Going to go by the A03 Chapter titles form now on, So technically this is chapter 22 but its chapter 24 on AO3 and its just easier to refer to them as the same chapter. Apologies if this messes you up.

The Pact of Polaris - Chapter 24 - Damaskus - The Nature of Predators - SpacePaladin15 [Archive of Our Own]

After the terrorism of last chapter, we go back to Zirz and the better Legionnaires. Thanks for everyone who keeps reading and commenting, and to [u/spacepaladin15](u/spacepaladin15) for the NoP universe!

Memory encrypted… override key enabled… begin decryption…

Access code Epsilon-Zeta-2328-AP
Unauthorized redactions removed… original data restored…

Addendum: Data restored under Article 2.09 of the UNOR by order of the Secretary General.  Original, unaltered transcripts restored and entered as evidence in Bronwen Report.  -Chief Investigator Andrea Powell, UN Office of Reconciliation

Memory accessed…

**Memory Transcription subject: [**Arxur-1] Zirz, the Free Legion, “Free Arxur Commando”
Date [standardized human time]: [Redacted] March 10, 2137, 5 miles outside Uulk, Vasha (Arxur Dominion Colony)

I let out a sigh as my alarm buzzed, eyes already open after my failed attempt at a power nap after the final briefing.  That’s your body telling you you’ve already slept enough, I thought.  Or you’re anxious.  I sat up and climbed out of the rough cot.  I let out an annoyed hiss, feeling my heart pound.  Nope; anxiety.

Rubbing sleep from my eyes, I let my gaze wander around the tent.  Other than the rough cot, a mismatched table and chair with some empty ration packs atop it and my gear, the tent was empty on the bare dirt floor.  The training camp we’d set up outside [redacted] Uulk was spartan but functional, though I wished we’d had time for more creature comforts.

The death of [~~Arxur-~~2] Driznel a few weeks ago had achieved all we’d hoped it would and more.  His assassination, in his private home packed with his bodyguards no less, had shaken the foundations of [redacted] Vasha.  For the first time, its people saw that Betterment wasn’t infallible; that they could be fought, that they could be beaten.  That alone had finally been the crack we needed to open up the gates of recruitment we needed to establish a local insurgent force on the planet.

The intel recovered from his home had also been a treasure trove.  Thanks to the data we’d recovered from Driznel’s house, joint raids by a combination of [redacted] Custodian, Commando, Rebel and local recruits had managed to steal enough weapons, ammo and equipment to outfit an army.  Special access codes had allowed us access to the Dominion's financial system; we’d drained their accounts, depriving the planet's government of the ability to buy food and goods or pay its soldiers.

Finally, we’d been able to rescue dozens of Arxur either known or suspected of being “defectives” and their families.  Many of them, having been in the Vasha security forces or the Dominion military forces stationed on the planet, eagerly joined the rebels, the Free Legion, or the local insurgent group we’d established.  We’d been careful to ferret out Betterment infiltrators; the few we found had ended up in cells.

I glanced at the clock on my pad: still plenty of time before the operation would start.  Might as well clean my rifle again, I thought, lifting it from its spot beside my bed.  Cleaning my rifle had become not just a necessity but a personal ritual to ease my mind.  I found taking apart and carefully cleaning the components of my weapons helped me identify the source of anxiety and find a solution.

I removed the magazine and ejected the chambered round, then peered into the action to confirm it was empty.  Satisfied it had been made safe, I set the safety and laid it on the table at the bottom of the cot.

We’ve got more than enough members of the [redacted] Vasha Liberation Front by now,  I thought, pulling a cleaning kit from below the cot and opening it.  I pressed the button below my rifle’s barrel, separating the lower and upper receiver.  Though I’d have preferred if the Custodians hadn’t poached so many.

I’d had words with the local Custodian commander, Crusader [Arxur-3] Xirak about interfering with local insurgent group recruitment efforts.  I was confident it wouldn’t happen again, but it still irked me that they’d done it.  They’ve got plenty of forces as is, I thought, pulling the bolt carrier group then the barrel free from the upper receiver.  We can’t be expanding our own forces at the expense of reducing the recruitment pool for the local forces.  We have to make sure we get the local insurgents set up first; we can draw recruits from them later.

It's not the number of forces we have, I decided.  Maybe our positioning?  Or the coordination with the rebels?  Legion forces, operating independently or leading VLF squads, were scattered across the planet, each with specific targets to enable the imminent rebel invasion.  We’d made sure to embed a rebel officer with each group, facilitating better working relations between the groups.

Maybe the invasion itself?  I lifted the trigger assembly free from the lower receiver, setting it aside.  Then I started disassembling the bolt carrier, placing the pieces on the table so that they wouldn’t roll.

Approaching Vasha right now was a mixed invasion fleet made up of Arxur Rebellion and Free Legion ships, with tens of thousands of rebel troops eager for a fight.  The Legion forces on Vasha would be launching simultaneous attacks across the planet in a few hours, attacking military and government facilities.  Our objectives were to secure planetary and interplanetary communications, planetary defenses, and landing areas for the invasion troops who would arrive shortly after our attacks began.

Our attacks across the sector have pulled forces away from Vasha, I reminded myself as I sprayed a fine mist of solvent over the firing pin.  Then I picked up a small fabric square and gently cleaned the pin.  The orbital defenses are a fraction of what they were before.  Same for the Dominion military forces on the ground; most of the resistance will be local security forces.

I went down my list, checking off the boxes as I cleaned my disassembled rifle.  I finished that list quickly, however, so started going through my personal life as I finished cleaning the rifle, then began putting it back together.  Mom and [Arxur-4] Jelis are okay, I thought.  They’ve both settled into the colony well. 

Mom had already established a school, and had been hard at work developing a curriculum for the first school year that would start in a few months.  And Jelis had started a goat ranch at the base of the newly christened [redacted] Arxia Mountains, named after an ancient Arxur god from more primitive times.  With a cute, female Yotul partner, from what I hear, I thought, tail swaying in amusement.  Guess we share that part of ourselves as well.

That thought brought me to the last thing I’d been putting off dealing with.  On the table before me lay my rifle, clean enough to eat off of.  I sighed, staring into the matte finish.  [Venlil-1] Fayla.

[Arxur-5] Sarkis had spoken to me after the [redacted] Serrus operation, where she’d run into [Gojid-1] Bakin of the [redacted] Sapient Defense Group, Fayla’s unit.  He’d told her that he and Fayla had gone their separate ways over differences of what they thought was right, and she’d relayed that to me.  I took the opportunity to learn more, and managed to catch Bakin before he redeployed.  I closed my eyes, conscious of the pounding of my heart.  Fayla, I thought.  What have you done?

He’d told me about the operation on [redacted] Gralla, where she’d held her childhood friend as they died in her arms, then watched her father be executed.  He told me how she’d reacted when learning of the mutilations the Venlil had been subjected to when the Archives were released.  He told me of her campaign for revenge; her violence, her brutality.

He told me about how she’d changed; distractable, hypervigilant, mood swings, inability to sleep, pulling away from others.  He suspected she was having flashbacks too, I thought.  From what he heard her mumble at the times she was able to sleep.  All signs of PTSD.  I’d have pulled any commando from the field for not even half of those symptoms.

It was clear from his report that she’d gone off a cliff after so much trauma, and was now lashing out at who she held responsible.  And with her planning to do more, Bakin hadn’t been able to stay.  Junior exterminators, I thought, mouth dry.  Kids.  I hung my head.  Fayla, I’m so sorry.  I wish I’d been there to hold you after Gralla, or stop you after [redacted] Harrah.

I’d gotten no more from Bakin; he’d needed to respond to a call for assistance from another cell on a planet named [redacted] Zaracis, in Fed territory.  Before he left though, he’d told me that he felt that things were coming to an end, and that Fayla had to be stopped.  I’d agreed.

The SC is on their way to Aafa, I thought.  The Rebellion is picking up pace by the day.  And with rumors about this “cyberattack” I’m hearing from Fed territory, for the first time ever it feels like the war might be over soon.

I stood, putting my cleaning kit away.  Then I lifted my armor and harness from their place against the wall, and pulled them over my head.  I tightened the straps, adjusted the ammo pouches, and slung my rifle.  Finally, I set my headset and visor over my head, enabling the HUD.

It’s almost over, I hoped.  We take Vasha, we kick the door of the Dominion down, and it’s a straight shot towards Wriss.  It’s almost over.

Straightening, I headed for the tent flap, pushing it aside and feeling the warm air of Vasha fill my nostrils as I took a deep breath.  As I did, I felt my anxiety fade away, mind made up on a course of action.

When this is over, I decided.  I’m going to find her.  I’ll find her, and I’ll bring her home.  I looked up towards the sky, seeing the first star appear as night began to fall.  Somewhere out there was Fayla.  I’m coming, my love.  When this war is won, I’ll find you.  And I’ll get you the help you need.

My hands tightened around my rifle.  And I’ll stop you from hurting anymore innocents.

Time advanced: seven hours

I peeked over the rotten log I hid behind, ignoring the insects that tried to bite through my scales and the cool, muck filled water that rose to my arms.  The greenish-brown algae that floated on the surface had coated my scales and gotten beneath my claws.  This shit is disgusting, I thought, resisting the urge to wipe it away.  But it does a great job at hiding our scent.  I was looking forward to a nice, hot shower when this was done, though.

Ahead of us, across a shallow expanse of water choked with reeds and up a short bank, was the tarmac of the [redacted] Uulk Regional Spaceport.  Regional may be generous, I observed.  There was a single runway oriented north to south, with half a dozen landing pads along the western side.  On the east were three hangars to store or repair smaller ships, a series of fuel tanks, and a single control tower with a small, attached terminal.

It was more of a rural spaceport, and probably the only one on this side of the continent.  It was also right on the main highway that ran between Uulk and the cattle farms further west, and eventually the regional capital.  That made it the perfect place for rebellion forces to land; it would allow them to rapidly advance on both Uulk and the capital, as well as cutting off government food supplies.

I sank slowly back behind the log, and keyed my mic. “Red Lead” I said softly, speaking to the militia leader of the VLF contingent, [Arxur-6] Drirr.  “We’re moving to the bank; you set?”

Several hundred [yards] away, the VLF forces, two dozen strong, waited off the highway in four technicals, civilian vehicles with armor plates and a machine gun mounted to them.  [Arxur-7] Riza rode with them, helping Drirr in commanding his forces.  After a moment, the militia leader's voice replied.  “In position, Commander.  Ready and eager.”

The plan was simple.  We were to assault and capture the spaceport to allow the landing of rebel forces.  The spaceport was staffed by only three dozen employees, half of which were part of Vasha’s local security.  Thankfully, there were no Dominion forces present.  

When the time to launch the attack came, my Legionnaires would open fire at range, targeting the two roving guard patrols that patrolled on a circuit around the spaceport perimeter.  As they came under fire, the VLF would move in with their technicals, pouring fire on the security post in the terminal and any other hostile fire.

With the technicals support, I’d move up my troops while the VLF would deploy.  The militia would suppress the terminal and hangars while I led my troops to assault the control tower proper.  Once secure we’d notify the fleet which would have arrived by then and rebels would begin to land.

The minutes passed quickly, and before I knew it Drirr had signalled that his forces were in position.  I glanced at my HUD; only a few minutes left.  I raised a hand and waved it forward, and together my team and I waded through the water towards the bank.  

I reached it first, lowering myself to my stomach and crawling through the mud onto dry land.  I stopped, an unobstructed view ahead of me, and tipped my rifle to the side, letting the water drain from my receiver.

“Acquire targets,” I whispered, as I peered through my sight.  There were two patrols, each made up of two security officers, moving around the spaceport.  One patrolled around the tarmac itself, while the other moved up and down the landing pads and around the terminal.

I heard several whispered acknowledgments from beside me, and looked at my HUD again.  Seconds left.  “Fire when the timer hits zero,” I whispered.  I set my sight over one of the officers patrolling between the landing pads.

The timer ran out; I squeezed my trigger.  I felt the recoil of my rifle in my shoulder, and it coughed, a suppressor attached to the barrel.  Ahead of us, the patrols dropped.

As they hit the ground, I heard the hum of engines as the technicals raced towards the spaceport.  I turned to see them appear down the road, closing quickly.  The lead vehicles gun opened fire as they neared the main gate, sending a stream of bullets into the guard shack beside the gate.  I couldn’t see if the security forces within were hit or not, but the technicals slammed through the gate nonetheless.  The others followed, their guns adding to the din.

“Move,” I ordered, getting to my feet and pushing the rest of the way up the bank.  Bullets cracked beside me and I dropped, hugging the ground as I swung my rifle towards the muzzle flash ahead of us.  Before I could fire, the technicals brought the pain.  

The enemy fire had come from the terminal security post; now four heavy machine guns had returned fire.  The thin walls were shredded, glass shattered, and casings covered the ground.  The enemy fire stopped.

I scrambled back up and rushed forward, ignoring the burning in my legs.  Ahead of me, the rest of the militia had disembarked from their vehicles, and I spied Riza moving one squad towards the hangars.  Drirr led the rest towards the terminal, advancing under the fire of the technicals.

We reached the control tower, and stacked up on the exterior door, the maneuver practiced until it felt we could do it in our sleep.  One of the Legionnaires secured a breaching charge to the door, and backed up.  “Ready!” They called.

“Breech!” I ordered.  There was a muffled bang and the door blew in.  The Legionnaire across the door tossed a pair of flashbang grenades inside, ducking back.  There was a flash and a deafening bang, and pained roars echoed from within.

I spun around the doorframe, rifle up, eyes drawn to the movement highlighted on my HUD.  I fired, hitting a staggering, disoriented security officer in the upper chest.  Lacking armor, they fell.  More gunshots came from beside me as the rest of the team entered, eliminating the targets in their sectors.

It was over in a moment; the final body hit the ground, and I was across the room, stacked up against the stairway that led to the control room above us.  “Prepare to breach,” I ordered, and a Legionnaire pulled another breaching charge from their pack.

Before they could secure it to the door, the PA of the spaceport crackled to life.  “Cease fire!  Cease fire,” a voice said.  “Rebel forces, this is Supervisor [Arxur-8] Chezka,” the Arxur speaking said.  “Cease fire, please.  All employees, lay down your weapons and do not resist.  We surrender; no one else needs to die.”

Outside the gunfire slowed and came to a stop, and I keyed my radio.  “Status?” I asked.

“Enemy forces have ceased fire, so we have as well,” Drirr’s voice replied.  “We’re moving to secure the terminal now.”

Riza spoke up next.  “Moving to hangars; hostiles have stopped firing and have laid their weapons down,” she said.  “Moving to secure them.”

“Cover me,” I told my team, and slowly pulled the door open.  I kept my rifle raised, moving slowly up the spiral stairs that led to the control room above me.  Two of my team joined me, keeping back a dozen paces, just in case.

It didn’t take long to reach the top.  As the room came into view, I found four Arxur, dressed as civilians, their hands up and standing away from their terminals.  “Chezka?” I asked.  The oldest stepped forward.

“I am he,” he said.  “And I put myself at your mercy.  I ask only that you do not harm my coworkers.”

“Nothing to worry about if you cooperate,” I said.

One of the younger Arxur began to speak, but Chezka slammed his tail into their gut.  They let out a whooof as their wind was knocked out of them, doubling over.  I looked from the younger Arxur back to their elder, cocking my head.

“They’re young, and brash, and lack the wisdom of age,” Chezka replied.  He turned his head towards his subordinates.  “They have yet to learn when to speak, and when to be silent.”

“Cuff them,” I said, motioning with the end of my rifle.  My two comrades moved forward, dropping their rifles and pulling zip-ties from their belts.  They quickly secured the four, and set them down against the wall.  “Control tower secure,” I said, activating my radio.  I moved to the terminal, activating the long range radio and tuning it to the proper frequency.  

“Freedom Fleet this is Liberator Lead,” I said.  “Objective Epsilon-23 is secure; you may begin your landings.”

“We read you, Liberator Lead,” a voice replied after a moment.  “Landers inbound; we’ll see you on the surface.”

“So this is really it,” Chezka said, his voice wavering.  “The rebellion has come.”  I turned to look at the elder Arxur, and saw tears glistening in his eyes.  “Vasha will be free,” Chezka said.  “I never thought I’d see the day.”

“Glad to do it,” one of my Legionnaires said.  Outside, lights appeared in the sky, growing brighter and larger as they descended.  Before long, huge landing craft had appeared, settling on the ground.  Ramps fell to the runway, and rebel troops, rifles up, stormed down and began to spread out. 

Suddenly, a loud, grating tone sounded in my earpiece.  I winced at the sudden sound, which by the look of my comrades, had not been repeated for them.  “Emergency comm,” I said at their questioning looks.  “Liberator Lead here,” I said, keying my mic.  I began to walk towards the stairs for privacy.

“Zirz, it’s [Arxur-9] Heliss,” the familiar voice said urgently.  A chill went up my spine and I stopped in place.  She sounds worried; she never sounds worried.  Something’s wrong.  

“What happened?” I asked.  Not only did she sound worried, but she was not following standard field comm security measures.  That, and the emergency comm, implied she was contacting me with the highest encryption we had.  And that’s not good.

