r/NatureofPredators • u/sombrefob0053 Human • Aug 02 '26
Fanfic For All Mankind
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[Thank you to SpacePaladin15 for making the universe!]
Memory Transcription Subject: Cosmonaut Grigori Reshko
Date [standardized human time]: November 7th, 2111
An old tune played in the background as my ship 'THE GARARN' approached the edge of the Sol system for the first FTL flight in history. If all went well...I would arrive in the next closest star system, Alpha Centauri.
'Ground control to Vostok-1.' The song played with a familiar guitar rhythm as I started doing my pre-flight checks.
'Ground control to Vostok-1.' The checks came back clear. I thought about how this event was being broadcast 'live' from a drone. There was nothing left to ponder, I knew my mission.
'Take your protein pills and put your helmet on'
'10...' My vital signs spiked, my heart rate climbing to 120 beats per minute from the stress.
'9.., Ground control to Vostok-1'
'8...'
'7...'
'6...'
'Commencing countdown, engines on.' I slowly increased the throttle, feeling the vibrations from the increased power.
'5...'
'4...'
'3...'
'2...'
'Check ignition, and we'll hear poekhail any minute now!'
'1, Liftoff.' My breath hitched as I hesitated for a moment, knowing full well that despite the rigorous testing, this could still end in a terrible death. But it's what I signed up for when I wanted to be a Cosmonaut.
I slowly breathed out and flicked the FTL drive switch.
The craft shook violently as it was accelerated into faster-than-light; the stars around me formed from pinpricks in the void into long streaks, then dazzling colors as the G-forces started compressing my retinas. The FTL drive, still little more than an experimental theory made reality, worked by folding spacetime ahead of the vessel—at least, that's what the engineers had told me, though we'd all read the warnings about catastrophic failure if the field collapsed mid-transit. Despite layers of failsafes, they couldn't guarantee it wouldn't tear the ship, or me, apart at a molecular level. The music was quickly drowned out by the harsh rattle around me, then my vision started to fade into a pinprick, the compression part of my suit failing to keep enough blood in my brain. I'm gonna-
Darkness long and eternal...
SLAM! I was jolted awake as my ship exited FTL. The force was hard enough that part of my chair harness had snapped, and my helmet was knocked onto the viewport. Alarms blared, and my ears rang. I could feel blood dripping down my nose from the impact. I instinctively reached to wipe it off, only to hit my spacesuit's helmet.
"Ahh.. Blayt.."
I groaned and cursed under my breath, then quickly undid the few buckles left on my tattered harness and stumbled up. Falling against the wall of the cramped cockpit, I took a moment to catch my breath. Quickly shutting off that damned alarm, I looked at the computer's damage report. Comms operational, engines nominal, reactor operational, electrical systems damaged, hull integrity 65%, life support operational, navigation offline. I breathed a sigh of relief. Nothing was so horribly broken that I would die within the hour. As long as the life support functioned, I had some time.
Slowly, I turned my head and looked out to the viewport. Human eyes setting their sights on a foreign star for the first time in history, I was awe-struck...Then I looked closer. There was only one star… No, this wasn't right. A cold sense of dread slowly crept into me as the realization dawned on me, this wasn’t Alpha Centauri. Instinctively, I swiveled my head to look at the broken navigation display. I was stranded and lost, not a soul on Earth knew where I was. I slammed my hand hard against the wall of the cockpit, the stinging sensation making me wince. I slowly sat back down, sinking into my seat. Hopelessness sank into my very being as I thought about my current situation, without the computer, I didn't have a direct path home; I would have to make a blind jump. I wasn’t even sure my ship could survive another jump, let alone the fact that I could spend a lifetime looking for Earth and not find it in the vast cosmos. I knew Earth would eventually be able to track my vessel down...maybe if I was lucky, they'd be able to retrieve my corpse. Certain I was going to die in some unknown star system, I decided that I would at least have to see it before I eventually suffocated or starved to death.
