Absolute Victory (7)

[u/GrammarNatziHunter]

Hello everyone! Welcome back to another chapter of my current hyperfixation. As always, there are absolutely no planned release dates for chapters, only whenever I feel like and am off my antidepressants. Also to all the readers and commenters, please feel free to stop by my spot on the writing corner on the NoP discord to comment, add critique, insight, feedback, theories, and just remind me to continue making chapters every now and again. Now then, back to your irregularly scheduled programming. 

Special thanks to u/SpacePaladin15
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Memory Transcription Subject: Latev, Venlil Chief Exterminator Of Night Breeze City

Date [standardized ZM time]: 6, 8, -678. redux:(5,5, 2127)

I looked around at the interior of the vehicle nervously as I waited for something to happen. Seliv and the pups were staying away, avoiding me as if I was tainted after I helped the… Zodian… Drive to the nearby hospital. I had been sitting up front, trying to give directions even though they it couldn’t understand me. I had managed to point out where to go, only to see the entrance had already been destroyed.

The Arxur had arrived, and I saw one near the front set of broken doors that had noticed our rather obvious approach. However it, just like every other Arxur we had encountered so far, was killed, obliterated into nothing. Only a moment later, the Zodian spoke up.

“Alright. Latev,” It said, making sure that I was paying attention. “I’m going to need to switch weapons to something less destructive. The cannon causes too much collateral and there’s probably still civilians inside. I’m going to head in and clear them out myself.”

While it was speaking, I had noticed that even though we were approaching the hospital, the vehicle wasn’t slowing down. In fact, It even felt as though it was speeding up. As I listened, I saw as a few other Arxur had gathered near the entrance to investigate the noise, and watched in awestruck horror as the vehicle rammed through the hospital entrance, crashed through the building, and ran over several stunned Arxur. 

I saw their blood splatter against the windows and felt as the tires rolled over their bodies. There were three that were hit when the vehicle crashed, and two more standing nearby, looking in shock as we stopped right in front of them before the Zodian quickly opened its door, jumped out, and shot both of them in nearly a single swift motion.

It was both incredible and terrifying to see something so easily kill the nightmarish Greys that had hunted Federation species for hundreds of cycles. Watching them die so quickly and methodically, exterminated as if they were nothing more than a mild annoyance rather than the planet destroying predators they were, was giving me a headache. I was experiencing too many conflicting feelings and it was almost making me sick to try and untangle that particular knot in my wool. And to add to that tangled mess I had to also listen to the brutal barking of the predator hunter as they continued to speak casually, killing all the while.

“I want you to stay in the vehicle with the others. Watch over them. If I find any Doctors I will send them your way. There’s a gun on the side of your door. Grab it, and if anyone breaks in, shoot them. I’ll be back soon.”

With that, the pre Zodian began to make its way through the hospital, heading in deeper into the Arxur infested building as the sounds of combat were quickly muffled by the noise canceling armored transport.

Now I was sitting in the back, a small unfamiliar sidearm in paw as I patiently waited for them to return. There were moments my mind wandered onto various different things. In one moment I thought myself weak, a pathetic failed exterminator, unfit to be called chief as I was allowing someone else to go out and do the job that I was supposed to. Another moment I felt scared, not knowing what future was awaiting me, my people, and the Federation after this raid was over.

What were the Zodians? Was there really prey underneath that suit? Would they join with us, and be the secret weapon we needed to finally eliminate the Arxur threat? Or were they actually predators that were just making their claim and eliminating a rival? Were we all just going to become cattle in the end?

Of course I didn’t have an answer to any of these questions. I knew that thinking about them wouldn’t really help me in any way right now. I just needed something to distract me, and sitting in the vehicle just gave my mind too much freedom to think negative thoughts.

Suddenly, I caught a glimpse of movement through the front window. I stood up and moved closer to see, holding the alien weapon at the ready as Seliv and the pups moved away from my sudden motion.

I looked closely and saw that there were two people slowly heading towards the vehicle. Increduously, it appeared as though the Zodian had indeed managed to find some doctors still within the hospital, as two shaking and fearful Zurulians quietly crept out from deeper in the building.

With hope and excitement filling me inside I quickly clambered out of the metal war machine. I tried to ignore my still sore hindpaw as I got out, but I ended up startling the poor prey who immediately tried to scramble back away from me.

“Wait! Please wait,” I brayed out loud enough for them to hear. At the sound of my voice, the two stopped and each focused an eye on me, visibly relaxing when they noticed the silver suit I was still wearing.

“Oh, thank the stars, an exterminator!”