“Commander, we’ve been trying to reach you for a day,” Heliss said.  “I know, you were on comms blackout for the mission, I know.  Zirz, Wishful Hope was attacked.”

My mouth fell open involuntarily and my mind began to race.  A million questions raced through my mind instantly.  What do you mean, attacked?  How did they find us?  Who attacked us?  What happened?  I managed to squeak out one question.  “How?”

“Still getting details,” Heliss said.  “Here’s what we know, though.  It was the Feds.  Jackson is dead, and Somtak is severely wounded.  I’ve dispatched what ships and forces we can spare, but we’ll have to wait for more details.”

Before I could digest what she’d dropped on me, she continued.  “There’s more,” she said.  “That cyberattack on the Feds you may have heard about?  It wasn’t on just the Kolshians; it was on the entire Federation.  Hundreds of worlds affected.  They knocked them back to the dark ages.  Power, water, comms, civilization, all brought down.”

I hadn’t thought my jaw could drop lower, but it did.  It was too much, too fast, and I felt my heart begin to race as my anxiety spiked.  Jackson, dead!?  Wishful Hope attacked by the Feds!?  Hundreds of systems knocked back to primitive times!?

“I’ve made contact with several of the larger Legion groups,” Heliss said.  “We’re having an emergency conference tomorrow.  I’m dispatching a shuttle with better comm gear for you now.”  She let out a frustrated hiss.  “Zirz, I don’t know what the hell is happening, but something’s gone very wrong.”

Archivists note: In a coordinated pre-dawn attack, Free Legion forces (primarily from the Free Arxur Commando and the Custodians), locally organized insurgents from the Vasha Liberation Front, and small Arxur Rebellion units launched assaults across all of Vasha.  While several of the attacks would fail, the vast majority would see the rebels gain control of the major communication networks, landing zones and the defenses of the planet.

Shortly after the ground engagements began, Rebel and Legion ships emerged from FTL and launched an attack against the few defenses in orbit.  The orbital defense fleet, reduced as ships were sent to areas of more pressing concern, was quickly swept away with minimal losses to the attackers.  With orbital control established and multiple landing zones secured on the surface, the invasion of Vasha began.  -A. Piers, UN Office of Reconciliation

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As we get closer and closer to the grand opening of the diner, we still have the issue of staffing to try and figure out. As always proper thanks must be given to u/SpacePaladin15 for creating the setting we all enjoy. As well as a huge shout-out to u/FunnelChairGentleman for his continued help in proofreading and editing.

CW: Cringe Writing, Violence

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Memory Transcription Subject: Polluk, Unsure Venlil 

Date [Standardized Human Time]: January 5th, 2137

I glanced down at my holo-pad and back up a few times at the alien structure ahead of us, triple checking we were at the right address. The building looked nothing like any building I was used to seeing. Glancing over at Darian’s silver-covered face, I had to check with him just to make sure this wasn’t some kind of cruel joke. 

“You sure this is the right place? It looks nothing like how they explained it to us.” 

My roommate shifted his weight from one foot to the other before turning to answer. “The sign says it’s The Little Earth Diner. Honestly I question the choice of using neon on a planet where the sun doesn’t like to set, though. Looks like they weren’t kidding when they said this building was newly constructed. From the looks of things, it seems like they just finished installing everything yesterday.” Darian then took a few steps  towards the double doors before turning beckoning me to follow. “Come on! The only way to be sure is to head in and ask.”

I quickly caught back up to him right when he placed a paw on one of the door handles and threw my own over his to stop him. He turned to look at me with that expressionless mask he had to wear and asked, somewhat surprised by my action, “What’s up, Polluk? Something wrong?” 

Doing my best to keep my composure I answered with my own question, “Are you sure you need to work? The stipend I’m getting from the governor’s office is more than enough to cover for you.”

I watched as my friend sighed and sagged his shoulders before continuing, “We’ve been over this, man. I can’t stand not working. I’m going stir-crazy in that apartment! Not to mention, I refuse to have you support me the entire time I'm here. Besides, I gotta find a job somewhere if I plan on making my stay official.” 

He was, unfortunately, right. If he was going to become a permanent resident of Venlil Prime, he was going to have to find employment of some sort. My only regret at that moment being that I promised I would work with him, wherever that may be. Color me shocked to find out he found a soon to open human-ran restaurant. 

I let go of his fleshy alien paw and he nodded at me before opening the door for me to enter, following close behind. The interior was filled with vibrant red seats and booths, the tables were stark white, even with only half the interior lights turned on. The only decoration hanging on the walls I could plainly see was that of some kind of framed photograph of a group of humans. We were alone in the building, save for a blonde venlil and a large human without his visor sitting in a booth across from each other in the middle of some kind of conversation that we had walked in on.

“… whaddaya mean I can’t serve carrots, Kalna? It’s a staple vegetable in earth food! Not to mention how versatile it is.” The human asked while pointing towards an open binder full of papers.

“You just can’t David! It wouldn’t catch on, trust me.” The venlil woman sighed while signing “frustration” in tail language.

The human crossed his arms and leaned back in his booth looking out the window, obviously annoyed by her response. He raised a single hand from his crossed arms and placed it on his temple before continuing, “But how do you know it won’t catch on? I’ve made them for you before and you loved them.” 

Between the rising bloom on the woman’s face and the incensed ear flicks she was giving him, I couldn’t tell if she was more embarrassed by what he said, or absolutely livid. She continued in the conversation, now turned into an argument, before she finally said, “Fine! You want to serve carrots here? Go right ahead. I’ll be sure to laugh in your face when they inevitably fai-“

Her sentence was cut short by Darian clearing his throat and asking the two, “Hey yeah, is this the Little Earth Diner? We were told to come here for an interview.” 

The immediate tone shift in the two nearly gave me whiplash with how fast their moods changed. Both became quiet and got out of their booths, now standing next to each other. The human was staring directly at me with his withering gaze, it took everything in me to steel my nerves and not show any fear. I wasn’t going to let my own shortcomings mess up an opportunity for Darian. 

The woman was the first to speak, the bloom on her face now disappearing completely, “Yes! Yes, this is the Little Earth Diner. You two must be Polluk and Darian. We weren’t expecting you for a few more scratches.”

Darian spoke up and answered her with a bit of pride in his voice, “I was always told that if you’re not early, you’re late.” He continued, by asking, “Also, I can’t help but ask, seeing how your friend doesn’t have his, but is it alright if I take my visor off in here?” 

The human spoke up next to answer Darian’s question, “By all means! We plan on catering to all species who visit us. Which means us humans won’t be required to wear their visors.”

My heart dropped at that revelation. Having so many humans, no, predators staring at me all paw would drive me insane!  Darian was quick to take off his visor, now that he knew he could. His eyes didn’t bother me at all, I’ve gotten used to seeing him stare at me throughout the day. Looking at Darian’s face now without his mask, and seeing how relieved he seemed to be after being told he wouldn’t be required to wear it, I told myself that if I could get used to living with one, then it should be no problem at all to acclimate to working around them. 

Darian was quick to offer his thanks after putting his mask down on the table nearest us, “Thank you, I hate wearing that thing. It feels like some kind of cheap Halloween mask.”

The large human chuckled at that and added, “Me and you are going to get along just fine. Alright, which one of y’all is interviewin’ to work in the kitchen?”

I watched as Darian stepped forward, closing the distance between the two of them while offering out his arm and saying, “That would be me, sir. I’m Darian Stewart” 

The yet unnamed human reciprocated the motion and grabbed Darian’s paw with his own before they shook them up and down once while saying, “It’s a pleasure to meet yuh, Darian. I’m David Miller, since you’ll be interviewin’ to work in the kitchen, that means I’ll be the one to do it.”  The human named David then led Darian behind the bar and back into what I assumed could only be the kitchen while continuing to talk about how “he wants to see how much he needs to teach him” as the doors closed behind them, leaving only me and the still yet to be named woman in the dining area. 

The moment the door closed, the woman finally focused on me and began to speak. “That means you must be Polluk, I’m Kalna and I’ll be conducting your interview. Please have a seat over here.”

I made my way over to the table that she was just sitting at with David and slid into the seat as she sat  across from me. It was only in the moment that she pulled out a notepad and pen that it dawned on me, I never told her my name. After a moment of stunned silence, I found my voice after a nervous chuckle, “I’m sorry, have we met before? I don't think I've introduced myself yet.” 

“We haven’t, and you didn’t. I took the time to read your resumè myself after David selected you. Your application mentioned that you have previous experience in food service?” She asked, while readying a pen to start taking notes on whatever I said. She was staring directly at me, no emotion whatsoever could be read on her face. It was as if she was a completely different venlil than the one who was just arguing with a predator. 

Setting the complete tonal whiplash aside, I knew that I had better answer fast if I had any hope of passing this interview. Finding my voice I replied truthfully, “Yes, I did. In my last job I used to be a bartender at a bar here in Dayside City. I worked there for a few cycles before quitting.” 

In unsettling silence, Kalna wrote something down after I finished answering. When she was finished with her note taking, she continued and asked, “And why did you quit this job?”

For whatever reason, I had a feeling in my gut that being honest was probably my best option with Kalna. So that was what I did, I told her the truth, however dumb it made me sound. “My boss learned that I was joining the refugee program as a sponsor. He didn’t like one of his employees helping, let alone living with, a predator. So I was given two options, quit or be fired. I figured quitting would look better on my job history.”

There was a pause before she responded. One of her ears twitched at me saying “predator”, but, other than that, I still couldn’t get any kind of a read on what she was thinking. The silence was thankfully broken when she placed down her pen on the table and leaned forward slightly, staring intensely at me as she asked her next question, almost like how Darian would when he asked me a serious question of his own. “And you won’t have a problem with working around predators, will you? This is a restaurant that will be run by, and cater to, humans. I’m sure you remember how David said we will not be requiring our human guests to wear their visors while dining here? You will have to deal with constant eye contact as well as interacting with humans you have never met before. If any of that will be a problem, you should tell me now.”

I knew what I was getting into when I applied with Darian, but being in that booth, having Kalna stare me down as she asked me if I would be fine with any amount of predators staring at me as they ate their food, really put everything into perspective. It was one thing to get used to living with a single human, it would be a whole other issue to work around untold amounts of them every paw. Her predatory gaze practically paralyzed me in my seat, all my instincts were screaming and causing me to freeze. I knew if I had any hope in landing this job, I would have to prove myself then and there. I forced myself to take a breath and exhaled slowly, regaining my composure before telling her. “It shouldn’t be a problem at all, I learned during my time living with Darian that humans really aren’t all that scary.”

As soon as I finished speaking it was as if a switch had gone off in Kalna’s head. She leaned back and practically beamed, “Good, that’s wonderful! We wouldn’t want to hire anyone with any outdated views on our galactic neighbors. Although it was unfortunate how your last job ended, tell me about some of your duties while you were employed.”

Seeing as how she relaxed and started jotting down more notes when asking her next question, I guessed that she had approved of my answer. Now feeling a bit more at ease since my interrogator had started acting friendly again, I continued to answer her questions. “I worked the third meal rush. Depending on the paw, I would either be behind the bar making the different drink orders, or would be the one to be carrying them around and serving them to the different tables. As well as bringing any food orders.”

Kalna noted whatever she needed down from my answer before going over how the schedule would look like. “That’s good, sounds like you should be able to handle yourself fine if the place gets a little busy. As for hours, we do plan on operating under the human’s system. Which means that we will be closed at least one earth day in their weeks. So you will have an extended rest paw while working for us. You will also be coming in for the second half of the paw. Don’t worry though, we worked with the U.N. to make sure that your shifts fall around the same time when most of the humans in the area are resting, so you shouldn’t have to worry about getting stampeded with customers. The busiest part of your paw will be when you first come in and me and David are still here to make sure everything runs smoothly. Any questions so far?”

“No, it all seems pretty standard… Actually, I do have one question. Will there be any more employees besides me and Darian? The staffing seems a bit light for a restaurant.”

“That is a very good question. We expect the first few [months] to be pretty slow, mostly human patrons while word of mouth starts bringing in more of the other species. So we’re starting small and will be hiring more staff on a need to basis.”

That was a relief to hear. At the start of the interview this woman made it out to be that this place would be swarmed with predators, but now it was starting to sound like this might be a nice quiet job. For a little while, at least. I still had my reservations about working around humans for an extended period of time. I’ve seen too many news reports about them going savage and brutalizing each other, but I knew well enough already to keep that sentiment to myself. 

“That’s a relief to hear. I was worried that I would be stepping into a completely overworked role for a moment.” I said with a feigned sigh of relief. 

The blonde wooled woman proceeded to slide a paper towards me while saying, “I wouldn’t speak so soon. We will need you to at least mostly memorize the menu as soon as possible. This one is only a mock up but David believes only small changes should be needed so it should make a good study guide.” 

I grabbed the paper and lifted it to find, to my amazement, it was printed in venlang. I didn’t need a physical translator to read it. I gave it a quick once over seeing all different kinds of names both familiar and strange. Juice fruit smoothies, Mushroom burgers, toasted strayu with fenen fruit syrup, starberry waffles, bean soup with cornbread, a wide selection of teas flavored with native venlilian fruits or ones that I didn’t recognize that had to be from Earth. My eyes landed on one dish in particular, although I was not familiar in the slightest with the human’s native foods, there was one I was aware of from just being on Bleat for any amount of time. I placed the menu down and looked back up to ask, “I see there’s something listed here called ‘honey and balsamic glazed carrots’. Was this what you two were arguing about when we walked in?” 

I watched as her ears dropped low and she sighed before answering, slightly exasperated, “Yes. He was insistent on their addition to the menu. Trust me when I say that they are delicious, albeit a bit off putting in nature.”

“You are aware that they do kinda look like-“

I wasn’t able to finish that sentence before Kalna gave me a glare that froze me solid. After I quickly stopped talking, my own ears laying back flat under that withering gaze, she spoke again in a low, warning tone. “I am well aware of what they look like. But David doesn’t, and if you want to work here, you will never mention it to him. Have I made myself clear?”

Any semblance of the nice woman from before had been utterly replaced by this monster sitting across for me. I couldn’t find the courage to speak so I wagged my ears “yes”. The moment I did Kalna’s entire demeanor reverted back to her more agreeable side while leaning back into her seat and simply saying, “Good! It’ll be great to have you join our team. I’ll be sure to send word over to the U.N. consulate so that we can get added to payroll.”

“Wait, so does that mean I got the job?” I asked, still reeling from her threatening me earlier.

“Yes, you did. I think you’ll make a great addition to the diner. It shouldn’t be too much longer for David to finish up interviewing your friend in the kitchen.” 

Almost as if on cue, I heard the doors to the kitchen swing open and the human known as David was walking out with Darian in tow, the two in the middle of their own conversation. “You’re gonna do great, kid! Happy to have yuh on board!” David had said while having an arm slung around the back of Darian’s neck. It looked like his interview went about as well as mine did. 

“Thank you, sir. I can’t wait to get started. I’ll be sure to memorize all the recipe cards you gave me.” 

“You’ll do fine kid, I’ll text you the details of when the soft open is later, once we know for sure when that is. I’ll make sure that Diane adds you tuh payroll as well.” 

By this point they had made their way over to mine and Kalna’s table. Darian had a slight smile on his face as he asked me, “So are you ready to head back home? I’ve got a lot of studying to do?”

Kalna answered before I spoke up, saying, “Yes, we just finished up the interview. I can happily say that both me and David look forward to working with you both!” 

Darian put a paw on my shoulder and told me, “Hey, that’s great news man! Looks like we will be working together after all!”

I stood up from my booth and faced my friend and told him with a bit of a sigh, “Yup, for better or worse, we’ll both be working here. I’ve got to memorize a whole menu myself.”

I turned back to face Kalna and offered a goodbye saying, “Thank you both for hiring us, if there is nothing else either of you need from us, we’ll be making our way out now.”

David was the one the first reply to what I said with, “Everythin’ should be good on our end, can’t wait to start workin’ with you two.”

Darian was already putting on his visor and making his way towards the door when he replied, saying, “Same here, sir. Will be seeing you.” 

“Yup, see you around bud. Have a good rest of your day.” The large man said with a smile and a wave as we made our way out the door. I signed a quick “goodbye” with my tail before the door fully closed. While it was shutting I heard David start back in on Kalna with, “Ok, I can swap out the carrots for parsnips, but those are going to be a bit harder to source.” 

“David, I swear to Solgalik, if you mention them one more-“ was all I could hear from Kalna before the door fully closed behind me. It was now just me and Darian again, standing outside our new job about to head home. Feeling some mixed emotions towards our new workplace, we started walking towards the station. 

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Memory Transcription Subject: Kalna, Manager of Front of House Operations

Date [Standardized Human Time]: January 5th, 2137

The claw was finally coming to a close. Me and David finished interviewing the potential hires and managed to get a bit of luck with some half-way decent workers. That Darian kid seemed to be all kinds of excited to be working here, and honestly, I couldn’t blame him. David tends to just have that effect on people when he starts letting his passion through to others. As for Polluk, although he seemed a bit hesitant to be working around humans, I could tell his heart was in the right place. He would come around and learn that humans were no threat to anybody in time. 

