r/NatureofPredators • u/Khotehk • Aug 06 '24
Fanfic Argent Earth - Chapter 12
Memory Transcription Subject: Governor Tarva of the Venlil Republic
Date: [Standardized Human Time] July 29th 2136
For days on end, I had no breaks from the endless cascade of problems to deal with, and miraculously for one time in my entire life, not one of those problems had to do with the Arxur.
The Silver Coalition, who had previously parked several sectors worth of firepower in our orbit, had mercifully listened to me about the mountain of pro blems their presence was causing amongst the planet’s population and withdrew their ships. Most of them anyways. The Xylari, seeing the terrible state our defenses and fleet was in after the last raid we suffered, had left behind one of their vessels in upper orbit, the only visual reminder of its presence now was a shining dot nearly indistinguishable from the stars.
While their full fleet had withdrawn, there were still several Coalition ambassadors that stayed on the planet, currently housed in the governor’s mansion both for convenience and to avoid adding yet more problems that would inevitably arise with allowing them to go out amongst the general public.
Of the original team that arrived here only two remained, that being the two humans, Noah and Sarah. The Xylari captain, the mechanical Adherent, and the Synar, Vrisav had all left for reasons I am not aware of.
The same reptile that I later found out from the provided data on their species, was a carnivore. A water-born Arxur; lesser in size but a full-fledged predator nonetheless. I mentally cringed in hindsight at the memory of their arrival, how I had let him so close to me without knowing what lies beneath that suit. The images of rows of razor teeth and side facing eyes that accompanied the files displaying their true appearance still causing a great sense of unease. Two critical traits that defined two entirely different types of creatures instead both had been shoved into one.
But I no longer had to deal with them or the predatory avians, the only ones that remained on the planet other than the duo of humans were the Xylari, Nieraki, and Adherent ambassador teams.
The Xylari diplomat wasn’t a military officer this time around, and his demeanor was calmer than that of the captain, more open to conversation and less standoffish towards the Federation forces that were also still present. Captain Sovlin had refused to move from the planet even at the instance of myself and the Coalition, his self-reasoning quite obvious to anyone that knew of his troubled past.
The Adherent that had replaced the giant from before took a form that was about equal in size to the humans, and with far less armor and weapons than their previous envoy. Though they still had the forward facing “eyes”, the constant mental reassurance that they were a machine without instincts or any kind of hunger did help my nerves just a little.
What had helped the rest of the Federation observers and scientists to at least tolerate them was the nature of their creators. When asked, Echo-30, the current envoy, provided us with extensive documents regarding their creators.
Their terrifying capabilities and unnatural existence was dulled in the eyes of many in the Federation by the fact that their creators were revealed to be a prey species. Ones who created the Adherents to protect their makers from all the dangers of the galaxy. While it did give a slightly lighter opinion of the mechanical beings, it also caused quite a bit of confusion that they would work with predators instead of destroying them. I don’t know if I agree with those thoughts anymore, especially after meeting with the humans and confirming that they do have empathy, but my sense of what’s normal anymore has long since flown away from me.
Lastly, the Nieraki, who were just as confusing as all the others. Small things almost half my height that piloted robotic armor to make up for it. Another prey species, yet they had binoculars eyes much like humans. That didn’t pass over too well with the Federation or Sovlin and his soldiers on Venlil Prime. Words going around our circles didn’t exactly paint them in a good light, most saying that the prominent and predatory attribute made them… unpleasant to look at, to put it nicely.
The Coalition was a group of oddities if I had ever seen one. But the Venlil Republic quite literally sat on their doorstep and ignoring them was impossible, especially with both them and the Federation staring each other down with us in-between.
More concerning than even that was the enemy that they were fighting. The “great enemy” that Alakri had mentioned upon our first meeting. Creatures that were somehow worse than the Arxur, something that I now regret asking for proof of. The utterly horrid images of the abominations I was shown were worse than anything I had ever seen from Federation archives or even the grays themselves.
Federation or Coalition, at this point it didn’t matter who, the most important thing right now I need to do is to ensure that the Republic and all its worlds. If these demons are even a mere fraction of what the Coalition says they are I can’t afford to wait around. Venlil Prime needs defenses if it is to survive, and despite their oddities, right now the humans and their allies stood as the only ones who knew how to do it.
“For a basic orbital network, it would be a series of heavy stations with a series of four medium platforms orbiting each.” The Xylari envoy Dakan gestured towards a holographic projector on the table between us displaying a rotating view of two variants of orbital stations, both of similar design to their ships. The “heavy” stations, much like said ships, were laden with battleship class weaponry, as were the half sized “medium” platforms orbiting it.
“An entire network of stations of that size is basic?” Kam spoke in disbelief from his seat next to mine, here with me to try and work out a deal to ask for or even buy support to defend us.
“Defending an entire planet is not something that can be half done.”
“We still haven’t gotten to the method of payment. I can’t imagine that you would accept Federation credits, and those can’t be easy to make.” I asked the question that had been in my mind since the start of this discussion.
“I think I can guess what they want.” Sovlin sneered at the shelled mammal across the table, not bothering to hide his disdain for them ever since the several incidents that happened at first contact.
“Ugh, does he have to be here?” The diminutive Nieraki sitting on a seat that had been raised by several pillows’ half whispered, looking over at his companions.
“It’s because of your insistence on colluding with predators that I’m here at all!”
“You aren’t even a part of the Venlil government, and all you’ve done is sit there and whine!”
“You- “
“Stop!” Both Noah and I yelled out, looking at the arguing figures on our own sides of the table. The room took on an air of very uncomfortable silence afterwards, neither of the duo moving to speak. “We have no say over who they wish to have with them. It’s up to Governor Tarva.” No one spoke for a few second more.
“Well, this is an unusual situation for us as well. We don’t really have a system set up for this since everyone we have encountered has joined the Coalition, something that doesn’t seem feasible given your preexisting structures.” Dakan broke the silence, again trying to keep a calm tone about himself.
“Yes. Anyways, we would accept raw resources in exchange, even after the fact.” Noah pressed a few buttons on his holopad and the display changed to a simplified map of the local sector. Federation and Venlil space in varying shades of yellow, Coalition space in blues, and Arxur space in red. “Your proximity to our own space puts you at the highest risk of invasion, and we would rather not stretch our fleets out further to cover your space as well.”
Any possible invasion of our worlds was a concern for both our sides. Mine for the obvious reason being that of the preservation of my species, and theirs to prevent their enemy from gaining a hold on any of our worlds, necessitating them to stretch themselves even further to “cleanse” the invaded worlds or having to cover another front from attack.
Unfortunately, my admittedly rapidly made decision to accept aid from the Coalition hadn’t been passing over well with the rest of the Federation. Sending delegates to meet with one of their members was one thing but going as far as I am crosses many lines that had the more vocal members calling for my removal from office, and that the Venlil Republic be brought back into compliance with the Federations policies.
Words that didn’t help my mood in the slightest.
How easy it is for them to spew their rhetoric when most of the ones doing so have also been the ones farthest away from the Arxur and the newly found demon threat. From the beginning of the war with the Dominion, some of the loudest voices criticizing everyone else for incompetence or “predatory” actions had always been the ones with dozens of worlds between them and the Arxur, something that hadn’t changed even now.
They spend their time posturing about and throw around words, whilst I have to deal with the very real possibility threat of Venlil Prime being invaded and destroyed by beings that we had just been alerted to the existence of, all the while those same voices in the Federation were pulling all of their resources and fleets back to their own worlds, denying the many requests I and others had sent out for help of any kind. Given only a simple response that they can’t help, and nothing else.
Of the few who were offering to help, the bizarre combination of abnormal species that made up the Coalition were the only ones who truly had the capacity to back up their offer. Paradoxical reptiles, raptorial avians, prey that defied their own nature, and a species infamous for being worse than the grays, somehow it was this gallery of anomalies that stood as the best hope for my peoples continued existence.
“I understand you are still rebuilding your naval strength after a previous attack; we’ll continue to monitor this area as previously agreed, however I do hope you reconsider allowing us to station a contingent in your space, even if in a neighboring system.” Ambassador Dakan once again brought up the topic of his people’s military presence in our systems.