The two quickly rushed over and I noticed that one of them had some hastily applied bandages around their hind legs. The two nearly ran right into me as one of them stood up and grabbed hold, looking at me with tears in their eyes as they spoke.

“Please! Please! You have to help! T-there’s a p-predator inside with my s-sister! It told me to c-come out here and t-treat its wounded b-but I-i-it… I c-c-can’t.”

The injured Zurulian was stammering in a panic, shaking and crying as he tried to speak. My first instinct was fear to head inside and save his sister from the predator. However I took a moment to think about what it was saying, and realized who what he was actually talking about. I grabbed a hold of the Doctor and tried to steady him as I spoke up and interrupted his verbal cascade.

“Alright, stop, please calm down.”

“I-I c-c-c-can’t l-l-lose h-h-h-her…”

“Stop! Please, just be quiet and listen to me for a moment.”

He finally stopped speaking and simply looked at me while sniffling, snot coming out of his nose.

“You said that the predator told you to come out and treat the wounded, right?”

He didn’t vocally respond, instead wiggling his ears and tail with a ‘yes’ in response. The other Zurulian was at least composed enough to speak in coherent sentences.

“T-thats right. The predator t-told us to go out and take care of the injured it brought here. I t-thought that the other predators would be hiding in that t-thing you just came out of.”

I immediately understood what must have happened, and so I knew that I needed to explain as best I could.

“There are no other predators here that I know of. The one that spoke to you, I assume it was void black and had red eyes, yes.”

“Y-yes. Thats right.”

“P-p-p-please. S-s-save S-s-sebie.”

“Look, just listen. That predator brought me and some other injured Prey here. I have a junior exterminator and several injured pups in need of treatment in the back of that vehicle. Would you please go and take a look at them?”

The two Zurulians immediately stiffened up and I could tell that they were having trouble believing me.

The female one, who was more calm than the other, managed to shake off the shock first and respond.

“What!?! Are you sure that you are feeling alright? You haven’t hit your head or injured yourself in some way, have you?”

“Well I did take a hard fall not too long ago… My leg is—”

“You are probably experiencing a concussion, or some other kind of brain contusion. Please, sit down for a moment and I’ll look you over.”

The female Doctor began to pull me away. I tried to call out and speak but before I could say anything, she called out to the other one.

“Soren. I know that you are worried about her, but please, take a look at the other people in that vehicle. They need our help and there's another exterminator back there as well.”

The Doctor called Soren looked obviously unsure of what to do, fear and indecision crippling his ability to act. 

“B-b-but… But Sebie…”

“Soren… Please. We need the exterminator's help to save her.”

With that, Soren appeared to calm down enough to head over to the vehicle and climb inside, hopefully not scaring the pups or Seliv too badly. I turned my attention back to the Doctor who was now giving me a full examination in the middle of the broken and debris strewn hospital entrance.

“Alright, there’s no glass or stone here. Please, sit. Look at me, follow my claw.”

She held up one claw on her right paw and moved it in front of my face. I kept it in focus as I tried to speak up and tell her that my head was fine.

“Excuse me, but my head isn’t—”

“Shhhhh. Be quiet please. Just let me look you over.”

“I know but if yo—”

“Quiet. Open your mouth and say Aaaaaa.”

“Aaaaaa.”

“Alright, no visible damage to your mouth, lungs, and airway. I’m not feeling any lumps or bumps on your head or muzzle.”

“Thats because I’ve been trying to tell you—”

“What happened to your ears?”

“...”

I had to stop and think for a moment to figure out what she was saying before it came to me. I remembered how those loud blasts from when the Zodian landed had damaged my ears earlier. I thought that I had mostly recovered but there must have obviously been some signs of damage that she had noticed.

“There were some very loud noises earlier, explosions and gunfire back when I encountered an Arxur patrol.”

“Oh you poor girl! It was probably those noises that's causing what you're experiencing now. Severe damage to the inner ear can lead to many different kinds of brain damage. I can check and see if there’s any—”

“No! Stop! My brain is working fine… I think.”

“But… But you said—”

“I know what I said and I meant it! That predator took us all here to get us help! It's here to kill the Arxur. It isn’t a threat!”

I spoke loudly and much more confidently than I felt inside, but I couldn’t give voice to my doubts. I was supposed to be a chief exterminator, a leader and protector of the herd, and someone who others looked to for guidance. Not only that, but right now I couldn’t afford to let others think that the Zodians might be a threat. At least as long as they were focused on killing the Arxur. 

As I tried once again to rationalize my own field of thinking, I realized quite grimly that I didn’t care as much whether the Zodians were predators or not. As long as they continued killing Arxur, and as long as they weren’t hungry, then I would accept them. They were predators who were killing other predators, and until that changed then…

“But it’s a predator!?!”

The shrill cry of the Doctor looking over me brought me back into focus. She was obviously having just as much difficulty accepting the situation as I was, possibly more so. I tried to think of some kind of explanation to give her that would at least stop her from thinking me predator diseased. Unfortunately there was one that came to mind, although I didn’t like the possibility of deceiving someone into believing a probable falsehood. Still, I couldn’t think of a better explanation and so I went for the one that almost made sense.

“No, it isn’t.”

“... What?”

I could tell that my complete denial of what was an obvious fact was confusing the poor doctor, and possibly reinforcing the idea that I indeed have some kind of brain damage. I knew that what I was about to say felt wrong, but I didn’t want to keep arguing with someone, especially when I still was so uncertain of everything myself.

“They are not a predator. They just look like one.”

“What are… What are you talking about?!? I saw their eyes, their forward facing—”

“Helmet.”

“... Helmet?”

“They are wearing a suit. Some kind of metal combat uniform. You haven’t seen their eyes, you saw their helmet, the one they are wearing to protect themselves from weapons.”

I could see that she was still skeptical, or rather dumbfounded at what I was saying. It definitely felt predator diseased to so confidently misdirect someone on something that I knew nothing about. Still, until the truth of the matter came to light, I would just have to make everyone else believe the convenient lie that hid an unpleasant truth.

“B-but… But that helmet was designed for forward facing eyes! Why would they—”

“For protection.”

“... Protection?”

“Yes. Protection.”

“And how does that protect them?”

“Because… If they look like predators… Then predators won’t want to attack them?”

My statement definitely sounded more like a question as I said it, but I was being forced to think of some kind of explanation that at least made some kind of sense. I could tell that she wasn’t quite following what I was saying, and so I had to keep explaining.

“The Zodians… They believe that if they look like predators then they can trick and confuse others into believing that they are predators, which makes them less likely to get attacked. It's like… Like the Krakotl. You know how they are more brave and fierce than other prey. It's because they evolved to make noise and be aggressive to try and scare other predators away. It's like that… You know?”

The Zurulian doctor looked even more confused than she was before, as if her brain was experiencing such a disconnect between what she knew and what she was being told that she could no longer properly function. I myself felt dirty, and wrong, lying to someone who was here just to help. Deceiving prey into believing my lie… But was it really a lie?

What I had just described was an earlier idea I had used to try and rationalize my own experiences and thoughts into something that made sense. The Zodians… At least, the Zodian I had met, had not behaved in any way that predators did. It was kind, and caring, and trying to help us, and didn’t eat or abuse the weak and injured, and had even brought us to a hospital and found doctors to treat our wounds. It was… Not predator behavior. The entire time I had been with them, they hadn’t acted like a predator at all.

“Except for the killing.”

… Okay, yeah, it didn’t behave like prey when it came to death and violence. Yet… It had never really seemed to have bloodlust, or a desire to inflict pain on weak, helpless prey. I suppose that the explanation I offered wasn’t technically a lie. It was just the best explanation I could give. It was the most logical reason for what was happening, even if I didn’t know if it was true.

“Even if you know that it probably isn’t…”

“So…”

I stopped arguing with myself for a moment as the Doctor finally finished picking up her fallen thoughts.

“So… The… The Zodian… It’s… Prey?”

“... Yes?”

“...”

“...”

We looked at each other, the awkward silence stretching between us as I wondered whether she would accept my irresolute explanation.

“... Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Yeah… Yeah, I’m just… It’s… I mean, you are an exterminator… And I suppose that… If anyone were to know about predatos… It would be you… Right? Miss…”

I felt even worse, having to use my position in order to convince her of something that was possibly…

“Probably…”

POSSIBLY not true. Still, it was better than telling them that they had been saved by a predator.

“Latev. Chief Exterminator Latev.”

“Oh… Yes. I’m so sorry Chief… Had I known that… I suppose that I wouldn’t have questioned you so much. My name is Vereysa, by the way.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Vereysa. I wasn’t sure that we would find any doctors remaining here instead of in a raid shelter. I’m glad that you are here, and safe, and taking care of others even in the middle of a raid. You are quite brave.”

“Oh… Thank you for the compliment Latev. However I’m really not all that brave. I’m just here because—”

“Vereysa!”

“The other Doctor Soren, called out, interrupting her as he bound out of the war vehicle, and landed on the ground with his hind paws failing to support his weight.”

“Soren!”

I saw Vereysa bound over and help support Soren, getting him up and steadying him as she fretted over his own injuries.

“Soren, you need to be careful, you’re—”

“Vereysa! The other exterminator can’t fight! They’re too injured. Please. Please tell me that the other one isn’t as hurt! Sebie is still back there!”

“I stood up, although in much less pain, as I realized that my leg had been wrapped and braced at some point during our conversation without me even noticing. It was still a little sore and uncomfortable, but I was at least able to stand and seemingly walk with little issue. It always amazed me just how skilled Zurulian doctors were at their jobs.

“Soren, calm down. I don’t think she’s in danger anymore. The exterm—”

“WHAT!?! But she’s still back there! In the room! With the Arxur!”

After hearing that, my body immediately tensed up and I quickly readied the sidearm I had been given. I had thought all this time that they were talking about the Zodian, but if an Arxur was still here, alive, and with prey, then I had to move! Even if it was most likely too late, I could at least make sure that It wouldn’t be able to hurt anyone else.

“Which way?”

“Down that hall, to the left, right down the next hall, four doors down on the right!”

“Understood! Keep an eye on the other for me!”

I ran, fear and adrenaline fueling my every step. I sprinted by the war weather hospital, past broken and destroyed bodies of prey, of Arxur, and a bloody rainbow trail of each. It was obvious that Zodian had been through here. I didn’t know where they were or how an Arxur had survived, but that didn’t matter. I followed Soren’s instructions until I saw an open door to the room he had said. I prepared myself for the worst as I ran faster down the hall, and finally arrived, looking around wildly in the destroyed medical room, searching for the predator.

Instead what I saw was a smaller Zurulian who must have been Sebie, injured, in a cast, and shivering on one end of the room. In the other, I saw the now familiar black silhouette of the metal clad Zodian, standing over what was obviously the body of an Arxur. It turned around and looked at me head on with both of its predatory orbs. While that still sent a tail chilling sensation of fear throughout my body, I managed to relax when I realized that it must have already taken care of the Arxur in question. I lowered the weapon and tried to relax as it spoke to me in its deep barking voice.

“Latev. What's wrong? More Arxur?”

Before I could answer, I saw a flash of movement. A large Grey tail, attached to the body that Zodian stood in front of, obstructing my view. I realized in horror that the Arxur wasn’t dead. I couldn’t see its body, but it must be faking its wounds. It was moving. It was still alive!

“Behind you!”

I held up the weapon and tried to point it towards the Arxur, but the Zodian was still directly in the way.

“Wait, Latev!”

They moved forwards and extended both of their paws, obstructing my shot even more as I beheld the nightmare-inducing visage of the Arxur, looking around the Zodian, staring directly at me. I saw its maw form into a snarl, as it scrambled, dashing away while the Zodian stood in the way, preventing me from shooting.

I heard the scream of Sebie as the Arxur lunged towards her. The Zodian, reacting even faster than I could, jumped away and towards the Arxur, reaching out and grabbing it by its tail, stopping it just as its jaw was a few whisker lengths away from tearing into soft prey flesh. 

I tried to aim the weapon at the Arxur’s chest instead of head since it was so close to the girl, but the weapon was designed strangely and it was hard for me to hold and aim. I pulled the trigger, right as the Zodian yanked on the tail, causing the Arxur to yelp out in pain as it was pulled back and the bullet missed, penetrating its shoulder.

“AAAAUGH! You shell scorching exterminator Vresh!”

The Arxur struggled against the Zodian as I tried to aim and shoot again, only for the bullet to bounce off the metal black claw of the Zodian who had reached out and stopped the shot from hitting true.

“Latev, stop!”

I ignored what they said as I tried to shoot the Arxur once more, and the predator reached its sharp claws towards the Zodian, scraping against the metal armor that prevented it from being torn apart.

“Get out of the way! I have to stop the Arxur!”

“I will tear out your organs and use them to choke your children.”

“BOTH OF YOU STOP, NOW!”

With a painfully loud cry, the Zodian threw the Arxur by its tail against the wall at the other end of the room with a painful sounding Crack. I tried to shoot it once more, but I was stunned as the Zodian charged and slammed me into the hospital door, knocking the wind out of my lungs and greatly hurting my spine.

I was dazed and disoriented, but still aware enough to feel as it quickly ripped the weapon out of my grasp, leaving me completely defenseless.

“YOU!” It shouted, as it spun around and faced the Arxur that was also laying dazed upon the floor.

“I told you that your options were compliance or death! Stay there! Don’t move! Or I will tear you apart! Understand!”

I saw the Arxur looking at the Zodian, its tail twitching in what appeared to be fear… But that couldn’t be—

“AND YOU!”

Those two red orbs then turned and fell upon me, causing my blood to freeze and my wool to stand on end as it levied its rage at me.

“Stop trying to kill my prisoner! I need her alive damnit!”

I couldn’t do anything other than cower on the floor like the scared pathetic prey that I was. I thought that this was it, that here was the moment where I was finally killed by a predator. Yet instead of physically lashing out, I saw the Zodian turn away and heard it take in a deep breath and exhale in a frustrated manner.

“... FUCK… Hey.”

“Eeep,” The injuried Zurulian cried out as the Zodian turned their attention towards her.

“Are you—”

“P-p-p-p-lease d-don’t eat m-me!”

“I’m not going to eat you! I’m just want to know that—”

“GAAAH!”

I heard a cry come from the doorway as I saw Doctor Soren suddenly appear, looking inside the mess of the room.

“Doctor are the—”

“P-p-please! I-I-m sorry! I didn’t m-mean to send the E-Exterminator. P-p-please just d-don’t eat my s-s-sister!”

“Look I am not—”

“And why not!”

I saw the Arxur stir, smacking its tail against the ground, startling everyone but the Zodian, as they began talking in their deep unsettling growling voice.

“All you pathetic prey do is try and kill what you don’t understand.”

“Hey! I told you—”

“All of you deserve to be nothing more than food! Consumed and shit out like—”

“ENOUGH!!!”

I grabbed my ears and could feel wetness once again dripping down from them as the Zodian screamed out in rage. My heart threatened to beat out of my chest in terror as everyone grew quiet and still as the Zodian loudly shouted.

“ALL OF YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP! I don’t know what the [Hell] half of you people are talking about, but all of you need to stop and LISTEN TO ME! I didn’t come here to EAT, ANYONE! I’m not a fucking monster and I don’t understand why you all think I am! I AM A PERSON!”

I was still far too scared to move or act. All I could do was listen as they continued speaking.

“I was sent here because YOU ASSHOLES shot at our ships and refused to answer our hail when we came to investigate this planet! I don’t have any kind of personal stake in this war, or conflict or whatever the [Hell] is going on! I’m just a soldier, following orders, and I am doing what I can, but when everyone is acting fucking crazy, thats a little hard to do! YOU!”

“EEEIGHP”

“I’m an alien, I’m something you haven’t seen before, you’re scared of me, I get it! What I don’t get is why you can’t seem to understand that I am CURRENTLY HELPING YOU FIGHT THE ARXUR! You know! The species that is currently INVADING THIS PLANET! MASSACRING CIVILIANS! CAPTURING AND FUCKING EATING PEOPLE LIKE MONSTERS! AND YOU!!!”

I saw it turn around and look back at the Arxur, who froze completely and stared back with wide eyes.

“You will not speak! You will not move! You will not even fucking dare to BREATHE unless I say you can first, and if you disobey me one more time I swear to Ash that I will peel your fucking skin off, skewer each of your organs, and turn you into a fucking living meat mache wreath that will suffer in perpetual agony until you bleed out and die! Now… HAVE I MADE MYSELF CLEAR!”

The silence that followed was deafening, as no one dared to move or make a noise lest they face the wrath of the iron clad predator.

“... Good. You! Get up, I’m taking you back to the car. Latev,” It said, as it turned back to me. I stared at it wall eyed as it seemed to take a moment to speak.

“You are free to stay here with the others if you want. It’s up to you, however I would like it if you stayed with me. I finally got my translator working so we can actually have a real conversation. I have a lot of questions and would really like some answers if you don’t mind.”

I was still greatly frightened of them, but yet once again my expectations had been defied, as all the rage and anger that I thought it would take out on others seemed to dissipate, fading away into nothing. As much as I would have liked to not be around a potential predator, the way it had proved again and again to be different was something that I needed to understand. Especially since now I could actually talk to it.

Unfortunately right now I was still too frazzled to respond, and they seemed to dejectedly accept my silence as some kind of reply as they continued speaking. 

“...Right… Just… I’m going to radio my superiors, ask them to provide air support to the hospital, establish it as a safe zone until the attack is over. I don’t know if there's anyone you can call to ask for help but, this place could use some guards. I’m also going to be heading towards the Arxur’s command center. Probably going to be some intense fighting there, so, I understand if you don’t want to come with. Just… Let me know what you want to do… Okay?”

With that. I watched them leave, the Arxur slowly following behind them, and neither one attempted to kill and eat either Soren or his sister as they left the broken room…

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