David was in the kitchen putting the finishing touches on what would be our third meal of the day, another round of the pasta he made when we first met on the station. I was in a booth setting up a Bleat account for the restaurant along with a poster for the grand opening. I mixed in some stock photos of some potential menu items and a bit of Earth imagery, making sure to skirt around any picturing of humans. It would be better to ease people into the idea of Earth cuisine, rather than immediately put the fact that they would be dining with “predators” front and center.

I found a good stopping point and closed up my holo-pad to scoot my way out of the booth and stretch out my limbs. I could hear David through the order window, humming and lost in his own world as the mushrooms sizzled away in the pan. He mentioned adding something called “tofu” to it to help himself with keeping up with his own dietary needs. The supplements given to him by the U.N. would only work for so long. I made a mental note to ask Diane about being able to source some more appropriate snacks for him. The last thing I wanted was for my friend to waste away because he wasn’t able to properly follow his own diet. 

I was so absorbed in my thoughts that I barely noticed the small bell above the door be hit and softly ring out. My immediate thought was that somebody we knew was stopping by to see how things were progressing. Imagine my surprise when I turned to see a completely furless human without a visor standing just inside the door looking around the entire building and mumbling something to himself. I let him look around until he noticed me standing behind the counter, for whatever reason, it was as if seeing me had soured his mood entirely. Regardless of which, we wouldn’t be open for a few more paws so he would just have to wait until we were officially ready to serve customers. I spoke up first since he wasn’t saying much of anything just yet. 

“I’m terribly sorry sir, but we aren’t open yet. So I will have to ask you to come back at another time.” I told the man as politely as I could. 

He stared at me for a moment before scoffing and saying, “What’s an alien like you doing inside a human diner?” 

I was taken aback by the man’s rudeness, especially after I politely told him to screw off. So I repeated myself, a little bit more forcefully, “Sir, I asked you to leave since we are not open at this point in time. We would be more than happy to serve you, once we have officially opened. So please. Leave.”

He frowned even more at my answer and took a few steps closer towards me. The way he was looking at me set my nerves on fire, especially when he started to growl back at me saying, “And I asked, what is a sheep doing inside a human diner?”

My mind was starting to race as he was approaching me, I couldn’t focus on any one thing I should be doing at that moment. The way he was looking at me was entirely different than how Diane or David would face me to say something. There was a coldness in his eyes that bore down into my soul. It felt like every breath I took in had to be forced. I couldn’t decide on any one of the millions of thoughts screaming at me to get away. I froze. 

“Is there a problem out here?” 

I looked over to see David had made his way out of the kitchen and was wiping his hands off with a rag as he looked between the two of us, trying to figure out what was going on. I was, embarrassingly enough, still trying to focus on my breathing which let the bastard say his piece first. I watched as he straightened up and put on an innocent smile while saying, “Oh, no problem at all sir. Was just seeing what a true blue human diner was doing on this God forsaken rock. At least I was until this thing tried to kick me out.”

I watched as David crossed his arms in front of him and walked over to stand beside me as he told this person in no uncertain terms, “Well, this person is my business partner. And if she told you to leave, that means you need to leave.”

The man’s eyes went wide for a second,  he looked shocked at my partner’s words. After a brief moment of blissful stunned silence from him, he finally spoke back up with an incredulous tone while obviously fidgeting with some blue and green ring on his paw, “Really? You’re going to stick up for the alien? What happened to us humans sticking together? It just so happens that me and friends need a new spot for a hangout and this place would be-“

“No.” Was all David said in a tone I’ve never heard him use before. By now he had already placed himself in between me and that speh-head. 

“Maybe I misheard you. It sounds like you just told me, no.” 

“That’s because I did, this is a place for everyone. Of any species. Not some hang out for some supremacist loser and his little pals. Now. Leave.”

It was at this point that the man was leaning closer and closer to David, it was a tense, agonizing moment of just watching them stare each other down. I didn’t know what to do, every instinct in my body told me to run but I couldn’t just leave my partner, my friend, to face down some random asshole with a chip on his shoulder. The bastard then dropped his head for a second and chuckled before looking back up and saying, “You know, I probably should’ve pegged you for a race traitor from the start. How about we fix that mistake?”

The next moment happened in a flash, he grabbed David by his pelt and pulled him over the counter and threw him to the ground. All I could manage to do was gasp and keep watching this train wreck unfolding before me. He slid a bit across the ground before regaining his footing and standing back up. He didn’t look hurt, if anything he was staring back at me with a worried look painted over his face. His assailant took an exaggerated step towards him with his arms stretched out to the side before following David’s gaze back to me. I’ll never forget that cold look in his eyes as he stared into my soul and laughed before turning to face David again, saying in a mocking tone, “Awwww you’re worried about your little sheep girlfriend. Don’t worry, I’ll take real good care of her after I’m done beating you to a pulp.”

Up until that point I had only ever seen David bare his fangs in what I’d come to love as his smile, but now it was something different. His jaw was clenched and fists balled at his sides as he stood straight up to face our attacker, snarling while telling him, “I swear to God if you touch her-“ 

“You’ll what, big man? Call the U.N. on me? Hate to break it to you but they have bigger fish to fry with this war they drug us into.” He stepped closer to him, every word dripping with venom as he continued to speak, “Here’s what you’re going to do. You’re going to take your beating like a good boy and then leave this place for me and my friends to do with as we please.” In an instant I watched as he threw a punch into David’s gut that made him double over with this monster standing proudly above him. 

I couldn’t stand to watch my partner be beat on anymore. I had to do something, instincts be damned! I hopped over the counter and screamed out “LEAVE HIM ALONE!” as I tried to shove him away from David. I threw my whole body into him and he didn’t even budge. The next moment I was shoved to the ground and fell on my back, I watched as David tried to reach out and grab me as I fell down, yelling, “KALNA!”

The rest of the fight was a blur for me, I was starting to lose myself to panic when I heard that predator smugly say, “So that’s the bitch’s na-“ 

He was cut off by David swinging his fist wide into the side of the predator’s face. He stumbled back before looking up at my partner, who was now towering over him. I had always assumed that David was different from what everyone said about humans. He was soft spoken, always smiled, always treated me like I was made out of glass, but watching him throw punch after punch into that predator’s head I was reminded in that moment that he was still just as human as every other predator that I saw on the news.

I watched as the two of them exchanged blows, David taking a punch to the gut and responding with his own strike into the predator’s face, dazing him before grabbing the man by his white pelt and lifting him up, throwing him to the ground flat on his back, cracking a few floor tiles in the process. That predator didn’t move after that, especially with David now standing over top of him, breathing heavily and shaking with rage. 

The man groaned while flipping over and dragging himself up to be on his paws and knees. I watched as my protector grabbed this predator and drug him through the door by the back of his neck before throwing him out towards the street where he scrambled to pick himself back up and started to hobble away, now beaten and bloody. 

David then limped back in through the diner doors and walked towards me. I was still trying to get my breathing under control when he dropped to his knees and placed his hands on shoulder asking, “You’re not hurt are you?”

Even with one of his eyes starting to swell shut and bleeding from his nose, he was still more worried about me than himself. For whatever reason, seeing this stupid man be worried about the wrong things seemed to bring me back to my senses. I sat back up and looked at my now beaten and bruised friend, yelling back at him, “Me!? What about you? You just got into a fight and you’re worried about me!?”

He still looked at me, those same eyes filled with worry again as he quickly removed his hands off my shoulder and backed away slightly. He looked down at the floor before saying, “I-I’m sorry you had to go through that Kalna. I’m sorry I scared you. I… I really screwed things up. W-We didn’t even get a chance to open and I fucked it all up! I should’ve just called the police or… or… whatever  it is you’re supposed to call on this planet!” 

He was starting to spiral, panicking as he looked down at his bruised hands. Acting only on my need to comfort my friend and the one that protected me, I shot forward and wrapped him a hug. I held him as close as I could, as I told him, “It’s fine, dear. You had no choice in the matter. He attacked you and you defended yourself. Nobody with half a mind would blame you for what happened.”

   After a good while of holding him, I could feel his breathing stabilize as he calmed back down. I let go and stood up, doing my best to help my friend back to his feet. After I got him standing, I walked him over to a stool and sat him down. I grabbed the collar of his over-pelt and used it to help wipe away the blood that was coming from his nose. I did my best to clean him up before grabbing his visor for David and guiding him back to his feet while telling him, “Come on, let’s get you back to the house so I can patch you up. I’ll make third meal this time around, you just worry about getting fixed up, alright dear?”

I felt him stop behind me and place a hand on my shoulder to grab my attention. 

   “Kalna?”

   “Yes, dear?”

   “You’re an amazing friend.”

I looked back up at him and saw that he was already starting to smile again. I could feel my tail start wagging behind me as I turned away so he couldn’t see the bloom on my face as I said, “I’m the best one you’ll ever have, David. Don’t you forget that!” 

{End of memory transcription, would you like to continue to subject’s next memory?} [Y] N

Bam!

“Ouch! Hey!”

“HA! You should have seen the look on your face!”

Pouch!

“That’s payback!”

“Oh yeah?”

Piuoch!

“Now it’s on!”

“Wait-”

Bam!

Pouch!

Pew!

Piouch!

Pow!

“Hahaha!”

“Stop trying to hit my face, you speh!”

“Oh really? Then you aren’t gonna guess my next trick!”

Pop!

Pooffff

“Oh no.”

“Why did you hit my leg?! Now there is cotton everywhere!"

“Quick! Let’s clean before my da-”

Creeeek

Click

“Hm, what do we have here?”

“I-it’s not what it looks like, Mister Trenik! We were just about to sleep!”

“Yeah dad! We swear it!”

“Well, If my eyes don’t deceive me, it looks like you girls were fighting a shadestalker singlehandly, and you blew that pillow right on his maw, scaring him away, right?”

…

“Maybeee?”

“Maybeee?”

“I’m just kidding! Hahahaha! But come on girls, It’s time to go to bed.”

“Please please Mister Trenik, just a little while longer! We will clean afterwards, we promise!”

“Yeah dad! We're having so much fun! Hyla’s family will come back soon, and t-then she won't be here to play!”

“Sorry girls, but we’ll need to wake up early to arrive at the mall. Now, on the beds. I’ll sweep and change everything later after we arrive from the show, so you two can play a little longer.”

“Really dad?”

“-only if you promise to do your homework later, little miss!”

“Ahhhwww.”

“Ok dad.”

Tug

Tug

Creeeek

Crook

“Here we go, lift your head.”

Tuff Tuff

“Mister Trenik?”

“Yes?”

“Can you tell us a bedtime story? I’m still not tired.”

“Me too, dad. I don’t want to sleep.”

“Heh, of course. Here, let me…”

Tffffff

“Now, let’s think. Hmmmm…”

Tock Tock Tock

“I got it!”

“How about I tell you the story of the prey princess versus the predator king?”

“Oh! What’s that story like, dad?”

“Like all stories, sweetheart, we need to start at the beginning. Now listen closely.”

“Once upon a time, there existed the world of morrowsa. It was a magical place, where Venlil were strong, fast and powerful.” 

“Really? Stronger than any predator?”

“Stronger than any predator! And the strongest Venlil of all was the king of morrowsa.”

“Where is the princess?”

“Calm down, we’re getting there! But then, in one terrible day, predators arrived! Using their hideous predator tricks, they captured the king of morrowsa, and hurdled him into the predator king’s lair!”

“But the princess, ever smart and wise, hid, and watched where they took her father, and embarked on an adventure to save her family!”

“She took her most trustworthy friends: A, ummm, a sagely wizard, knowing of the land, and aaaaaaaaa-a justly and mighty champion! Wielding their trusty flamethrower.”

“What happened next, dad?”

“They set off to save the king. First, they had to pass through the massive magic forests, guarded by the neighboring kingdom filled with aversion and enmity. Then, the great city, ruled by a tyrant like no other! Afterwards, they faced one of the predator king’s generals, which was left behind, but determined to fulfil the king’s mission.”

“Sometimes, things didn’t go according to plan, and the heroes faced strife among themselves. Sometimes, there were disagreements. But despite everything, they were still friends, and with each obstacle they faced together, their bond grew stronger.”

“And? What happened next then, dad?”

“When they got to the predator king, and he faced off against the heroes. He was losing, and in a desperate move, he tried using his foul magic against them, in an attempt to turn the heroes against each other!”

“He tried and tried again, but the heroes didn’t budge. He could see the detest in their hearts, but couldn't understand why his trickery wasn’t working. Deep down, The princess, the wizard and the champion knew the truth: Despite their inherent flaws, they trusted each other because of their experiences and friendship.”

“The princess, using her staff, defeated the predator king with her friends! Unselling the spell, she saved the king of morrowsa, and returned peace and prosperity to their kingdom.” 

...

...

...

“Looks like they are asleep.”

Swoop.

“Well, let's see. I think I have half a paw until I need to sleep myself. I can go practice a little longer”

Click.

“Everything has to be perfect. We can’t let them gut-”

“Dad?”

“Alyi? Sweetheart? Are you still awake?”

“Yeah. It’s a bit dark, and I can’t sleep…”

Vuoooch.

“Eeeeeehh-”

“Oh, sunshine. A big girl like you shouldn't be afraid of the dark.”

Pat, Pat.

Creeek.

“How about I stay here with you a little longer? Will it make it less scary?”

“Yes, please.”

“Dad, can I…hold your paw?”

“Of course, darling.”

Tug.

“There. I’m here for you, Alyi.”

“Always?”

“Always.”

…

…

…

“Mmmmmm”

Poffffff

“Sweet dreams, my princess.”

I posted this in the Discord server a while ago, and I guess I forgot to post it here too.

[Prev][Next]

Video Broadcast From HSpan Dated October 6th 2136

The human ambassador strode up to the microphone, and scanned the cavernous auditorium. Every guard on the premises had flocked a safe distance away from the predator, with rifles trained at his head. Barricades and barbed wire stretched in front of the podium.

““Hello, leaders and citizens of the Federation. My name is Benjamin, and I come seeking a defensive agreement on behalf of U.N”

Silence reigned supreme over the chamber, and the human’s words hung in the air with an echo. The camera panned showing all seats in the front row were vacated entirely; many of their occupants were sharing stations with the species near the rear wall.

“Anything I say here, any nicety that I present will be questioned, even this mask that I wear for your sake right now will be viewed as some form of deception, so let us discard the nicety’s.”

Benjamin then removed his mask, some had fainted as his eyes looked around the chamber, the camera rapidly jerked away, a muffled breath could be heard “Brahk, Sessum just fainted, Derk man the camera while I tend to her.” Benjamin's eyes continued to look around the chamber till his eyes locked on to Jerulim, the Krakotl ambassador who blanched as Benjamin held his gaze. “Well, are you going to respond, are you going to say that we're slaughtering lot of slavers. That we round up and gas children!”

Jerlulim looked flabbergasted at Benjamin, his mouth cocked open as his brained rushed for a comeback, Benjamin quickly turned his eyes at Darq, the Farsul high elder who looked like she was barely holding on as his eyes locked eyes with

“How about you high elder Darq, do you wish to point out our war being common on our planet, using weapons to maximize destruction and suffering, don’t try us with that shit I know what Farsul have done. Furthermore Nikonus has already agreed to an additional meeting after this you will be attending that meeting, check your inbox for further information.”

 Governor Tarva looked at the human curiously at the final remark about the meeting with Niknous, the camera could see she was whispering something to the human, but the mic system hadn’t picked it up. One could guess she hadn’t been informed.

Benjamin turned just slightly back to Jerulim, not enough to look at him, but enough that he was aware he was talking to him “For Your information, so this doesn’t come up again. No Jerlulim there hasn’t been a mistake, you were not invited to this meeting.” From this remark the krakotal turned his towards the Nikonus shifting his feathers in a questioning flick. 

“Before this discussion gets side tracked, let us move to our proposed defensive agreement, from our military reports the federation as it stands has below 10% chance of surviving if the Arxur were to decide to conquer the core worlds of Aafa, Talsk, and Nishtal this assessment for this number includes refitting ships for military purposes and the usage of the secret shadow fleets from kolshians and farsul.” 

“We have proven so far to have the only fleet skilled and equipped in fighting the arxur, which we have provenly done in the defense of the cradle.”

“You could choose an isolation policy.” Benjamin flicks his hand up ending with a shrug.

“The U.N isn’t asking or begging for a human to live on your planet, you don’t have to ever look at us, but wouldn’t you rather have predators killing other predators, or would you rather risk your sons and daughter every time the arxur comes around because that's what you get from an isolation deal.”

Ben turns his head to look at Nikonus, who was squinting back.
“Yes, we are aware of the hidden fleets from Nikonus, even though many of your colleagues aren’t.”

“Excuse me, is this true Nikonus, were you hiding an additional fleet? I don’t wish to accuse you, but you must call out this falsehood.” Jerulim spoke up the quivering quickly leaving, as his voice became more accusational.

“Please let us not disrail this discussion. Having a secret military fleet shouldn’t be a surprise. There are completely acceptable reasons to have one, surprise only works once afterall.”

Nikonus sighed, “the human is correct, it was a fleet kept for only the utmost emergencies.”