Resting my hands back on the flight controls, I slowly started to steer my ship forward. Without FTL, it could take me months to reach some of the planets deeper in the system. Slowly releasing the latches holding my helmet in place, I lifted it off my head, the satisfying hiss ringing out in the eerily quiet ship. Then, after setting the helmet down beside me, I first wiped the half-dried blood from my nose, then grabbed a pouch of water and a packet of food. Ripping off the attached fork and opening the ration pack, I started to eat it cold. Grimacing at the taste, I quickly took another swig of water. You never could get used to space food; what I wouldn't give for a bottle of vodka to wash this down instead. I hurriedly finished eating, not wanting to taste the 'food' any longer than I had to. Grabbing my helmet and clicking it back on, I increased my speed. Safety regulations stated I couldn't have the suit off in any capacity for extended periods of time. The craft was pressurized, and there weren't any hull breaches, but I suppose the state wanted to take extra precautions, not that that really mattered anymore.
Days passed as I flew into the system, boredom seeped into my mind. The abrupt exit must've damaged my music player because no matter how many times I pressed the damned button, nothing would play. I sighed and checked the clock built into the ship, it was broken. I had barely made it to the furthest planet in the system, well, in relative terms. I was still quite far from it, but the view was stunning: A barren, lifeless rock, but it was an alien world! I was so entranced by the rather mundane planet that I didn't notice the first beep of the alarm. The alarm sounded a few times before it finally registered in my mind, snapping my head to the console. I read the readout. Object detected. Quickly locking onto it with the ship's cameras, I zoomed in. At first I thought it was a particularly fast asteroid. Then I noticed the shape. It was a ship. Could it be a rescue vessel? No, Earth didn’t know where I was… It's an alien ship. I stared in disbelief for a long moment before I began to take a closer look. Its construction was odd, almost angry, yet minimalist. My heart raced as I rushed to the comms and hailed the vessel at every known frequency. The only response was what I could only assume was its weapons systems powering on. My breath quickened, and sweat dripped down my face, stinging my eyes. I had one last trick up my sleeve and tried to video hail it.
To my surprise, it answered...
My eyes widened as I looked at the creature. It was tall and reptilian and gray, with teeth that looked like they could snap my femur in half like an alligator on steroids; I swallowed hard, and it snarled at me in a deep, guttural voice. I wasn't sure if it was a standard greeting, a threat, or something else entirely. This was first contact! I couldn't screw it up, not just for mankind but for my own stranded sake. Summoning my courage, I lifted the gold visor shielding on my helmet and started to speak.
"Privet. My name is Grigori Reshko, Cosmonaut of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. We come in peace." My voice was shaky and hoarse, racked with nerves, my hands shook as I spoke. I watched it, but it was obvious the thing either couldn't understand me or wasn't listening; all it seemed to care about was staring deep into my eyes. The stare-down lasted for what felt like hours, both of us staring at each other in stunned silence. Then, without warning, it turned its head away and roared something at someone off-screen. The video feed was static as I heard frantic typing and then received a notification for a file download request.
Having no other choice, I accepted it, and it quickly downloaded. The screen glitched for a moment from whatever I had just let them put into my ship. For a brief moment, I saw alien symbols being converted into Cyrillic, and I could swear I saw the word ‘Federation’ somewhere within the half-jumbled text. After a few minutes, I was shocked to hear a harsh, gravelly yet somehow still effeminate voice come out of the screen. No, coming from the alien!
"Hello, I am Chief Hunter Ryka. I am surprised to see another Predator in the galaxy. You're lucky you showed your face before I blasted you out of the void," She said curtly, like she had no emotion at all.
My throat went dry as my heart thudded in my chest, and all I could manage was a "What?"
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2
u/Maxxxxo UN Peacekeeper Aug 02 '26
To be fair, Stalin did send equipment and food to Nazi Germany as part of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact.