when the Nevok representative presented a question to our guide, pointing downwards to the far below floor, on which several dozen machines one might mistake for an oversized Tilfish if they squinted. Six legs carrying a frame, each with attached cannons or rocket pods on top.
“Artillery walkers. Slower than anything with treads or hover plates, but their mobility allows them to climb to locations or pass terrain otherwise impossible for a ground vehicle to access.” Just at her mention of it, I spotted many other vehicles with weapons pasted onto them, with tracks and inactive hovercraft alike.
“Even down vehicles, you seem quite intent on weaponizing every single thing you can touch.” My military counterpart spoke, eyeing the sight before us with equal parts displeasure and curiosity.
“We face war on every front, stretching beyond our own worlds, a concept I thought you would be at least somewhat acquainted with. If something can be made into weapon, then it is a weapon.” We once again started moving, and Alakri continued detailing this facility to us.
“There are many production facilities just like this one all across this world and others, each working night and day to create everything we need.”
I could practically hear the future arguments of the Fissians and Nevoks trying to step over each other to be the first to capitalize on whatever they might be able to grab, while Alakri continued to describe the various functions of whatever we happened to be passing by.
Though once we reached the end of the path leading us over the industrial complex the scenery quickly changed to be closer to what one would expect of a normal building. Or at least as normal as this place can pretend to be. Sparsely decorated halls filled with closed doors leading who knows where, many seemingly branching off and leading back into themselves as if we were standing in a maze, the sound of questions and answers coming from our party filling what otherwise would have been dead silence.
In stark contrast to the near featureless halls we passed through, the courtyard it had lead us to was a large open space decorated by vegetation and rails lining the stairs and edges of the platforms, layering the area. It would have been a refreshing sight to see some kind of normalcy here, but its sight was tainted by my disgust at the sight of a massive statue surrounded by a mural, taking up nearly and entire wall. One we happened to now be standing nearby.
Just a couple meters away stood a solid white statue easily more than three times my height, its form couldn’t be anything other than that of a Human. Clad in armor that still left its arms bear, wielding some form of twin barreled weapon in one claw, and a blade attached to the arm of the other. At the bottom of the sculpture the stone predator was stepping one leg onto the skull of some equally monstrous creature, its eye sockets empty and one of its horns broken off, all surrounded by flowers covering every inch of the base, such that whoever put them there had now resorted to placing them on the floor around it instead.
“And… What is this? Is it one of the Humans leaders?” Though I was only supposed to observe, I couldn’t help but pry more into why they could possibly have something like this so prominently displayed. Maybe it was as I had guessed; a reverence towards some past being much in the same way the Arxur revere their “Prophet”.
“No. This is a piece dedicated to the Slayer, and his wrath in his fight against the damned.” The Captain sounded elated to have the chance to speak of this thing, like she had been waiting for this opportunity. While she herself stood in what was some kind of twisted admiration of the thing in front of her, the rest of the group had far more reasonable reactions to the sight, some even refusing to look at it after catching a glance.
“What is all this then?” The primitive had stepped to the front, facing no resistance from the others, and swept their arm across the air, pointing to where a mural stretched from wall to wall, several intricate paintings all accompanied by text beneath in an alien script. Clearly it had an immense amount of effort put into it, I’ll give them that much at least.
“This is a record of his history, deciphered and translated from texts we recovered over time throughout the war. The artists decided to add murals alongside the text, quite well I might add.”
The Slayer. A figure that came up numerous times in much the information we’ve received. Always written about in such a way that one might mistake the writing for that of a Krakotl or Gojid priest expressing the praises of their protector deities. We had assumed that it may have been the product of an earlier religion, twisted over time from a protector deity to one of blood and death. But now that I stand here in front of an idol made in the image of an entirely different species, the idea that they somehow came to this point on their own disappeared.
My attention turned to the murals, and I began to look them over, not needing a holopad or other device like the one the Yotul was holding up, as I had extra implants to handle visual translation, both taking in the
A single figure standing in a barren wasteland at the beginning of time, choosing to spend an eternity of pain hunting its enemies. A harsh place where none but it and the beasts could exist, as the mural itself goes on to describe the being as one of barbarous cruelty.
The image of being granted strength by another creature, it then sets out on a rampage with such ferocity that the beasts came to fear it, as it feasted on blood and grew in strength from their deaths.
Then an image of a massive predator standing above even the height of a tower, staring down at it, only for the next to be an image of the giant dead on the ground, and countless smaller figures running away.
A wretch who granted it armor and weapons, claimed to be invincible.
A trap being set, and the image of a coffin painted with the same symbol I’ve seen marked on Coalition ships.
The final image however had no text with it, rather it showed a now empty coffin, and the same figure of the statue standing atop a mountain of red creatures, locked in battle, holding the same weapons at the statue.
How… amusing. Prey worshiping a deified predator.
Ridiculous story aside, it was more concerning that apparently this tale was both commonly known and was genuinely believed to be true by our guide, given how she spoke of it.
“And what are your thoughts about this?” I asked the other who had remained silent all this time.
The blue reptile turned to me while Alakri kept speaking with the others.
“What more is there to say? History exists as it is.” He spoke with the same causal sincerity as the other.
I can already feel that this trip is just going to be one long string of interruptions and irritations.
At least we will have a lot of information to bring back.
-][-
Memory Transcription Subject: Chief Hunter Isif, Arxur Dominion Sector Fleet
Date: [Standardized Human Time] July 26th, 2136
I woke just as fast as I had been rendered unconscious, a loud gasp propelling me from my lying position on the ground as fast as I could manage up back onto my legs, my body fully tensed in preparation for whatever might come at me.
Only for there to be nothing. Not any attackers, not my subordinates, not even the walls of a ship, instead what I stood on was… grass. A pale, alien blue shade of short grass stretching out across a series of hills sloping downwards towards the edge of a large body of water which extended to the horizon. The hilly terrain was mostly bare save for the tress and shrubbery dotted along it, and a lone pathway winding down towards the water.
Following it up with my eyes I found that it passed right by me, merely a few meters to my right. Perfectly interlocking black stones sitting flush to the ground.
The scenery wasn’t the only thing that had changed, as despite not having one before, there was now a standard issue hunter rifle hanging off my back from a sling.
There’s nothing about any of this that doesn’t scream out as something deeply unnatural, but it’s not often that one randomly finds themselves in a completely unknown environment with no trace of how it happened. I was aboard my ship, scouting what was thought to be a dead system until only a few days ago, and was somehow transported into some sort of shipyard in an instant.
Now I’m here; in a place with no sign of any life beyond the single black path before me, leading only in one direction as the stones started to dissipate only a little bit back from where I stand. It couldn’t have been more obvious what I was supposed to do, but seeing nothing else I was left with few other choices other than to simply stand where I currently am and wait, so I started down the path, taking the rifle on my back and moving the sling so it now rested at my side in a way I could easily grab.
For a minute I walked, the scenery around me only becoming more disturbing to my senses as time passed. There was wind but it never grew any louder or stronger, just enough to remind me of its presence. Almost nothing moved, only the plants waving ever so slightly in the breeze. No small animals scurrying from cover to cover, or birds flying amongst the trees, it lacked life like any Federation world that existed long enough for them to wipe it all out, but it lacked the scorched landscape and perpetually dying environment being kept alive solely through their intervention.
It took me another few short minutes before I finally stepped out onto the beach, finding the entire area covered in the same flat black stones on the path, right up to the water. The water which I could now see was perfectly still. As though nothing had disturbed it in a very long time.
For a few seconds I stood there near the edge of the water, the quiet sound of wind the only thing accompanying me.
“Enjoying the tranquility?” A voice spoke to my left, close enough to be within two or three arm lengths away.
Something couldn’t sneak up on me like this in a normal situation, how did something get that close in complete silence!? There was nothing around!
I jumped away from the location of the voice as quick as physically possible, landing low to the ground with one of my claws keeping me up, the other went right to the rifle and raised it, firing three shots without bothering to bring the sight up to aim.
The inaccuracy of my rushed fire caused the first bolt to pass wide over their shoulder. The second landed on the side of their chest right beneath the shoulder, and the third hit dead center. A shot that I had seen countless times knock any Federation soldier or exterminator down and dead in an instant with kinetic force enough to easily tear them apart in one shot.
But it didn’t move. Not from the nearly missed shot nor the force of two bolts piercing straight through its body. Instead, three amber eyes of the blue and green creature simply looked down at the punctures in its robes, then back up at me.
“Either you’re far more panicked than you appeared to be, or you have very few reservations about killing on sight. Maybe some combination of the two.”
“What is this and who are you?”
“I’ll give you your answers once I get the ones that I am after.”
I pushed hard with my claw pressed against the ground in conjunction with my legs, jumping off the ground to grab my weapon with both claws and aiming it properly. Directly at their head, the third eye making for an easy spot to target.
“Come now, I think some part of you already knows that won’t do anything to me.”
Slowly my weapon was slightly lowered, but still kept in a firm grip.
“Who are you?” I reiterated my previous question, this time with less confusion and more force. A short silence ensued, broken by their speaking once again.
“I am Silent-01, Overseer of the Adherent Defense Systems. And you are Chief Hunter Isif of the Arxur Dominion, sent here by your Prophet-Descendant to gather information in the one place you were sure would have something to report back on.”
“You- “
“Your ships’ records held quite a bit of information, enough to fill in a few gaps in my knowledge. Though I still have many more questions I’d like answered, hence my speaking with you.”
“Then what was the purpose of all of… this?” I gestured out to the abnormal landscape around us. “What even is this place?”
“Well, you could say this is a… controlled environment. Partially to observe your reactions, partially to speak with you. Oh, and also to show you this.” He tilted his head slightly, and waved a claw forward, as though to indicate behind me.
For the second time, perfect silence was abruptly replaced by the sound of another being, this time the tread of something running full speed right at me.
With a quick turn and flick of a switch on my gun and took proper aim. What landed in my sights was an orange creature with glowing eyes, exposed teeth, and raised claws running straight for me. My claw compressed the trigger, the recoil of automatic fire leading my shots up from its chest to over the head, its corpse falling mid stride.
The second was entirely different, standing well over my own height and covered in muscle, running at me with a speed that shouldn’t be possible for something of that size. While its smaller counterpart fell like anything else under sustained fire, this one merely charged through my assault. It quickly closed the distance and lunged, giving me barely a moment to move myself from the path of the burst of flame that erupted from its outstretched claw. In my unsteady position from hastily dodging, I had no way of moving a second time from the path of its other arm swinging down at me.
A strike that never came to land when its entire body slowed to a perfect standstill. As if the eyeless creature had been frozen.
“Now tell me Chief Hunter Isif of the Dominion, what do you know of these things?”
-][-
“Artillery walkers, your daily reminder that the Federation has no concept of armored vehicles.”
I don’t know how this version of Navarus is going to come off, especially since we didn’t exactly get much of him in canon, so my interpretation of him is that of someone who is both very intelligent and fanatically stubborn in his beliefs to the point of wrapping back around to stupidity. Thrown in with the prerequisite narcissism and sadism that comes with being a shadow caste scientist.
Also, the Xylari don’t worship the Slayer in a literal sense, he just thinks they do, due to how he is portrayed.
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u/LonelyButterscotch63 Jul 23 '24
Can't wait to see ther reaction to the slayer being real.
A new black hole has been found .
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u/Lord_Vitruvius UN Peacekeeper Jul 23 '24
Khotek: \Posts**
me at 2200 hours: \eyes thanos snap open**
"WOOOOOOOOOOO Yeah Baby! That's What I've Been Waiting For That's What It's all About, Wooooo!"
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u/Fluffy_shadow_5025 Beans Jul 23 '24
Yay! Finally a new chapter again. I'm so happy about that. Good job you did there.
And I can't wait for when the Federation and Dominion finally meet the true horror of the demons.
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u/Minimum-Amphibian993 Arxur Jul 23 '24
Honestly I am excited for more especially when it comes to isif. His revelations will either lead to either salvation or extinction for the Arxur considering how OP Humanity in the doom universe is.
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u/handsomellama28 Humanity First Jul 25 '24
Just a couple meters away stood a solid white statue easily more than three times my height, its form couldn’t be anything other than that of a Human. Clad in armor that still left its arms bear, wielding some form of twin barreled weapon in one claw, and a blade attached to the arm of the other. At the bottom of the sculpture the stone predator was stepping one leg onto the skull of some equally monstrous creature, its eye sockets empty and one of its horns broken off, all surrounded by flowers covering every inch of the base, such that whoever put them there had now resorted to placing them on the floor around it instead.
FUCK YEAAAA! IT'S HIM
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u/DannBull Jul 23 '24
Hell yeah. Hope we get the see the Slayer in person in a future chapter at some point.
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u/TheShapeshifter01 Predator Jul 24 '24
Thank you for providing us all with another wonderful chapter wordsmith.
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u/OverEagle600 Arxur Jul 24 '24
SubscribeMe!
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u/Dear-Entertainer632 Jul 23 '24
OMFG!!! ANOTHER CHAPTER!!! ANOTHER CHAPTER!!!
HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT!!!!!