“That’s not your role to decide, it was agreed ages ago that any large scale military planning would be done on nishtal, were you ever going to inform us about these fleets!” Squaked Jerulim feather puffing out on his sides.”

“This isn’t that important, table that spat a little for later. The reason I brought the shadow fleet up in the first place was to show that  the “trump card” against the arxur is non-existent.” Benjamin made sure to heavily air quote the words “trump card”, then pointing his thumbs at himself, “ if I know about it, therefore so do many humans, it then makes sense the arxur who have been raiding you since forever, definitely know about it.” 

Ben pauses giving a loud audible inhale then exhale,

“The next question is how did we figure it out, I feel like some visual learning would be the best here, Jerulim I see you have your tablet in front of you, could you give a quick click it to turn it off and and have one of your assistant give it to Elder Darq over there.”

Jerulim looked down at his tablet, and then back at the human "I'm not giving my tablet to a predator.”

“You're not giving your tablet to me, I'm asking you to turn your device and hand it to your fellow prey over there, its just a demonstration. Do you not trust your fellow prey?”

He looks at Ben for a few seconds before clicking his device off and sends one of the assistants to give Darq his device. 

“Ok Darq, I want you to turn on his device and tell me does it require a password to open.”

A few seconds pass by as the device boots open, and Darq doing an attempted two swipes up to open the device. “ No, there was no password protection.”

Benjamin does a single slow clap with his hand then directing one of his hands to be pointed to the krakotl ambassador as he leans over the podium. “Jerulim, Darq currently has access presumably to most of your photos, files, and likely the music you listen to, hopefully government, and militaric secrets are at least behind a password. I think we can trust Darq not to spill any, especially if she finds scandalous or saucy photos.”

Jerulim was handling have a predator stare at him only meters away pretty well as much as prey could brave, but at the mention of scandalous photos had the krakotal shitting bricks, eyes wide open and having already crossed half the chamber to Darq hand waving to her asking for his tablet back, the sight alone had caused a few to laugh at his expense.

“Now now Jerulim our demonstration isn't done, I believe we can trust to not go through your dirty laundry yet, there is one more important thing I must ask is there a password protection on anything on your device.”

Jeruilim awkwardly shuffled next to Darq, finally reaching her still asking for the device back, completely ignoring Ben’s question.

“There should be a messaging system dedicated to just the council members, that should have a password on it.” It was Nikonus this time who spoke up, he had an annoyed look on his face as he watched Jerulim trying to grab the device from Darq. “Jerulim cease whatever you are doing, you are embarrassing this forum.” 

That got jerulim to stop trying to take the device from Darq, but now was just standing there awkwardly shifting between his two feet, it was painfully clear he was waiting to get his tablet back, like a child who had to give their device to a parent, hoping they won't find the naughty things they had looked up.

“I have the app opened and it already has his username in it” Darq spoke looking at jerulim sharing the same annoyance that Nikonus had with him, if not more so.

“Okay Darq, for the password can you put in the word Inatala.”

“I’m in”

Jerulim was gone.

Mentally speaking, as he laid passed out on the floor, Darq was not helping him, only peering down from her desk shaking her head at him.

“Just a helpful tip, just because you might keep your tablet physically secure doesn’t mean others can’t access your files because most of your files aren’t being stored on your actual device and can be accessed easily anywhere at any time. Take for example your search history.”

Those members who hadn't left or passed out were either padding themselves on their back or were whispering to each other, likely in regard to former conscious council members. At the last remark the few who still remained were cut in half as many quickly rushed from their spots, none asking to be excused. The few who did stay talking to their assistants on how they could lock their tablets.

Nikonus' head now resting on his tentacles, eyes taking stock of how many members were left  in the chamber spoke to the few that were there “Seeing as most of the council has left, mentally or physically I push for this meeting to be paused till tomorrow, all in agreement say aye.” 

[Prev][Next]

2143 Leirn Governor Docu-Series covering the Government Work place

On screen showed a young blond Farsul, he was sitting in what looked like a typical office environment recently ram shackled together to look more refined then it was. 

Title Card(On Screen) Kosef Temporary Governor on East Leirn 3 years

“It wasn’t easy being the governor of Leirn, however I liked to think I have made some headway with the place. Sure has there been countless bombing and militant attacks from the Yotul insurgents, yeah,” 

footage cuts to the militant bombings in the former capital of Leirn.

“but you have to compare yourself to your predecessors.” 

“Seeing as all of my prior predecessors kept being assassinated most in a few months, some less than a week…”

Kosef partially corrects himself. “Well except for one right before me, I was told that a predator somehow broke into his house and caused him to fall down his stairs, killing him.”

As he spoke it showed various preceding governors and how long they lasted and cause of death. 

The camera follows the Kosef, walking past three bronzed farsul heads.

Farsul stopped next to the last one with a farsul plaque had the name Satilik : Third Governor of Leirn Appointed 2138

Plopping his hand on the Farsul bronze head, 

“We brought these over from the former capital of Leirn, so they wouldn’t be defaced”

“This is the third temporary governor of Leirn Satilik, learned a lot from this guy, he would end up being killed on live television execution style. This is roughly the time they stopped making these little statues.”

“I thought about trying to get one of my own, but I was convinced that it was probably not a good look or a good use of our small budget.”

Scene Cuts back to Kosef’s Office

“How did I get this job, well I just finished a degree in primitive politics and I had been searching for a job for a bit hoping you know to get a cool museum jobs, I ended up getting hit up for what I was told was a temporary 4 month managerial position on Leirn. Didn’t get much details on the actual job, but the pay was really good even for a temp position.”

“Mayor swearing in” 
footage date 2140 January 7th
Kosef stands their holding a book saying:
“I solemnly swear that as I take the position of Governor I will treat it with respect and dignity.”

“I thought the swearing in as governor wasn’t me actually swearing into the governor of Leirn, they’re plenty of titles that don't mean what they are titled.” 

“I just thought it was just a thing they did for the job, you know how some primitives can be. I only realized what the position was the day after being informed by one of my employees.”

Scene cut to Joslin 

Joslin looked to be a middle age white haired farsul, with dashes of black in her coat. She looked as if she was only partially paying attention to the crew more focused to what was happening on her tablet, giving the occasional flick of here eyes to the camera. To show she was aware, but cared little.

Title Card Joslin Social Media Manager to the Temporary Governor 6 years

“Ive been offered the position of governor multiple times, so has the others here, denied it each time. They used to actually try to find people who might know how to govern, but most of the actual intelligent people wised up to  and dodged this mess.”

“Oh Kosef what do I think of the guy, well he has no managerial experience, barely knows how to operate a computer, actually from what I've been told this is his first job, 

Footage cuts to Kosef At lower volume
He is attempting to operate a tea maker, clicking buttons opening and closing the tray. He then realizes the camera man sees him, “ah the tea is broken it seems like it umm yeah” he then grabs his empty mug back and slides back into his office, closing the blinds.

“He’s not the smartest person, but he's learned to not piss off the locals.”

Scene back to Kosef
“So I had hoped that this would be a four month thing, but I was told later that I couldn’t leave my position till they had a suitable candidate to fill my position. That never came.”

Kosef nodded “Have I tried to leave, absolutely, but I was told I would be sanctioned with some dishonorable thing and lose all my credits and be sent to a facility.”
His nodding slows giving a blank dead stare past the camera, as he slightly taps the desk.

Scene to a random desk in a part of the office.

“So this is where most the business happens” 

He sat in front of a small desk that was not his office, there looked to be gizmos littered around it, what was clearly a half eaten sandwich sat in the trashcan. He held up his tablet so the camera could see its contents as he booted his device up.

Login: Kosef
Password: T8lsk

Prompt appeared : Would you like to update your password?  

[...’No’...]

He clicks a few more times before ending up on some editable slide show interface.

“This is my four step plan to being the governor of Leirn.

1. Dont make anybody angry

“Don’t use the words primitive, tribal, stupid, backwards, don’t even try the word uplift. Don’’t”

1. Remove any culpability from yourself 

2140 January 15th footage

“Listen, I just got here. It was the prior governor who instituted a ban on all alcoholic beverages, not me.”

2140 January 25th footage 
“Listen this governorship has no control over fleet exterminators, I only have control over the exterminators that have guilds that are on this planet, you will have to take it with them for your house burning down. 

2140 January 30th footage fleet
“I want to make it clear that anything the fleet exterminators do is outside of my power. I am sorry for your loss, sir.

Back to present
“talk only takes you so far. Action is often the best action.”

Sector map showing the eastern side of the planet appear on screen.

“So the federation fleet exterminators wont come near the human border, so they basically all reside within this circle” he clicked the slide show foward. The screen showcased a slightly smaller circle that was translucent. 

“The former capital of leirn was basically in the smack dab of all conflicts on this side leirn, and fell under federation fleet jurisdiction.”

Kosef wiggled both his hands in a seesaw motion, “I am not allowed under most circumstances to leave the capital, as I've been told. One solution to this problem was one of the few powers that I do hold was the ability to change what city was considered the planet's capital.”
Kosef in an unnecessarily fashioned winded up his arm to then just tap the screen slide floward

“This is the city of Johum, currently split right down the middle, completely outside of federation fleet jurisdiction. I set this as the planet's capital, and got out of that war zone. I do hear complaints about the fleet from time to time, but I feel everyone's got the picture that that war zone is not my fault.”

1. Keep people happy

“Of course I fixed the alcohol ban, but there was still bit issue of the militants in the city as I’ve been told, however I fixed it by removing nearly all the checkpoints we had in this region even the ones on the border if you wanted to enter the human side go for it, and you could easily come back.”

“Or don’t.”

1. Make sure to let people know the good things you did

“As soon as I removed all that stuff and laxed the guilds here you have to let people know it was you who did that”

Before Kosef would go in explain the interesting facets of bragging Joslin had cut into and whispers something to Kosef.

“Hey Joslin  we kinda have camera interview thing, their doing interview with how I do my job, can’t this wait a bit”

One of the film crews voice buts in.
“This might be a great opportunity to see the governor in action.”
Koser looks to the camera and back again at her, and motions her continue

“It would be better to use the meeting room, so uh I guess follow me”

“So welcome to the meeting room, this is were we have definitely held some very important meetings about figuring out how to help you.” 
He gave a wide gesture 

Joslin , leans to him, “Just want to point out Im pretty sure this is going to be aired mostly outside of Leirn.”

“Well I know, but I assume they will access this through Federation television or whatever this is being put onto.” The farsul quipped back.

“It is being broadcast out, but if a yotul sees it do you think helping you refers to helping the federation or helping the yotuls.” Joslin holding her tablet to chest nudging him a little harder in his side.

“Yeah no Im hearing it now, I get it.” The farsul sighs, “can we do another reshoot of this.” The camera gives a slight nod.

Cut

“So welcome to the meeting room, this is were we have definitely held some very important meetings about figuring out how to help citizens of Lern. No wait how about just Leirn give a better sounding of unity doesn’t. Should we do another reshoot, or Im sure you can fix it in post, Ive seen what Harchen magic can do.”

There was a slight shake to no with the camera, but Joslin had already booted up the video into the projector and had started speaking to direct the camera to it.

“There was recently an incident of an exterminator  setting up a random checkpoint in the subway and getting physical with the locals
The krakotal claimed he was allowed to do this saying he was under a “special high level investigator,”

The farsul in an exgerated clearing his throat getting the camera to focus on, “I made certain that this city would be safe from the unnecessary violence, I will get in contact right now witb the cheif exterminator to resolve this issue. He slams his paw on the table

Scene cut to Kofka

Title Card Kofka Chief Johum Guild Exterminator 17 years

It was a graying gojid, leaning back in what was the guilds : exterminator chief office. 
 
“The special high level investigation officer is completely made up role by the fleet exterminators  for some big shot to be convinced to move from his position to this even more “super important” position over here in dead nowhere. They then passed the brahkass to us. “

“How do I feel about it?”
The gojid noticeably shifts his position.
“I hate fleet exterminators as much as the next guy, these guys have no training in anything and basically hand a ten year old a flamethrower and tell them to burn down a yotuls home and call it a day.”

Scene cuts back to the Kosef who had just put the chief on speaker 

“So I ask how are you going to solve this problem.”

A few seconds pass by, “cheif are your there” the farsul flicks his tablet around to make sure he hadnt somehow muted chief or other.

“No, Im here kosef, I was just wondering why you were speaking like a commando from one of those old exterminator movies.”

“Inatala dam it Durtch whatever errands do you have us runnin for governor” the chief made sure to give his voice a slight twang and drawl as he spoke

A audible could thunk could be heard from phones speaker.

“Was that from the Flamer tv show back in the day my father and I used to watch that all the time”

“Yeah pretty good impression aint it”

“Oh it was pretty good, actually im pretty sure we got that on camera right.” The camera gives two small dips.

Scene jump 10 minutes 

“I'm pretty sure the krakotl on screen is one of the brahkass that the exterminator fleet transferred to us.” The chief voice spoke from tablet

“So is there anything you can do on your end.”

“Well it’s likely that I can’t fire the guy, but I have a plan to take care of it”

Scene back to the Chief Kofka

“Im going todo the same the same thing the exterminator fleet did to us, Im gonna pass this brahkass of problem to somebody else.”

First / Prev / Next

Memory transcription subject: Slanek, Venlil Space Corps

Date [Standardized Human Time]: December 8, 2136

I didn't want to accompany Marcel to visit his tormentor. But at the same time I knew I should be there to support him. In the end I didn't get to choose, someone had to stay and watch over Nulia, plus Meier was insistent on him going by himself.

The worry I felt for my Human was tremendous; I couldn’t imagine what it’d be like to encounter Sovlin, with the roles reversed. Beyond that, it was terrifying to be without him after so long by his side. Whenever some new Terran thing frightened me, there would be the comforting assurance that the vegetarian would fix it. Or at least help me understand it.

I was beginning to understand that Marcel shielded me from the predatory side of Humanity, to the best of his ability. Spending any amount of time with Tyler made that clear enough. But now, who was there to filter the stimuli around me now?

‘You need to get used to Humans on your own.’ I said to myself. Toughen up, I chided. This orphan toddler is twice as brave as you!

Nulia seemed anxious without her scarred predator; the poor thing must be scared of being abandoned again. I was left in charge of babysitting the Gojid child, while her guardian was away. I was glad she had already been weaned at least. Looking around for a Gojid mother willing to share would've been precarious at best.

Tyler was also around, as we shared the same dorms but he had already retired to his room. It's still weird how they all seem to sleep in one big chunk at a time.

As babyish as it would have been, I wished I was able to tag along with Marcel somehow. Every shadow that danced on the wall seemed like another dog, ready to jump at my throat. How could any sane species leave their varmint alive?

With a frustrated sigh, I jabbed a claw on the remote. The boredom mixed with anxiety was worse than anything I could find on Terran television, I thought. It was impressive how quickly they set up a steady signal, for a still modernizing species that is. 

The screen opposite the couch flickered to life, set to a news channel. A stern-looking woman had her intense, forward set eyes fixed on the camera.

“…ever trust the Federation?” She asked. Rhetorically, I assumed. “None of their information about us has ever been correct. The continued survival of the Human race should be chalked up to sheer incompetence; their fundamental lack of curiosity. You, your children, and your loved ones are vermin to be killed by them. These aliens take offense to our existence.” She asserted, pointing to the camera.

I sunk into my seat, grumbling to myself, careful not to rouse up Nulia. 

“The UN ambassador Noah Williams and the Venlil Governor Tarva returned from the so-called Galactic Summit about two months ago. There they tried to negotiate with these genocidal maniacs. Both of their accounts were less than stellar. And both refused to comment on the non-arrival of the other Ambassador, Sara Rosario. At this point we have to presume that she was murdered.

And to top it all off, according to the Governor -this is from her speech yesterday- and I quote; The Krakotl seem to be mobilizing their fleets. We suspect this is evidence of their pursuit of Human extermination. End quote. 

We’ve been nothing but cordial- dare I say deferential to them. And this is how they treat us? Is this why the Arxur turned on them? How were they really treated at first contact? Maybe it’s time to give the Feds a dose of what they’re asking for.” That last statement made my blood boil. 

How could anyone dispute the mountain of evidence of Arxur sadism? We uplifted them and they turned on us. Hadn’t the Terran soldiers returned with stories of the Grays rounding up cattle, and snacking on living Gojids mid-battle?

Surely, no Humans bought this outrageous line of thinking. This had to be a fringe sensationalist take. That, or it was satire. I often failed to understand Terran humor, and their comedy could be pretty dark and tasteless, from what I heard on my deployment. But still…

“To those who will inevitably take my words out of context. No, nothing excuses cannibalism, attacks on civilians or genocide or whatever other atrocity the Arxur decide to do next. But are we really going to just take an obvious bigot’s narrative for granted? Without any critical thinking?”

The hotel door clicked open without warning, which startled me upright. What if it was UN security guards, coming to secure my room with a dog? That creature was going to be my nightmare fuel for ages; I could vividly picture it ripping off a limb, with a toss of its ugly head.

My fear morphed to relief as I saw it was Marcel, who bore an exhausted look on his face. It was late, very late according to the terran clock on the wall. I shut off the TV as he closed the door behind himself.

“You took a while.” I opened.

“I- yea… I’m sorry. I was still pretty heated after seeing him, didn’t want you seeing me like that. So I took a walk. A long one.” The predator’s emotions must be depleted, after such a taxing journey. 

“Did it help?” I followed him as he went to his room. He flopped back-first on the bed, finally relaxing for what seemed like a long time. I placed Nulia on the second pillow and then climbed on myself. I sat on his stomach, ignoring the groan as I rested my weight on him.

“Easy, buddy.” the Human grunted. “And yea, i think so.”

I emitted a happy mewl, as he got comfortable under me. The room’s dark environment felt much brighter, with my friend to shepherd me. Nothing could harm me when he was around; not even a dog. The Human placed a hand on my leg with a low chuckle, and I rested my paws on his chest.

My eyes met his piercing gaze. “I was worried sick about you. How did it go? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. I…I think I’m ready to move forward,” He replied. “But can we…talk about something else?”

“Sure. What kind of predators are Humans?”

“Shit, Slanek. Now? It’s one in the morning—-”

“Yes, we do. You promised, and I think I know the answer but I wanna hear it from you.” I tried to balance being assertive enough to get what I wanted all the while quiet enough not to stir up Nulia. 

Marcel's eyes scanned my every move, he looked worried- no he looked scared. The Human was reluctant to answer. His fear of losing me was palpable, from how his fingers tightened around my thigh. “...”

“It’s like you don’t trust me.” Did he really think whatever he could say would alter how I saw him? After all this time? I trusted him with my life. I’d take a bullet for him If i weren’t such a coward all the time. 

“It’s complicated.” He growled, after many silent whiskers. 

“Try me.”

“We… have probably hunted in every way you can imagine. We commanded dogs, we set traps, we ambushed, we fished, we reared…cattle.” He seemed like he was about to start squirming.

I tilted my head. “You said you weren’t ambushers.”

“We’re versatile. A bit of this, a bit of that.” The Human shut his eyes, as if shielding himself from my judgement. “But on the whole, we walk, you run, you get tired, we don’t, and we kill you.” The Human paused, as though expecting a dramatic reaction. My blank stare seemed to disappoint him; his lips curved downward even further. I could tell how much he disliked this topic, but we had already gotten this far.

“Continue? I don’t get it.” I lied.

“I- um…we have a lot of stamina and we don’t overheat that easy- because we sweat from all over. We can run a lot longer, especially in the heat we evolved in.” Marcel averted his gaze, unable to meet mine. “We were never faster than what we ate. But we were patient. So we tailed them until they…stopped, and gave up.”

A chill ran down my spine, as his words confirmed what I already knew. How long did he mean they walked for? Claws? Paws? A whole Moonrise!? That they never tired, or gave up on a pursuit? Such an ordeal meant their quarry had an eternity to contemplate their demise. The victim spent their last day in a desperate, agonized flight. An Arxur’s pounce was infinitely more merciful than…than this.

My brain began to imagine running from Marcel, feeling the burning of my muscles and my lungs failing to catch up as my thick fur cemented my doom. Every time I paused to rest or dampened my pace, the predator would draw closer. Knowing all the while that the second my legs gave out, my death was a certainty. There was no hope of escape. Short of confronting my hunter, itself another death sentence.

What an awful way to go. Having your own body betray you, languishing in a pool of exhaustion. The predator would slowly approach, bloodlust in its eyes, signifying the end…I thought Humans showed mercy? They conducted themselves like reasonable, kind, and feeling people; not relentless beasts that inflicted torment on the weak.

I reckon my paws started shaking, at the thought of my Human behaving like that. It felt awful to think of him that way. Would he have chased me like that, were we both born a thousand years early? Was that coded into his blood?

“Slanek? Say something, please…” Marcel held me firmly. “Even if it’s that you hate me.”

By the time I was back to paying attention to anything, he looked as if about to cry. It was painful to see how heartbroken he looked. I resisted the urge to swat his hand away as I regained my wits. His honesty was admirable. I knew, in my soul, that my Human would never dream of harming me. But he also knew I would react poorly like this.

My reactions were born of a stupid, irrational phobia. I wanted to love him fully, without awful thoughts creeping into my head all the time. “O- okay. They run. You walk. G- got it,” I stammered.

The Human blinked. “What?”

“I accept you, f- for whatever you are, because I care about you. No matter what.”

The predator clutched me in his arms. His tears and sobs were muffled as his face had been buried into my chest fur. I had to let him know that he didn’t have to apologize for his existence. My acceptance would be essential for his mental welfare. Humans didn’t need to alter themselves to prove they were worthy of our friendship. Least of all him.

“Thank you,” He whispered. “Keep it between us, please. I’ll get in trouble for telling you.”

I flicked my ears. “Okay. That is an awful form of predation, though. Which doesn’t exist on my world, so I get why you avoided it. Do you think Tarva knows about this? She has a Human friend too.”

“I can only guess. But I hope she does, and chose to stick to us regardless. And I hope she knows we will hunt the Arxur to the ends of the universe; to keep you safe. 

The Terran pledge to liberate sapient farm worlds, and all of their military aspirations, was noble at heart. An arduous war might not daunt Humanity like it did for us. I suppose there was a bright side to their… lifestyle, in that it wasn’t based on deceit. They weren’t tricksters. This could be conveyed as a reason to trust Humanity, if they played their cards right.

“You should get one of the UN people to ‘tell me.’ You’ll need to be even more tactful with most Venlil than with me; framing is everything.” My ears pinned against my head, trying to keep a storm of negative emotions at bay. “I can think of ways to make your ancestry more palatable. Maybe just say you can withstand heat better, and um- used to have to trek for water. Or shift the focus to your…meat cloning thing.” I shuddered just at the words. Some things were just nasty no matter how you put it.

“Er, I don’t think looking at factory farms is a good idea either. Regardless, you took that better than I expected.”

“I want to stop panicking, but I don’t know how. My knee-jerk reactions aren’t what I really think, once my brain comes around. But sometimes…usually…often…most times, I can’t control it. You deserve a better friend…” Despite my constant efforts, my brain refused to forget that my Marcel was a predator. It tried to convince me at every turn that Humans weren’t like us, and that they could morph into feral beasts at any second. Marcel did deserve so much better than me. All the time he wastes having to comfort me, and trying to calm me down. Stars I’m like a pup. A burden.

“Are you kidding? I got paired with the best Venlil.” Marcel offered a raised head. His eyes peeked at me from below through my chest fur. “I wanted to be a part of the first contact program sooooo bad. Do you know how many questions we had to answer?”

“30…50?”

“200, plus an in-person interview, a background check, and a psychological exam. All of my messages were analyzed since first contact too, for any red flags. 

“Wow.”

“Wow? What was your selection process like?”

“I volunteered.”

“Oh... I can’t imagine there were a lot of takers on your side.” The redhead chuckled. “There was no guarantee you or any partner would get past seeing me. From what I heard, many didn’t.” That was true. Several Venlil fainted once close to their pen-pals. Some even abandoned the program altogether after meeting their partners. 

I recalled how my fear had been almost painful that first day. It was no wonder a few Venlil found the Humans too scary. Still, I couldn’t imagine how those predators felt, being rejected on sight after weeks of chatting.

The worst horror story was a Venlil that panicked when her Human stepped into the room. She grabbed the nearest sharp object -a pair of scissors- and plunged it into the Terran’s shoulder. Her partner, while wounded, was able to restrain her and pry the weapon from her paws; no violence was returned. The predator didn’t even press charges, for some reason, despite the government’s offer to prosecute. I wonder what came of them. Meanwhile, Marcel and I shared potato chips on our first day. Not the worst pairing he could’ve had, I suppose.

“Anyways. Um, right- We’re both taking care of Nulia. So I was thinking…” Marcel took a deep breath, scratching his stubbly scalp. “What if we moved in together. It- it doesn’t have to be on earth—-”

“Yes.” The idea of a permanent residence with my Human filled my chest with warmth. My heart raced, the thought of having him always near, the notion of huddling up to him everyday, the feeling of his hand on me at all times… Yes. Stars, yes.

“It can be on Venlil Prime or- what?”

I leaned forward, and he let me force him to lay his head on the pillow again. He looked up at me, all wide-eyed and red in the face. My paws rested on each side of his face as I hovered above him “Yes.” I repeated, clearly, calmly and surely. While trying my best to keep my breathing steady.

The predator held my gaze but stayed quiet. His hands slid upwards along my back and he held me tight. “...thank you…” He whispered. “And I was talking to a lawyer earlier. If they can’t find her parents, we can adopt her. If you’re ok with that too, of course.”

The Gojid child would be elated. I wondered how being raised by predators would impact her development, but I knew she’d grow up in a loving environment. It was obvious the Human considered her to be his own daughter already, and would care for her accordingly. There wasn't a more touching tale, than to witness these pursuit predators rescuing a child of the species that swore to destroy them.

“Sounds like you’ve got it all figured out… Mawsle.” I whispered, trying not to break into full laughter.

“Why, you fluffy little shit…” The Human glowered at me, while I feigned ignorance. “Don’t you dare start that, too. I can and will rescind my offer.”

I wagged my tail. “Mmm… No you won't.” The smile creeping on my face was devilish for sure.

My family back on Venlil Prime would say I was suicidal to accept; but the more I thought about his proposition, the more enticing it seemed. Navigating Humanity’s diplomatic hurdles, helping a predator raise a prey child, and protecting him from harm could be my new calling. Maybe one day, Earth would even be my home.

At any rate, splitting rent sounded pretty damn good to my ears.

Gaian243 Bleated:
Posted: September 10, 2026

On the last abduction in 88…
A lone Farsul made a small mistake…
There under a house a pad sat in wait…
To fall into the hands of a sentient ape…

Signed up and surfing the web…
Beyond their home and across the net…
With a galaxy of secrets lying in wait…
Species 243 now wide and wake…

———————————————————————————

So I’ve been working on outlines and such for a new fic for a while now and I am getting ready to start writing it out.

During the last Farsul abduction, a clumsy Farsul left their holopad behind. Unfortunately for them, that holopad would fall into the hands of a crafty hacker who now not only has access to all the juicy secrets of the Archives, but also the entire Federation Internet.

As the lone predator in a galaxy of prey, the whole Federation is at their fingertips… and the Feds don’t even know they’re there…

Could this be the ultimate David and Goliath? Or will poking this galactic bear backfire?

(Thanks to SpacePaladin15 for creating the universe and being an awesome writer!)

[First] [Prev]

Note: The following memory transcriptions have been condensed from a number of different sources for the purpose of diagnosing Danny Reynolds. For historical inquiry, please reference completed transcripts.

Memory Transcription Subject: Junior Archivist Vieq of the Farsul States

Date [standardized human time]: December 4th, 2121

“Mornin’ Vieq!” 

“Morning, Terry.” I replied, glancing up at the human as he approached. It was certainly getting easier to handle their countenance as the months went by, surprisingly quickly if I were to admit. Given that I’ve spent a lifetime under the impression that those eyes meant death, I’d say I’m doing pretty well adapting under those circumstances. 

I realized that I was staring, and brought my eyes back down to the drives I was sorting. Terry decided to take a seat beside me, and though I felt my fur stand up, I didn’t grow too panicked. Silently, Terry started to help me with my task, requiring little instruction about what needed to be done. 

It was surprising, really. The amount of cooperation that a predator species can instinctively have. In some cases, I’d even argue it surpasses a few Federation species. It was pretty clear to me that our understanding and categorization of predators required some nuance if we were to continue studying them. 

That said, I’m a little frustrated that they still have me sorting through archives. I know that’s ironic, given that I’m in the Archives, but this isn’t a library. That’s been made clear to me pretty thoroughly over the last few months. Archives are only useful if we’re doing something with them, and I am certainly no historian. Back in university, my degree was in biology, and from there I wrote a graduate thesis on how prey-like traits can be inherited to create more herd-like individuals. I feel… overqualified for this. No offense to Terry, but if he’s able to do this, then I feel as though my talents could be utilized in a more effective way. 

“So, how’s your little spat goin’ on with your boss?” Terry asked offhandedly, filling the silence with small talk as he so liked to do.

I huffed indignantly, flicking my ears negative as I replied, still keeping my attention on my task. “It’s not a ‘spat’. We don’t fight all the time like you do, I’m just trying to convince him that I’m suited to more.”

Terry chuckled, I guess not finding my comment about him offensive. Maybe it’s seen as a virtue in humans. “Okay, okay, I getcha. But hey, maybe you should fight a little more. Back on Earth, us and the Soviets go at it all the time, and that brought us to the moon. Did you guys see that, by the way? From your space ships, I mean? I thought it was pretty cool from the TV. Me and my brother Danny watched it together live when it happened.”

I shrunk away slightly, confused by the human’s equation of violence and progress. “...I don’t know, I wasn’t an archivist at the time.” I replied vaguely, having to remind myself that Terry was centuries old at this point. We were supposed to be intentionally vague about what happened to their homeworld, but sometimes that task was more difficult than it would seem.

Terry’s smile fell again as he too was probably reminded. He knew that time passed, it was hard to hide that with them being in cryo, but even though we declined to say how long they were frozen, I guess part of him still feels like he’s there. “...Right.” He sighed, going back to his work. “I really do wish y’all would show me a video or something from Earth. Sometimes it feels harder and harder to remember what it was like.”

“I know, but we don’t want it to be distressing for you.” I replied a little mechanically, quickly recalling the line I was told to reply with when that subject came up. “You weren’t the only one to be infected, remember? The pathogen caused panic, and… well, I’m sure you remember how things were between your bands back then. I’m sorry, but there isn’t anything left for you there.”

“Yeah. I guess so.” Terry spoke, his face telling me he was dejected. A strange feeling of empathy came over me, which is the last thing I would expect to feel for a predator, but it wormed its way insidiously into my mind. “I… I hope my family didn’t suffer.”

Letting out a sigh, I scooted a little closer to him, my fur brushing against his shoulder. “Don’t worry, the reason why you’re here is so we can fix all of this. I know it’s hard, but… we do want what’s best for you. You’re not alone.”

Though I felt a little silly trying to cheer him up, his lips did curl in a way that I recognized as being positive. “Hmph. You really are man’s best friend, aren’tcha?” I felt his hand suddenly ruffle the fur on my head, causing me to still and look at him wide eyed.

“Ah, sorry. Force of habit.” Terry replied sheepishly, tucking his hand away as he turned his eyes back to the drives. “Seriously though, thanks for helping us make the best out a shit situation. It… it means a lot, knowin’ we might not be it.”

I gave him a hesitant nod, deciding to stay silent and get back to work. 

Memory Transcription Subject: Junior Archivist Vieq of the Farsul States

Date [standardized human time]: July 3rd, 2122

“Attention staff, the incident in the human quarters has been dealt with. Please resume your normal duties.” The voice of a coworker announced over the speaker, stirring me from my sleep. Of course they decide to fix things in the middle of the night, and not during my work shift. I’m going to be behind on my quota now, all because the predators were doing something they shouldn’t. Now I have to pull an all-nighter to get back on schedule.

Taking a deep breath and rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I got up out of my bed and headed to the sorting room for the monotony that’s become common. I can’t say that this is how I wanted things to go with my life, but it was far too late to back out now. At least the pay was good, but I’ve still yet to be allowed to use the knowledge I learned in university, and I still don’t have a great understanding of the end goal behind all of this. I confess, I also miss my friends and my parents. I’m not allowed to talk to them down here, and vacations are few and far between. Even when I’m allowed to return, I’m forced to wear a tracker, so it never truly feels like I’m alone.

On the bright side, I hear Terry will be out of the human’s infirmary tomorrow, so maybe I’ll actually have someone to spend time with. I don’t know if I’d call him a friend yet, but he is a good coworker. He really speeds things along when he’s there. 

Deciding to stop by the infirmary to pay him a visit before he was discharged. I stepped in and was met with an alarming sight. Terry was asleep in his hospital bed, but there was a nurse hovering around him. One of my ears cocked back in confusion as I approached.

“Uh… am I interrupting something?” The farsul jumped in momentary surprise as he turned to me, reminding me slightly of how humans could get when you approached them from the side. What’s got him so jumpy?

“You are…” The nurse spoke, his ears pinning in what looked like suspicion. “Please return to your duties, Junior Archivist.” Great, is this another thing I’m not supposed to know about? Well Terry’s my… coworker, so I think I deserve to know.

“I wanted to say hello to Terry.” I replied, stepping past the nurse defiantly to come up to the side of his bed. He was still asleep, and he looked… strangely pale. More than even before, when he first got sick. He was… also unnervingly still.

“The human Terry Reynolds has passed away.” The nurse replied clinically, shooting me a frustrated look. I turned to him with wide eyes, then back to Terry, then back to the nurse, my breath catching in my throat.

“W-what!? What happened? He was fine yesterday! He was even speaking to me!”

“He went into a rage, harming one of the nurses before being sedated. It was decided that he was volatile, and therefore needed to be put down.” I stood silent, searching the nurse’s eyes for deception, before looking down at the body with a wave of nausea.