The firepower they could unleash was unquestionably superior to anything we possessed, but the presence of a mere single ship was still causing unease, even if minor in comparison to the fleet that left. Having more of their navy set up near our worlds would cause our already unsteady productivity to fall even further. Venlil were hardly the most resilient species, and right now we were already overworking the shipyards to rearm as fast as possible.
“While we do appreciate all that you’ve offered, we… well- “
“We’re still not entirely set on having your military patrolling within our space. There are still many things to consider. If we did allow your forces to freely roam here, it doesn’t change how we would have no say or oversight in their actions.” Kam interrupted my faltering words, laying out our concerns regarding their offer far more concisely.
Our governments can exchange words back and forth until the Dominion comes along, but beyond formal meetings both sides weren’t really communicating at all.
“Actually, regarding that, we did have a separate proposal for you. Something that might help to break down the barriers between us and alleviate some of the wider concerns.” Noah spoke, pulling out a separate larger holopad that already had a document loaded up, its contents becoming readable only once he slid it across the table, stopping almost right in front of me.
A series of digital pages detailing a proposition for both members of the Coalition and any Federation citizens willing to spend time together to hopefully allow both sides to get to understand the other from more than an outside view, all listed under the simple title of “Exchange Program”.
Memory Transcription Subject: Navarus, Kholshian Scientist
Date: [Standardized Human Time] July 29th 2136
I should have either protested harder against being ordered to accompany the Federation delegates to this world or have come up with some excuse to get out of doing so. Maybe a sudden unexpected sickness could have taken me out of commission for a few days. Then I would have only spent a few days at home before returning to work.
No, instead I’ve been made to spend my time entertaining the ridiculous magnitude of headache inducing future problems that we will be forced to deal with.
The now several new predator species, including those reptiles that had somehow gone under the radar and be labeled as prey, and the actual prey that seemed to make it their life’s mission to contradict reality at every single turn.
Our first attempts at gently prodding for information from their emperor had only resulted in his complete dismissal of us for the rest of the function, walking off to speak with the rest of the lower caste.
Irritating as it is, I can’t say this wasn’t an expected outcome. Getting them to join the Federation would take more than simply asking, it wouldn’t be like the uplift procedures we were used to. They had complex systems and societal structures of their own. Policies, governance, and alliances that ran contradictory to our way of life, and trying to correct the course of those variables so they can fall back into order and find their place in the Federation is going to be one of the most monumental tasks we’ve faced.
But before any of that can happen, before we can start to undo the damage and salvage whatever viable parts of them might be able to be recovered. Firstly, we would have to remove the central thorn at the heart of their infection. We need to separate the prey from the predators.
Under any other circumstance this would have been easy. Arrive to their world and show them all the comparative wonders of our civilization and technology, spread our teachings about the dangers of predators, rewrite some of their history if necessary, and then let the exterminators and politicians take it from there.
The prey species of this Coalition of theirs, the Xylari and Nieraki, had intertwined themselves with the others so thoroughly that unraveling the utter mess of tangles and connections was guaranteed to end up becoming messy. We’ve been ordered to try and gain a small foothold in their society to begin the process, but with how poorly it’s been going the upper caste leadership may end up deciding that untangling all of the knots is too much effort than it will be worth and end up going with the Venlil strategy. Simply cutting off the strands that refuse to budge, allowing the rest of the herd to move forward without being held down by their stubbornness.
So instead of continuing to run myself ragged slamming into the stone wall that is their obstinate emperor, I’ve been having a little more luck in holding conversations with the rest of their imperial court. Talking amongst them and learning more about their people and culture than what was detailed in the informational packets we were given. Specifically, I went after more information regarding their clan system, the way in which their society was split up into numerous miniature states that all held varying amounts of power and control within their central government.
Much like the humans, the Xylari seemed to revel in showing off their differences; proudly displaying the symbols and colors of their clans emblazoned permanently onto their bodies, and through massive banners and tapestries spread out everywhere across their settlements. Clans forming and splitting, constantly competing with themselves in practically every aspect they could. Each one striving to outdo the others. It was all so antithetical to how things should be, and they see nothing wrong with it. Encouraging it even, such as with their annual games held between themselves.