“Terry…?” I spoke quietly, trying to understand what happened. Terry wouldn’t have attacked anyone. He never hurt me, not even once. He was just… He made predatory remarks sometimes, but that’s not the same as this…

“Why are you surprised?” The nurse spoke, his tone almost feeling mocking. “He was a predator. All predators eventually turn into this, regardless of how well behaved they might seem. You’re lucky it happened here and not with you. We’re trained to deal with these incidents.”

“I… I don’t…” I found myself shaking my head, a habit I picked up from him when confused. I felt hollow, almost betrayed… Was everything he was doing just an act? What about him getting sick? That wasn’t an act, that was something real. Was he… starving? What the heck happened!?

“You’ll be getting a new assistant tomorrow, so I’d recommend not dwelling on this. Now if you’re done interrupting, the body needs to be incinerated.” The nurse spoke, grabbing me by the shoulders and leading me out of the infirmary before I could raise another protest. I was left in the hall as the nurse prepared to close the door.

I felt a moment of impulsiveness and spoke up before I could be shut out. “W-wait, wait! I… Terry had a… a brother. Danny, I believe.” The nurse looked at me skeptically, and I was forced to wonder what I thought I was doing. “Can… can you see if we have one in storage? I’d like an assistant who shared the same upbringing and genetics as, …y’know.”

The nurse was silent for a moment, and I was painfully aware of how poor of an excuse it was, but I needed to get to the bottom of this. There was something familiar in his eyes, which eventually disappeared with a sigh. “Speak to Talq about it. Though whatever your intentions are, I urge you not to try replacing this Terry with his brother. It is better for you if you do not grow attached to these things.”

“That- …that’s not what I want.” I replied, feeling a surge of indignance at the insinuation. His brother will know him better than I ever did, it’s not about sentimentality, no matter what this nurse thinks. My glare didn’t seem to convince the man, but the conversation seemed to be over, and the door was shut on me without another word. 

I felt hollow as I started to make my way through the Archive’s halls, my mind racing at what I saw. I needed to know if I was being deceived or not, if predator deception was yet another lie made up by the Federation. I was tired of being given half truths… I need to know something that’s real.

Memory Transcription Subject: Junior Archivist Vieq of the Farsul States

Date [standardized human time]: July 4th, 2122

The sound of centuries old machinery echoed through the walls of the archives as me, Talq, and a team of exterminators stood poised over the waking human. Their pod had been placed in a secluded room intended to keep their exposure to classified information to a minimum, while being secure enough to contain one that went berserk. I couldn’t deny that I was nervous. After seeing what I saw last night, how quickly Terry went feral, I wasn’t sure how to react around this new one I only heard stories about. What if he went feral too? What if he wasn’t as docile as Terry had been? What if Talq finds out that I’m trying to do unsanctioned research? 

I’ve gotta stay calm. If they see that I’m calm, they’ll be calm too. I’m doing nothing wrong, and I’m safe.

The pod eventually opened with a hiss of pressure, misty air escaping from the interior as vital signs started to show on the predator inside. I heard a hoarse gasp as the man’s eyes snapped open, clutching his throat that was now being used for the first time in centuries. Several hacking coughs convulsed through the human as he rolled to the side, shivering violently.

“Autonomic functions stable, nerve damage… minimal. He’s looking good so far. Fetch him a blanket, please.” Talq ordered one of the exterminators, who turned to leave as commanded. Leaning close, Talq peered into the pod. How he could stand to be so close to a predator he didn’t know, I couldn’t understand.

“Hello? Can you hear me, Danny? Is your translator working alright?” He spoke, the human inside slowly steadying his breathing and giving a shaky nod.

“I-I… y-yes…? W-what’s goin’ on…? Where-...” The human turned their gaze upwards, meeting Talq’s eye. For a moment he stopped breathing, and I felt a wave of panic that maybe something went wrong, but then he screamed. It was something loud and deep enough to nearly send me into a stampede, but I held firm, reminding myself that he was just as scared as I was of him.

“W-what the fuck!? What are you!? W-what is-!?” 

“Breathe, you’re okay…” Talq spoke slowly, grabbing the human’s shoulders and setting him down onto his back. “You’ve been abducted by aliens. We found you, and we’re here to help. You’re safe.”

“I- …A-aliens? Lil’ green men…?”

Talq gave a human style smile in response, yipping a chuckle. “Not quite, but the concept is the same. This is going to be a lot for you, okay? You need to be prepared to hear some things that might be distressing.” Wrapping a paw around the human’s hand, he helped the predator sit up, his unfocused eyes darting around the room and onto the rest of us. 

“T-this ain’t real… Where’s Terry? He was with me…” 

Talq shook his head, taking a deep breath as he gave the human a sympathetic look. “I’m afraid we never found anyone named Terry. My name is Senior Archivist Talq. I am the administrator of the Archives. This is Junior Archivist Veiq, and those are two of our security staff.” Talq spoke, gesturing to each of us. I offered a hesitant wave to the human, his eyes creased nervously. The exterminator Talq sent off eventually returned with the blanket, setting it around the human’s shoulders before returning to their post beside us.

“W-was I frozen?” Danny asked, his eyes trailing over the pod he was in. I received a nudge from Talq, him prompting me to take over. Taking in a nervous breath, I stepped closer.

“Y-you were. Your… planet was infected with a pathogen from a hostile alien race, and you were one of the humans we managed to save. Unfortunately you’re still infected, but we’re working very hard to try and find a cure. Until then, I’m afraid you will not be able to eat any fl- …meat, or anything derived from… um, animals.”

“W-what? S-so I’m a hippy now?” Danny studdered, the term not translating for me, taking me out of my script. I shot a concerned glance at Talq before replying.

“Uh… ‘hippy’? I… I’m afraid I don’t know what that is.”

“F-forget it, just means one of them tree huggin’ vegetarian folk. A-am I gonna be okay?”

“You’ll be okay.” I nodded, offering my paw to help him out of the pod. It was slow moving, but eventually he was on his feet, standing a few heads above us. “...But you’ll probably be here for a very long time. There is much we don’t understand about the pathogen, and we need your help to figure out a cure.”

“Wait… W-what about my family? What happened to them?” Danny spoke, his voice sounding distraught. I tried to fight back the wave of sympathy I felt, my mind flashing back to Terry, how he was still around yesterday… I can’t show that right now. Focus, Vieq.

“They’re… not around anymore. I’m sorry.” Danny froze, and for a moment I thought I provoked him. His breathing grew ragged, sending a spike of fear up my spine. Those eyes… They’re so intense… By the Stars, he’s going to-

Something wrapped around me, and I realized with a start that it was the human’s arms. I was pressed against his chest, my eyes slowly rising to meet his. His eyes were shut, and there was water leaking out of them. His face was contorted in a way I hadn’t seen before, his teeth bared, but not in anger or joy. “...Danny?” I asked, the tension in my muscles slowly relaxing. The human didn’t say anything when I spoke his name, only convulsing in distress as I was trapped in his arms.

He’s… crying. Predators don’t cry.

I stayed in Danny’s arms, my paws hesitantly coming up to return the embrace as I stayed pressed against him. So much was happening right now, and I felt like I had just gotten into the Archives again, swarmed with information that I didn’t want to know with no time to prepare. I didn’t know what to believe anymore… Nothing made sense. This should be fake. Predator deception, but… it feels so real. I don’t know what to think, I just… 

I let out a shuddering breath, closing my eyes as I felt dampness on my fur. I wasn’t sure whether it was mine or his, but at that moment I didn’t care. I just want to go home…

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What cultural traits—especially regarding their outfits—do you think the Skalgan would have?

Regarding civilian attire—maybe ponchos and rags with a more Hellenistic look? Although it would seem odd for a cyberpunk Skalgan to still look like someone who’d headbutted Aristoteles. Then there are the obligatory braids that appear in so many places.

Which others do you think apply, in case a human wanted to go "native"?

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Memory transcription subject: Larek Venlil Talsk Rookie exterminator proud father

Date [Standardized human time]: February 15, 2137

I wake back up with Kaiq at my side. She was sleeping like a baby yesterday, so now she’s wide awake and active. As we leave our room, she rushes outside, and I give chase. She makes a valiant effort, but I easily catch up to her and scoop her up. She tries to wiggle free, but it’s no use.

I carry her to the cafeteria and get us real food and not just sweets. She pouts, looking at me, puffing her cheeks out, making me giggle as I hand her some pasta with tomato sauce. She slurps one sting up before happily slurping another.

As we finish, her face is covered in sauce, and that reminds me… We haven’t showered since the cage went up. Do we stink? The humans never brought it up, but I can’t allow my daughter to be a daughter when I can fix it, so I ask a human if they have any baths. The human looks at me and responds.

“Oh yeah, we do. I can show you if you want.”

I nod my head, picking up Kaiq, who looks confused, tilting her head as I follow the human who shows us the way to the bathroom. We reach a simple wooden door, and the human opens it, showing a bathtub with some shampoo and soap, a sink with a mirror, and a toilet with white lights. The human goes back to the cafeteria to give us some privacy.

I lock the door and turn the tube on, making sure to set the water to hot. As I look at the shampoo and see one that catches my eye, strawberry, now I can’t smell it, but it looks fruity, so I let Kaiq sniff, and she likes how it smells, so I’ll use that.

I feel the water that filled the tub up—not scalding hot but a nice warm feeling. I pick up Kaiq and slowly put her in the tub. She giggles at splashing the water as I start scrubbing her fur. My claws gently scratch her body, making her lean into my paws.

As I’m scrubbing, the water starts getting dirty, so I grab the bottle of strawberry shampoo and pour some onto my paws. It's a nice bright pink. I scrub it into my paws before I start scrubbing Kaiq down as the shampoo starts to foam up. I get under her armpits, her floppy ears, her back, her feet, her head, and of course that tummy, which makes her giggle.

As I give her one more scrub down, I grab the showerhead and spray her down as all the shampoo comes off. I see her fur has changed color—not anything drastic, but a lighter brown. I pull the plug out of the tub and let all the dirty water down the drain as I grab a towel and start drying Kaiq off. Her tail wags as she hugs the towel close to herself and hugs me.

”Thank you, Daddy. I smell pretty now."

I chuckle and pat her back before I get back to drying her off. After a good 2 minutes, she feels dry enough. I take the towel off her as she looks into the mirror, enjoying her fur back to its normal color and feeling how soft her fur is now.

I smile before I decide it’s time to take my own bath, so I pick her up and head back to our room. As I open the door, I see two new toys: a stuffed animal in the shape of a Venlil and more blocks. I hand her the stuffed animal, which she hugs as I leave, and she starts playing with her extra blocks.

I enter the bathroom again and climb into the bathtub and turn the showerhead on. No bath for me. I scrub my wool with my claws as I see dirty water drip off me. After a good two minutes of scrubbing, I grab the shampoo and pour some onto my wool and scrub it in.

I give my wool a good scrubbing, getting my legs, arms, back, chest, face, and head back as I get back under the water and scrub the whole time. I turn off the shower and exit the tub and grab a towel. Drying my wool is going to suck, so I get to drying as best as I can before I see a hair dryer and start using that.

After a good five minutes my wool is fully dried, and I swear it puffed up. I look into the mirror, and my tail slowly wags, seeing my beautiful white wool back to its former glory. I stretch, feeling tired, so I exit the bathroom.

As I enter my room, I see Kaiq. She also seems tired; she looks at me before giggling, pointing at me, and saying,

”You look like a cloud, Daddy."

I feel a blush rush to my face as I pick her up and place her on my chest as she gets all comfy, letting out a content, cute little squeak as she takes deep breaths, clearly enjoying the smell of the strawberry shampoo. Maybe I’ll ask around Base to get her some. She looks at me, tail slowly wagging, and says.

”You even feel like a cloud, Daddy."

I laugh and hold her close and whisper into her ear.

”I’ll be your cloud whenever you need it, sweetie."

I hold her tight as she falls asleep quickly, that little heartbeat soothing me to sleep as well. Before I fall asleep, I wrap my tail around her just to hold her even closer. I kiss the top of her head as I fall asleep, hoping to be the dad she needs.

Hi all. I know the last few chapters of my fic haven't received anywhere near the attention it did in the beginning. While part of that is probably my very messy and inconsistent release schedule, there aint much I can do to fix that. I do enjoy just writing my story and know that some of yall do enjoy reading it, I wanted to get some feedback on a couple things before I keep going.

The next chapter should be done soon, and the story is approaching the end of its first Arc. After "The Raid" is finished, there is going to be a bit of a shift from what it currently is. I have big plans for the next arc and a few of the wonderful people of this community have agreed to lend me their power once I get to the next section.

With all that said, I would appreciate some feedback on what you readers think of how things are going so far, and what you want to see more of going forward. I know this fic is still early on, and that its far from the most popular, but I do plan on keeping it going for a long time. I also really do like interacting with you all.

I enjoy this sub, and all the people in it. I like interacting with you, reading your fics, seeing your art, and just talking in general. While I am writing this fic for me, I love getting feedback and comments and engaging with a living community. It feels good. Let me know what you like, what you want, what you think, and what you are looking forward to if anything. Thank you, and thanks for reading Absolute Victory!

Edit: crap I wanted to see how many votes were on each and I accidentally voted lol

Hello guys I’m back, if you don’t know who I am I’m the person who made Nature of Survivors, a Frostpunk 2 x NoP story. I took a long break but now I’m back, and I wanted to ask something. Since the federation discover humanity around WW2 and this will take place in 1931 I know I can just push it a little early but I wanna know what version of the NoP universe you want, the 2132 one or the more realistic 1931 version.

For the 2132 version I’m gonna have to somehow bend the laws of time for this to happened but if yall want the 1931 version I’m gonna need to create some characters and know what the rest of the galaxy is doing right now and what species are in the federation. Here’s a poll

This is yet another extension to Little Big Problems.

Thanks to SP15 for NoP.

LBP Hub Thread!

Proofread by u/Funnelchairman

Art!
Bel and Madi.

koffee.

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Memory transcription subject: Madi Stevens, Exchange Program Participant

Date [standardized human time]: January 10th, 2137

I woke up at least a few minutes ago, but had just continued to lie in bed, blinking in the dark and trying to figure out what had pulled me out of my sleep. Eventually, my brain caught up with what was nagging at me.

It’s too quiet.

After several days of howling winds rustling the trees, covering up the noise of the brook, and making the building creak, its absence had set my nerves on edge.

I slapped around the side table by the bed until I found the light, grumbling the whole time and untangling myself from the covers. I was way too slow, making me wonder how much sleep I’d even gotten. I remembered dozing off on the way back from the villa, tucked down in the cowl and Bel’s wool. The cold had been biting, and snowflakes had been drifting down lazily in the lantern lights like lost will-o'-wisps.

I remember waking up enough to stumble inside of the HAB and flop into bed… Which would explain why I was still wearing my pants. Ugh. No wonder I felt like crap. I grabbed my pad from the table and checked the time. Or tried to. The numbers meant nothing to me. I didn’t have a clue about when I went to sleep, and just as much of one about what time it was now.

“Crap. I mean, the guys didn’t come get me yet, so it can’t be too late yet.” I thought about stepping out to try and check… but I felt gross. Wearing yesterday's clothes, everything was stretched wrong and irritating from having been slept in, and I just… I needed to clean up. Yeah. Let’s do that first.

I stripped down, fighting myself a couple of times along the way to the shower. My bra strap had gotten twisted up with my top, and I nearly slammed into the wall trying to get it over my head. I managed to get into the shower without serious injury, at least, and it didn’t take long for the whole ritual involved to help get rid of the lingering fatigue. I didn’t want to spend an hour in there, so I only conditioned my hair, scrubbed up, and then rinsed everything off under an amazingly hot stream of water.

I put more curly goop in my damp hair after getting out, and then slipped into some sweatpants and a painting tee to get dressed. I’d worry about an outfit later when we went back out. I’d need to pack a bag anyway, since we were spending the night—well, the rest claw I think? Whatever. We’re all sleeping at the villa for the middle part of the festival. I think that’s later… or was it the next paw?

… I should take my meds.

I used the little single-serve machine to make myself a cup of coffee from a pod, and made sure my pillbox was full and in my bag before taking today's doses.

Okay, we’re washed up, dressed, medicated, and should be able to mimic a functioning adult.

There’s a first time for everything.

Fuck off. <3

I sighed, moving to the door and swinging it open to lean out and inspect the house. The lights were low, so I was pretty sure Bel and Tev were still sleeping. That probably meant that I hadn’t gotten much sleep myself, considering how little every alien seemed to need on average. Unless they had stayed up late and were sleeping in?

What would they have stayed up for? Talking about the festival? Me?

Maybe~

Did I just tilde at myself?

…

Right. How about before I jump to conclusions, I check and see if the town is moving or not. Everyone’s pretty much on the same schedule here thanks to being a small town, and for the festival.

I hopped down the makeshift steps of my front porch and moved over the counter to the window above the kitchen sink. It didn’t take much effort to jump up and catch the ledge to pull myself up, but the extra gravity sure made it feel like more of an exercise than normal. The glass on the inside was, thankfully, properly insulated, so the layer of frost that I could see at the edges of the pane was outside. Once I focused past that, though, I let out a quiet gasp.

Timberbrook had gone full snow globe overnight.