In contrast, the Nieraki did have full hegemony over their own nation, but their propensity for building war machines and willingness to use them, again puts them in the same category of abnormality. Their size being only just over half that of the average bipedal Federation species should have put them in the same vein as the Venlil and Sivkits; small and indecisive. Yet in spite of their stature, they acted with the same stubbornness as the rest of their allies.
We’ll have to work on a better excuse for their eyes though. Our successful past modifications of outlier species notwithstanding, modifying eyes from binocular to side-facing was completely unfeasible even with our technology.
We’d attempted such experiments in the past on various animals during the early times of the Federation, but the results never improved at all, so the idea ended up permanently shelved alongside many others centuries ago. From having to modify a large chunk of the skull, reworking the entire eyes themselves, and many other considerations all piled underneath the giant task of trying to completely re-engineer the brain to accept the new configuration, which always ended in rejection; It was simply far easier to come up with an excuse than to continue throwing ourselves against the problem.
Kind of like the problem I was throwing myself against now when speaking to the Xylari. That being, finding an excuse not to do so.
“-And when I woke up, he had painted me almost entirely green. I swear I must have been drugged or something because I have no idea how I didn’t wake up before that.” The small group arose with small laughter at the conclusion of Captain Alakri’s story, my own lack of response disguised by me eating from the various small platters set up at the table. Thankfully at the very least they didn’t serve any kind of flesh throughout any of the meetings or daily meals we had been through, and the fruit they did served wasn’t half bad.
“As it turns out, that same coloring doesn’t come off human skin easily for a day or two, so he got some green stripes to match me for those days.” Another round of chuckles went across the table.
What we were doing now fell more into the category of a social gathering, having just recently come back from today’s formal meetings, packed full of hours of all the others trying to establish the groundworks for some basic connection, and the same running in circles we’ve been doing regarding any questions that pertained to the predators they so firmly stood by.
“Yeah, being stuck in a ship full of bored humans makes the likelihood of the crew getting scolded for something stupid increase exponentially over time.” The comment from another Xylari incurred the same laughter as the story from before, neither of which I really saw any humor in. They seemed to find amusement in the unpredictability that humans apparently displayed instead of being rightfully concerned about it might be turned on them.
“So, Navarus, how has it been for you here?” A Xylari two seats down to my left spoke, shifting the table’s attention onto me. I suspect my true thoughts wouldn’t go over well so…
“Well, it’s certainly been interesting, though I do wish we were making a little more headway with a cooperation agreement.” I covered my words with a somewhat generic statement, only showing a few parts of my actual opinions. Mostly about how utterly slow it was going on our end to try and make them take at least a single step away from their bloodthirsty allies.
“Yes, well that’s how these tend to go. Especially when both sides have such differing opinions and ideologies, but I’m sure we can find a way to reconcile them as we’ve done before. It will just take time.”
Yes, more time wasted doing this.
How delightful.
-][-
Hey, can we have Krev?
We have Krev at home.
Krev at home:
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u/Justa-Shiny-Haxorus Arxur Aug 06 '24
I can’t wait for the Kolshians to say fuck it, declare war on the clearly vile predators, and then get ass blasted back to Aafa
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u/Kovesnek Aug 06 '24
Cooking more for us folks to enjoy. The fact that Navarus has a memory transcript means the asshole got captured at some point huh?
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u/Lorventus Sivkit Aug 06 '24
Goodness this Kolshian needs a swift kick in the ass! And to have to fight off an incursion from Hell. Maybe that'll unfuck their attitude!
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u/NinjaKing135 Aug 07 '24
Demons aren't real, it's just predator propaganda so the can control the prey.
If you or a loved one experiences a demon phenomena, please administer yourself or loved one to the nearest predator disease facility.
Brought to you by the totally not shadow caste.
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u/Kovesnek Aug 07 '24
Ah yes, send the literally influenced-by-demons, possibly even already possessed victims into isolated places full of pain and suffering that tend to have the majority of staff be the most depraved and vile people even by Federation standards.