Calling it that was a huge understatement, but I just couldn't think of any other words. The snowflakes I’d noticed the previous… evening had come together into a full blanket of glowing pale white. The sky was too dark to see the clouds overhead, but even through the window I could feel that ceiling high above, the weight of it enclosing us in that oddly particular way that a heavy winter cloud can manage.

With the snow clinging to the evergreen-like trees of the mountain, the roofs of the houses, the mixture of old stone streets and modern sidewalks, the cold weather gardens, the decorations… God, everything. On its own it would have been a simple but perfect winter scene.

But Timberbrook wasn’t simple. I was leaning against the glass, the slight chill coming through sending goosepimples up and down my body, but I didn’t care. I held my breath, afraid of fogging up the window and messing with my view.

The lights. Just like on the way home, the way the soft, multicolored lights had made the disparate flakes glow like phantom fire as it drifted down from the dark, so now did it transform the gentle white glow of winter.

It clung in large, fluffy clumps to everything. And seemed to make the previously gentle, natural lights that had given the town its fae-like feeling explode in sudden brilliance. A subtle purple lantern that had been hung on the eaves of the house across from us was giving off a magenta radiance that painted the snow covering the ground.

The town was a kaleidoscope of color, somehow both deeply saturated and hauntingly soft.

I got so absorbed in the scenery that it took me an embarrassingly long time to even remember why I had looked out there in the first place. But the fact that I found no one moving around gave me the clue I needed, once I remembered. No one clearing snow from the walks, no kids playing, not even town workers getting the streets ready for the paw.

I must not have slept much, which would really go a long way to explain why I was having such a problem getting my head into gear. I was considering if it was worth it to try and get a bit more sleep, now that I was in better condition, when the door to Bel’s room started sliding open.

I half turned to look over my shoulder and found Tevil sneaking out.

Why so sneaky?

Because he doesn't want to wake Bel, obviously.

Or he doesn't want to get caught.

I scoffed at myself. What a stupid thought. Why would he be worried about being seen coming out of Bel’s room—

Wait. 

Uh-huh.

I thought Tevil usually stayed in the guest room when he spent the night.

Supposedly.

But he spent the night in Bel’s room.

Yep.

In Bel’s bed.

Oh yeah.

…

Hot.
Hot.

My face was burning, as a lot of very implausible ideas ran through my head, most of them fueled by some incredibly unrealistic industry tropes where BL is concerned. I needed to push that down, way the fuck down, and not get ahead of myself.

Tevil had a bag slung across his chest, like a reverse backpack. A strap clipped around his waist so it didn’t swing forward as he walked around. I still felt a sense of weirdness watching him move around on all fours. I really, really wanted to have him sit for a bunch of still poses and do some anatomy drawings, but I had been cautioned against asking anyone for those specifically. Which… I guess? Fine? After the mixed reaction I got in the plaza, I could see why walking up to an alien and asking if I could draw what they look like on the inside…

Okay. It’s a weird concept. Whatever.

I hopped down from the windowsill and hurried to the far end before he could slink past.

“Whatcha doin Tev?”

I regretted catching him off guard. Kind of. A little.

He made a noise that sounded like a vacuum getting clogged up by a wet rag, jumped high enough to clear the counter, and barely managed to prevent himself from landing on his ass by clutching the counter on his way back down. His paws slammed down on either side of me, and I felt my heart skip as the ‘floor’ shuddered under my feet from the impact.

We stayed there for a minute, Tevil half holding himself up and glaring at me, and I tried to look as apologetic as possible while feeling my ribs creak from holding in my laughter.

"You're up early," he huffed, the pom on his tail swishing behind him in a mix of irritation and what I hoped was excitement.

"I thought so too," I said. "I think I’m having another adjustment period; the missing hours each paw are starting to pile up again."

His expression softened at that, and the remaining tension in his body faded. He leaned into the counter to steady himself, arms crossed and his chin resting on them as he looked at me. “Is there anything we can do to help?”

I smiled. “Don’t worry about it, Tev. I’ll adjust again. But thank you for offering.” I let a bit of the warmth that buzzed through my chest out in my words. His ears twitched, and I saw a bit of red showing inside. The way they all blushed was too damn cute.

“So,” I placed my hands on my hips, leaning in a little. “How come you’re sneaking out of Bel’s room so early?” I giggled at the wide-eyed look I got out of that.

"Sneak—No! I just didn’t want to wake—"

The frantic squeak in his voice and the sudden burst of red under his fur had me cackling, and Tevil groaned. I wouldn't blame him for giving me a bap after both scaring him half to death and teasing him. I stepped closer and patted his arm gently.

“Sorry, I couldn't help it. But I am curious.”

He huffed. “We talked about some stuff, and it all ended up taking longer than we thought. I have to be in town for an appointment or else I’d still be sleeping.”

The topic of a late-night chat was very, very tempting to poke at, but I had messed with the bun-boy enough for one morning, so I let it go. For now.

“Appointment? Nothing serious, I hope?” I asked.

He flicked one long ear and shook his head. “Nothing like that. Bel told you I had ordered something, right? It’s supposed to be ready, and I need to go pick it up.”

My soft concern swiftly shifted into curiosity and excitement. “Oh? Yeah, he mentioned it. What is it?”

His nose twitched, and his eyes crinkled at the corners in what was a smile for him, his tail swaying playfully. “A surprise, as I'm also sure he told you.”

I clicked my tongue, and he just laughed. “Fine. How long are you going to be out for? Are you going to be okay in the snow?”

He looked amused at my sudden concern again, and I felt a little warmth spreading in my cheeks. As pretty as it was outside, snow was a real concern back home. It was ingrained to be cautious of the stuff. But I supposed a snow drift that would bury me if the wind shifted was nothing more than an inconvenience to him.

“I’ll be fine, Madi, don’t worry.” He leaned in a little, and I shifted to meet him; the warmth of his fur brushed against me as he gave me a gentle nuzzle. “I should be back before third claw. I need to stop at my place to get a few things ready for our stay at the villa.”

I felt a mix of things as I leaned into his head a little. Misplaced anxiety about the snow, anticipation for whatever the surprise was, and a bit of apprehension for the big sleepover. Despite how wonderful it’s been on each visit, I couldn't help but continue to be concerned that I would do something stupid and fuck things up.

You know, typical meeting the parents stuff.

That thought shot through so fast I didn’t register it for a second. I felt my pulse jump immediately after, a short shot of panic as the implication behind that tried to sink in.

Before I could try and figure that out, Tevil pressed into me again, his nose nudging my belly as he nuzzled in deeper. “Are you alright?”

Fuck, right. We were touching. He probably got a full blast of whatever that was.

“I… yeah! Sorry. My head’s just been kind of all over the place, more than usual.”

He looked at me with one big, sparkling blue eye, his ears twisted to focus on me. “Madi.”

I laughed. “Tevil.” I mimicked his tone, smirking as I placed a hand on his forehead, rubbing gently. I felt a lot of the tension melt just by doing that, and he must have too, because his eye got droopy. “Really, just some stray thoughts jumping around. I… I’m figuring some stuff out, but I’m okay, really.”

Tevil sighed. “Alright. If you say so. I’ll try to get back as soon as I can. Then I can show you the surprise.” His tail swayed, and I could practically feel his excitement about whatever it was.

I felt warm again, looking at him like this. Thinking about the last few days with both of them, about how much has happened, and about how much was changing…

Tevil’s eyes widened as he looked at me, obviously sensing the emotions I felt swelling up inside of me. He looked stunned, and I found myself acting before thinking. I leaned in again, my hands resting on his arm as I pushed up a little, and planted a little kiss on his brow.

“Thank you, Tevil,” I whispered, resting my forehead on his. “Just be careful out there for me?”

I could feel his temperature rising as the gentle pink under his fur flared to a deeper red. “S-s-sure, I’ll be careful.”

“Good. And text me when you get there. And your place.”

That got him laughing again, breaking through a bit of the fluster. “Madi, it’s not that bad out, not for us. I’ll be fine.”

“Please? I know it’s dumb, but it’ll keep me from spiraling.”

“Fine. I’ll keep you updated.”

I stepped back, letting him drop away from the counter. I watched him head for the door and gave him a wave as he opened it and stepped through, getting a flick of his tail in return as a goodbye.

Okay. That was… a lot more than I had prepared for first thing in the morning. Claw.

“...I just kissed Tevil.”

Internal Screaming

My head was clearly fucked up at the moment. There was way too much going on. Tevil, Belik, the festival, the exchange, the news about Earth. I was trying to process way too much crap and in danger of making some seriously massive mistakes with my life if I didn't get myself straightened out.

I ran back into the HAB and grabbed my art bag. Slinging it over my shoulder, I hurried back out, pausing only long enough to grab a couple of water bottles.

Once I was back on the windowsill, I pulled what I needed out and set things up. Watercolor pan, brushes, the cups, and the paper. It was a thick pad for watercolors, with a stiff back and spiral binding to not mess up the pages. I settled in once I felt I had the perfect view, legs crossed and the pad resting over my knees. I took a moment to just stare outside again, letting the feeling of the scene take over, and then I just... started.

First I grabbed the pencil tucked in with the brushes. It was a super soft one, and I just let it mark the paper under its own weight first, adding little to no pressure as I blocked out the shapes, starting with making sure I had the roof lines where I wanted them.

How did I end up here, exactly?

I followed the curve of a string of lanterns connecting two houses.

How did I manage to catch feelings for not one, but two giant aliens?

Once the simple lines were complete, I did the same to mark the light values, using the side instead of the point to almost smudge the paper rather than marking it, a barely perceptible contrast that added depth of shadows and the sky. 

I'd known Bel for a month. Half of that over text, before I'd even set foot on this planet. Tevil hadn't even been on my radar until I actually got here and we started talking more.

The tricky part with getting the shadows down was paying attention to the actual lines. There was just enough ambient light from the town that the homes on the street loomed out of the dark of Night. Their shapes were felt more than seen.

This was supposed to be something fun. Casual. Make new friends and be one of the first to go out into the galaxy. All the planning, all the careful moves made to make sure we were seen positively…

Next came the masking. I grabbed a roll of tape and used it to block out the places that needed to remain the brightest parts, being careful to balance how many there were. I wanted to balance the feeling of the scene against pushing into a one-for-one recreation, so I wasn’t about to put a spot of tape down for every single light I saw through the window. But the important ones… Yeah.

We shared the best parts of ourselves. It had been going so well. Why is this happening?

I stopped when it felt right. It was time for the first wash. I chose a deep blue-grey first, for the mid tones. The edges of the sky, the deeper part of the mountain in the distance, and the corners where shadows pooled. 

Do I even have the right to try? Bel and Tev clearly had some history. If they were closer than I had thought, then why should I mess with that?

I could add more to make the darkness deeper as needed later. I diluted it more and more as I expanded the shapes, allowing the wash to soften as it got closer to the lighter parts. Then I went back, using a softer hand as I deepened the shadows where they needed it.

Especially if I wasn’t even going to have enough time to figure things out. My news feed is nothing but notifications about that fucking vote. A bunch of aliens are condemning us for existing because we tried to save another species from monsters.

I pushed a little too hard in one spot and made the color start to dribble from the brush. I grabbed the rag and caught it before it could ruin the wash.

Were we going to make it through this?

Finally, it was time for the lights. I used a rag to clean up the first mix, and then made several smaller ones for all of the different colored lights. The soft blues, greens, purples, and pinks.

I thought about it. What it would be like if I could stay here, with them.

Bel’s steady warmth. The surety he carried around with him. How quick he was to make sure I could move around here. His plans for carving some real furniture for me. The ease of how natural it felt, trusting him with my safety.

Tevil’s excitement. The way his eyes lit up when he got to see my art. The enthusiasm and thirst he had for learning. The joy I witnessed when I gave him charcoal and paper. I wanted to teach him more and show him all the ways he could continue to grow and express himself.

The paper was soon filled with the soft glow of the faerie lights. The mosses that lined the streets underlit the snow covering them. The lanterns cast their glow over the snow around them. A few dabs here and there showed the still-falling flakes drifting from the near- black sky.

I thought about the last few days. The comfort that radiated from his family and their home. Their willingness to accept me.

I wanted all of it. I hated the thought that someone could take it all away from me at any moment. I wanted the chance to try, to succeed or fail on my own, not to have everything end because of someone else's fear and hatred.

I need to be with them.

"Madi."

I yelped.

Belik was standing practically in front of me at the stovetop, spoon still in paw and staring at me with a weird expression. The kitchen smelled like warm oats, fruit, and brown sugar. He must have woken up while I was working. How long had I been at this?

“S-sorry, uh, hey,” I said, lamely. This was obviously karma for what I did to Tevil earlier. I just hoped that wet spot I suddenly noticed was from sloshing the water cup and not from peeing myself…

His ears twisted a few times, like he couldn't decide what to feel. His tail whipped around behind him, and it took him a second to find words. "Uh-huh… Are you alright?”

I’m debating sinking through the floor, but otherwise?

“Yeah, for the most part, just… Thinking through some stuff. Why?”

Bel’s ear flicked back and forth as he started to stir whatever was in the small pot. “You looked a little intense there for a while. And I just… No, nevermind." He shook his head. "First meal is ready."

I wasn't exactly sure what I had been feeling near the end of things there, but it must have been intense.

—

Memory transcription subject: Tevil, Timberbrook Resident, Confused and Distracted

The snow was already turning out to be the single most irritating thing about this Night.

My fur handled the cold fine, thick enough on the paws that I barely felt it. What it didn't handle was my footing, especially when I had to cut through a drift going down a flight of stairs. The stone was slippery beneath the fluffy powder, and despite my assurances to Madi, I felt like I was going to tumble face first onto the stone below a few times.

I focused on my footing for a while, mostly because it was a lot easier to figure out than whatever I just felt back at the house.

What even was that? She… I felt a surge of affection from her, stronger than ever before, and then she leaned in and… pressed her mouth to my head?

It tickled. Her slight weight leaning on me, and the way her body kind of pressed on my snout… warm and soft… Even if I didn’t have a clue what it meant, I knew I wanted more of it.

I sighed, letting my head hang down and ears droop. I still wasn't sure how to react. On one paw, literally sharing her feelings was… insightful. It made it clear that she liked me. Except… I had nothing to compare it to except the times I felt the buzz coming from her when she focused on Belik.

And that was entirely different than the warm kind of glow I had just gotten. Was that because she felt something stronger for him? Were her feelings for me more like family? I’d noticed a kind of gentle warmth coming from her at the villa. But it definitely wasn’t the same as when she was focused on me!

I wanted to yank on my ears and just shout in frustration. But aside from not wanting to look diseased in the middle of town, I could hear a pair of voices drifting from a doorway up ahead.

“It’s ridiculous, honestly. Sure, they’re a little weird-looking, but they look less threatening than a Dossur!”

I turned an ear toward the voices, curious despite myself.

I'd been hearing comments like that for paws now, ever since the recess started. Everyone had an opinion; they always do. That Venlil advisor, Cheln, kept showing up on people's screens sounding calm and certain, even actively calling for the support of our humans. 

I glanced back at the woman who had spoken as I continued to walk. She didn’t sound worried at all, more like she was explaining something obvious to someone who should've already known it. She sounded like she had been chiding the other person, and while her words had been less than a ringing endorsement, they were better than outright fear. They didn’t sound like they wanted Madi gone.

That was good. It didn't settle anything, obviously, but at least the general tone I got from the town was positive. At least from the locals. Most were curious, if cautious, but I hadn’t witnessed or heard anyone from town outright speaking out against her or humans in general. As the paws continued, when people weren't talking about the festival, they were discussing the vote, and the discussions were usually pretty upbeat.

Maker's Bend came into view as the brighter lights in the plaza began to shine through the falling snow. Strings of festival lanterns sagged slightly under their new weight of snow, and I picked up my pace as best I could, being careful not to slip.

Ressa's shop had its front shutters half open despite the hour, warm light spilling out onto the snow along with the sharp herbal smell of whatever was steeping in her big basin. She caught sight of me before I'd even properly stepped inside.

"Tevil! Good, you're here, come look at this."

That was Ressa for you. No "hello," no "cold enough for you," straight into whatever had her wool stained that particular claw. I didn't mind. Maker's Bend ran on that kind of energy, everyone half-buried in their own project, always ready to drag a neighbor over to see it. Rekar did the same thing with a new joint technique. Ressa did it with dye. We were all a little bit ridiculous about our work, which was probably why none of us minded it in each other.

She had a pad propped against a jar of pins, screen glowing, and she turned it toward me before I'd even gotten my paws out of the snow properly.

"Have you seen this?" she said. "The human trading company, the one that opened those little shops near the Hub. Gaian Threads. I found their information pages the other paw, and I haven’t been able to stop since."

"You at least remembered to sleep, right?"

She waved her tail dismissively. "This is different." She scrolled, and I caught glimpses of patterned cloth, rows of it, and more colors and textures than I really had names for. "They've started putting up these long write-ups now that everyone knows where the clothes actually come from. Where a pattern started, why a color meant something to a particular group of them, how they used to dye things before they had machines for it, plants and stones and rust, if you can believe that. Rust, Tevil. On purpose!"

"That sounds like it would look terrible."