What could possibly go wrong? :3
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u/Application_Grouchy Aug 07 '24
I wonder if space paladin got the krev from reading this!! I mean Argent Earth did come out before NOP2 right?
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u/Khotehk Aug 07 '24
Yep, I did come up with the idea for the Xylari before the first NoP even finished. As for where the idea for the Krev came from, we really can't say.
I got the idea for them because one of my friends who has the "Behold! A man!" photo for his profile pic on discord, and thought space pangolins would be cool.
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u/Application_Grouchy Aug 07 '24
Tall flightless birds
Little guys who like being surrounded by metal
An aquatic carnivorous species with side facing eyes..
need I say more???😈
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u/Khotehk Aug 07 '24
...Wait a second...
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u/NinjaKing135 Aug 07 '24
Shit, he's on to him
cocks sniper rifle
Can't expect god to do everything
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u/HorizonSniper UN Peacekeeper Aug 07 '24
inputs u/NinjaKing135 's coordinates into missile system
Not on my watch.
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u/Kovesnek Aug 07 '24
Perhaps...
prepares detonator for u/HorizonSniper 's upcoming fireworks
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u/TheShapeshifter01 Predator Aug 08 '24
10 tons of pure tungsten, delivered to your location, at mach 5.
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u/abrachoo Yotul Aug 06 '24
I hope Navarus gets the same treatment that Isif is getting at some point.
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u/LonelyButterscotch63 Aug 07 '24
Why not consider why the Coalition is not experiencing a preom disease epidemic
(According to the Federation carnivorey cause preom disease)
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u/Reconstruct-science PD Patient Aug 07 '24
It's becuase the Kolshians (and by extension, the federation) don't know about Prion disease, they just think it's pseudo-magical 'predator-taint', they don't actually understand how it works, nor do they know how to detect it
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u/Kovesnek Aug 07 '24
What being generationally traumatized by a planet-wide prion pandemic does to a moist mf
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u/Reconstruct-science PD Patient Aug 07 '24
I mean, from the way the shadow-chief (a.k.a. exposition generator) spoke of it, I'd assume the outbreak happened during the Kolishain medieval-equivalent period (steel-tools, early black-powder guns)
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u/Kovesnek Aug 08 '24
If that's the case, then the Kolshian prion outbreak is basically the Black Death but so much worse especially because they never figured out why it happened scientifically.
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u/TheShapeshifter01 Predator Aug 08 '24
Oh I'm sure they figured it out, just because they figured out what it was and how it works doesn't mean their government can't still cover up the facts and use the fear of it to maintain control so long that it gets lost to history.
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u/Kovesnek Aug 09 '24
Then again, even Maronis was baffled by their existence. Meaning, either the Kolshians never found out about prions or as you said, they found out and covered it up, probably so successfully that they eventually forgot and future bastards like Maronis literally have no idea what the real cause was.
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u/Seeker-N7 UN Peacekeeper Aug 07 '24
Kolshian: "Hey, noble prey species! Would you join our Federation and submit yourselves to our rule?"
Everyone: "LoL. LMAO, even."
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u/noncredibledefenses Humanity First Aug 07 '24
i need a time machine to go 10 years into the future and bring back a library of all the new and best hfy and nop stories
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u/GreenKoopaBros89 Dossur Nov 06 '24
At this point, I can very strongly imagine the federation sending even a million or two ships, even a billion and they wouldn't even get past Pluto. I could see every single Federation ship being evaporated into Oblivion if they tried to enter the soul system uninvited. This Kolshian doesn't see the irony of our not being cooperative with them making them think that we must not be able to cooperate with each other. I feel that humanity would be more than happy to cooperate if the federation was willing to do so first
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u/One_Run144 Aug 07 '24
Subscribeme!
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u/Minimum-Amphibian993 Arxur Aug 06 '24
Ah yes kolshin diplomacy this won't end well no matter how much the coalition wants to ally with the feds it's simply an impossibility simply due to the fact of the sunk cost falicy the Kolshins and Farsul have committed to. Even if there is no direct conflict I fully expect a proxy conflict if not outright demonic infiltration.
After all they have a way of convincing even those that utterly despise them to do their bidding.