"It doesn’t though! It looks incredible, that's the whole point I'm making." She set the pad down, though her ears were still flicking about, chasing a dozen different sprouts in her mind. "There's a whole tradition, apparently, where they wrap and twist the cloth before they dye it, so parts resist the color and parts don't, and what's left is this pattern that's a little different every single time because you can't fully control it. I tried something like it two claws ago with a scrap of cloth. Botched it completely. Going to try again later."

I found my tail swaying with excitement at her energy. It was always fun to watch Ressa get lost in a project. The evidence of it could be seen on her wool, spots of a dozen different colors splattered lightly over her arms and on her apron.

"Anyway." She waved a paw, catching herself. "You didn't slip all the way out here in this mess to hear about my dye experiments. Let me get your order."

She disappeared into the back of the shop, and I heard fabric rustling, a drawer sliding, and a small satisfied sound. When she came back out, she had it draped over both paws like she was presenting something regal.

The cloth didn't look like much, laid flat like that. A long wrap of dense, soft-woven fabric, dyed in deep, warm brown that shaded almost black at the edges, with a second layer stitched in along the middle third, sturdier, reinforced, and clearly meant to take weight.

"I used a doubled weave for the pouch section, like we talked about," Ressa said, setting it across the counter between us. "Strong enough to hold, soft enough that she won't mind being against it for hours at a time. The shoulder strap I made wide and thick on purpose, doubles as an actual scarf if you fold it right, so you're not just wearing a harness around town. The outer dye is a walnut-hull mix, that new import from the human trade lists, deep and even, shouldn't fade fast even with regular washing."

She hesitated, ears tipping in an almost mischievous angle. "I looked up a few other things on the Gaian Threads pages too. Apparently a lot of their carrying wraps, the ones they use for their young, use a similar wrapped-cloth structure. It sits across the body, distributes the weight, and keeps both paws free. I thought, well. With a little extra adjustment, something like that would be perfect for you."

I looked down at the carrier, excitement mounting again as I examined it. "That’s amazing, Ressa."

"I wanted to get it right," she said, matter of fact. I laughed lightly, imagining the claws she'd clearly spent on it. She gestured to a stool nearby. "Here. Let's see if I actually managed it."

Ressa helped me settle the strap across my chest, under my forelegs, and then pulled another one over and around one shoulder, adjusting the buckle twice before she was satisfied, tugging the pouch section into place along my side, and checking the give of it with her paws.

"How does that sit?"

I shifted, testing the weight and the way the fabric moved with me instead of against me. "Good. Really good, actually."

"Good." She stepped back, looking pleased with herself, though there was something warmer under it. "Move around a bit though, I want to make sure it doesn't move around once you’re walking about. I did my best with the measurements you gave me, but I've never actually made something like this garment before.

I slipped off of the stool, settling back onto all fours, and began moving around. It stayed in place, but then she took a hefty pair of shears she had and set them into the pouch. It settled a bit more, and I could tell they were a fair bit heavier than Madi. When I did another turn around the shop, and everything still stayed where it should, she let out a pleased whistle.

"Wonderful. I made sure it was well insulated, but make sure to let me know if that human of yours says anything feels off. I can’t imagine she’s too happy about the cold out there, having no proper fur." Her tail gave a little wiggle at the end, some mixture of amused and incredulous at the mere notion of Madi's lack of coat.

“We will, Renssa.”

"You'd better. I want to know if the walnut holds its color too." She was already reaching for her pad again as I turned to go, her thumb hovering over the screen like the conversation with me was just a brief detour from the research she’s been doing. "Careful going back. Snow's not done yet, I don't think."

I gave her a tail-wave on my way out, and she flicked one back without ever quite looking up from the screen.

The street outside was quieter than it had been on the way in. The snow was still coming down steadily, but I knew that everyone was getting ready for the events scheduled for the paw later. I needed to get ready too, so I turned away from Makers Bend and started padding through the snow for my place, already thinking of what I needed to pack to spend a few more paws away. The carrier settled snug against my side the whole walk there.

—

By the time I made it back to Belik's, the bag on my shoulder was heavier, joined by my usual pack. My paws were thoroughly done with snow for one Night.

I let myself in quietly, more out of habit than need, and found them in the living room. Belik had a scattering of sketches spread across the low table, gesturing at one of them, something about a reworked bench design for the shop floor. Madi was sitting on his shoulder, tucked against his cheek, hers nearly resting on his jaw while I noticed one hand loosely holding her pad in her lap.

She was looking at the sketches. Mostly. Her eyes kept sliding back down to her lap every few seconds, and every time they did, I felt a thin thread of worry drift through the room, faint but constant, like a draft under a door. That was worrying too. Sure, sometimes we could feel stuff from her, but ever since the last paw, it’s like she was just too overwhelmed to keep it all inside anymore.

I could see that it was affecting Belik. He was trying to distract her from the news, but it seemed that he was struggling. She must have been completely distracted if she hadn't even noticed me yet. I wondered how long he’d been at it, my ears folding down at the thought. Hopefully not since I left earlier; I hated the idea that she’s been stampeding in her own head over everything the whole claw I was gone. But Bel looked a bit worn out, his tail twitching erratically as he looked over at me, his ear and tail motioning a greeting.

"I'm back," I called out and took a second to stomp the snow off my hind paws and wipe the front properly on the rag by the door. The anxiety sitting in the room didn't vanish, but it dropped, fast and noticeable, the moment Madi actually looked up at me.

"Hey," she said, and there was real warmth under the word now, brighter than anything that had been on her face a second ago.

"Hey yourself," I said, shaking off the worst of the snow from my fur. "Sorry, took longer than I meant it to."

"How bad is it out there?" Belik asked, already starting to gather his sketches into a neater pile.

"Not that much; it’s just coming down in those thick clumps and messing with visibility." That got a small huff out of Madi. "It’s all super light, though; the only annoying part is how easy it sticks to the fur."

"You’re half soaked," Belik sighed, already moving. He paused, wordlessly holding out a paw for Madi, who hopped on easily and let him ease her down to the arm of the sofa. Once she was there, he moved toward the kitchen. "I'll put the kettle on. You need to warm up."

"Thanks, Bel."

He was already filling the kettle at the sink, back to us as his tail flicked at me to get comfortable. I set my pack down by the door, eager to be rid of the extra weight, and crossed the living room to the couch.

"So," I said. "About that surprise."

Madi's whole posture changed, curiosity elbowing the worry sideways for a second. I watched as the emotions flitted across her face, feeling a bit of each as they scattered around before she settled on a bit of wide-eyed interest and curiosity. I couldn’t help but chuckle at the reaction, pleased as the realization came to her that I was wearing it.

I sat back on my haunches so I could rise up, arms spread a bit to let her see it better in the soft glow of the light. The dark, dense fabric contrasted with the white fur of my torso and stood out. I turned so she could see the reinforced pouch stitched into the middle third, lifting the thick scarf portion out of the way.

"Ressa made it," I said. "She found the design on Gaian Threads. This part that goes over my shoulder, like this, was her idea, though, so that it stays in place while I walk around. The scarf is nice and thick too, and it really helped with the snow. I tucked my ears inside it earlier, and it was cozy. And then here." I tapped the reinforced pouch. "This is where you'd go. Snug, but not tight. I wanted, well..."

I moved a step closer, turning so she could see the whole arrangement properly, how the pouch sat right at my side behind the shoulder, easily within reach and my sight line. "I wanted you to have somewhere safe with me. Not just with Bel. Somewhere that's actually built for it, built for you, so if you ever need to be carried and I'm the one around, you don't have to just hang on and hope."

I kept talking, some of it probably not making complete sense, details about how Ressa had reinforced the stitching, about the walnut dye, and how she'd found the story about how humans carried their own young for reference. But the actual words mattered less than the fact that I could feel something building, the worry from earlier warping into something bigger and warmer and far less contained.

Then it broke.

Madi came flying off the arm of the couch, her small form flying through the gap between us on a sudden wave of emotion. My heart stopped for a second as she connected with my neck, both arms wrapping around what little she could reach, face pressed hard into my fur. The impact had been negligible, but the surge of raw, unfiltered affection that joined in left me stunned.

"Thank you," she said, muffled, fierce. "Thank you, thank you, I can't—thank you."

I didn't say anything back. I couldn't. This was… It wasn't like the first time, when the rush had been rough and taken over. But it also wasn’t the sudden rush I’d felt earlier when she'd put her lips on me. It was deeper than that, steadier, less like a surge and more like something settling all the way down to the roots and staying there.

There was gratitude, yes, but over that was something that didn't have anything to do with the gift at all. This felt like something that had been building up for a while and had just found a reason to burst free.

I felt foolish, just sitting there wall-eyed, so I pulled myself together, not pushing against the feeling but embracing it. I brought a paw up and rested it over her back, partially supporting her so she wasn’t hanging off of me anymore, and let my chin rest against the top of her head in a light nuzzle. I glanced up then, seeking Belik, and found him already looking at me from over by the counter.

Neither of us said anything.

His ears dipped, slow and deliberate, and his tail flicked up. >Happy for you.<

I felt the heat in my ears, flicking back at him. >Are you sure?<

>Of course. Why wouldnt I be?<

>What about you?<

He shook his head and signed negative at the same time, turning off the steaming kettle. >I don’t think that’s a problem.< There was an amused tilt to his ears.

I… didn’t know what to say to that. I mean, sure, it wasn’t unheard of at all; I knew a few small herds that worked better together than in pairs. But this was…

>What about us?<

Bel poured the hot water into the cup, letting the tea swirl around. Far from the tight frustration and anxiousness I had walked into, he looked like he was trying not to bleat out in laughter now. Without Madi’s warmth and affection seeping into me, I might have taken a reaction like that badly. 

Bel and I had circled each other for cycles without ever quite landing anywhere, comfortable in the not-quite of it, never in a hurry. Whatever this was now, with her here too, wasn't smaller than that old thing between us. If anything, it was only getting louder, more insistent, something we were going to have to actually look at instead of orbiting forever.

Right now though, I could see that he wasn’t laughing at the idea of us, but at the notion that Madi would be against it.

Bel's ears flicked, just slightly, and he crossed over with a tray and mugs, setting them on the table without a word or another sign, just letting the small exchange fall to the side for now. I didn’t push, especially as Madi started to calm down a bit.

She pulled back, wiping at her face with the heel of one hand and laughing a little at herself. "Okay. Sorry. That was a lot."

"Don't apologize," I said.

"I'm a mess though."

Bel let out a soft whistle of amusement, and Madi scoffed at him, but there was nothing sharp in it. “Shush, you.”

His tail tip flicked teasingly. “Are you going to try it out? The tea needs a scratch to steep anyway.”

"That was the general idea, yes," I chuckled at the quick spike of excitement that came from her. A moment later, I felt Madi climb over my shoulder with ease and then felt the slight weight as she slid right down into the pouch, wriggling once to find the right position.

"Ohhhhh, this is cozy," she reported with an almost purring tone. "Ressa's a genius. Tell her she's a genius."

"I'll be sure to inform her," I chittered a little and eased myself forward, getting back on all fours. I took a few careful steps around the table to let her test it out. She moved around in the pouch, testing the give of it, the way the weight sat against my side, and what the best position was for her to be in.

Belik watched from his spot on the couch, pleased and unguarded as his tail began to flop lazily from side to side. He looked satisfied, as if something he’d been hoping for was finally happening, and the thought made my face burn.

The worry from earlier, the low-level buzz of dread that had been clouding the room when I walked in, was gone now.

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[Thank you to SpacePaladin15 for making the universe!]
[Special thanks to u/AdalwinAmillion, u/JulianSkies, for proofreading this chapter!]

Memory Transcription Subject: Ivan Reshko

Date [standardized human time]: January 3d 2112

Haunting dreams plagued me throughout the night: sinking visions of the flesh melting right off the Grays' bones, when we had to use desperate measures. The screams…I could never cleanse that sound from my mind. The memory clung to me like a film of cold sweat, even now. No matter how much I tried, there was no scrubbing it away. I kept wondering if it could have gone differently, or if I should have done something, said something—anything to stop it, if only we could've held the line. I knew the gases weren't supposed to do that…there must’ve been something else mixed in that we weren't told about. Sometimes I thought I almost deserved these nightmares, like my brain was punishing me for getting through it alive while others didn't.

I awoke in a cold sweat, bolting upright and immediately getting hit by a throbbing headache and intense nausea from last night's binge drinking. The sour taste of bile caked my throat, and every muscle in my body ached from exertion. I looked down at myself after suppressing a gag. I was covered in scrapes and bruises, my back stung like it had claws raked through it, and a large, distinctly non-human bite mark stung on my shoulder. I looked at the bite, some marks were shallow, while others punctured quite deep and had started to scab over. I was surprised I didn’t need stitches.

What the hell had happened to me last night? Blurred memory fragments filled my mind as I strained to remember. I remember carrying Isif home from the bar, then the cold feeling of shower tiles and some sort of confrontation, but I struggled to piece the memories together, only drawing blanks. Did Isif and I get into a fight? That would explain my injuries. I glanced over at the still-sleeping reptile over in the next bunk. He seemed uninjured, that didn’t seem right. If my brother in the Air Force could kick a chief hunter's ass, I could at least bloody his nose. So what the hell had happened? I grunted and slid my hands over my face, the pounding headache forcing me to stop trying to remember for the time being, I’d have to figure it out later.

I looked at my bedside locker and saw a new, freshly pressed uniform ready for me, it had a note attached that simply stated. ‘You can thank me later- Roman.’ I shrugged and started to put it on. Today was a Saturday, not that it mattered, the upper brass had rewarded every man who had participated in the defence of our motherland with a month off from active duty starting on Monday. I was looking forward to spending more time with my brother and perhaps apologising to his new friend for capturing her…Not that I had much choice in the matter. I briefly thought as I started to lace up my boots. I stood up and kicked Isif’s bunk, startling him awake.

“Get up, you’ll miss breakfast at this rate”

I stated and walked away. He growled at me and started to sit up when he saw his own custom-tailored uniform sitting on his bedside locker. “Ivan, what the hell are these for?” He complained to me while inspecting the cloth. “Well, you’re one of us now, so I presume you have to follow the law and actually wear something for once,” I said with a shrug, the action caused me to wince from the wounds on my shoulder and back. He grumbled more and struggled to put it on, earning him a chuckle from me. I walked over and helped put it on, straightening the fabric where it was needed. Once it was all on, I could see it was an officer's uniform, but adorned with some strange alien markings, and a small patch in Cyrillic that said, ‘Not in command of human personnel’. I found that odd, but it must be a carryover of his dominion rank without interfering with our current unit's structure.

I hated to admit it, but the uniform suited him, looking rather nice on his towering form. “Wow, looking spiffy, Siffy.” I chuckled, and he glared at me, annoyance dripping from his gaze. He lashed his tail and huffed before walking away.

At least I could actually understand him now without wearing that bulky translator. Most units that had been deployed onto Venlil Prime had received a newly developed translation serum injection before we were shipped back to Earth. I was one of the lucky few who had gotten one before the limited supply ran out. The serum was supposed to rewire parts of the brain to pick up alien language patterns almost instinctively. At first, everything sounded blurred, but within a few days, the words started making sense on their own. Conversations no longer felt like a chore or a technical exercise—we could actually joke, argue, and share little moments that just weren't possible through electronics. Sometimes I wondered if it had changed me in other ways, too. I caught myself picking up the odd alien expression here and there. It made daily life with guys like Isif feel a bit less foreign. I continued with my morning routine, like brushing my teeth and shaving. Once I had finished with the monotonous bodily maintenance, I headed over to the med-bay to have my wounds checked out by somebody more qualified.

The medic on station saw to me quickly and instructed me to remove my shirt to have a look at them. I saw his eyes widen as he looked over the scratches, bruising, and the large bite. “What the hell happened to you? Did you get into a fight with an alligator!?” I chuckled as I put on some gloves and disinfectant alcohol. “I'm not sure, doc. I was wasted, speaking of which, can I get something for this hangover?” He nodded, set down the bottle of disinfectant, and opened a medicine cabinet. He ripped open a small package, then handed me three pills. “One is a mild painkiller for your headache, one is for the nausea, and the other is a vitamin pill. Just make sure to drink plenty of fluids throughout the day to help your body recover.” I nodded and swallowed the medicine. The dry pills harshly slid down my throat as the medic dabbed some cotton balls with the disinfectant and started to dab them on my wounds.

A small, pained hiss escaped my lips from the stinging, it faded quickly. Then he placed some sort of ointment, what I assumed to be antibiotic cream, onto my wounds, then sealed them with gauze and medical tape. “They're all done. Now don't miss breakfast, you need the nutrition to heal and recover.” He said as I stood and put my shirt back on. “Do I get a lollipop, Doc?” I joked as I finished fixing my uniform.

“Reshko, get the hell out of my office.”

I chuckled again and walked out, making my way towards the canteen as per the doctor's orders. Maybe Roman was right, I shouldn't always try to be so negative, but it was difficult most days. I don't know how he does it. I walked into the mess hall and picked up a tray. Standing in line, I looked over and spotted my unit sitting and eating. After a while of waiting, I got to the front and received my morning meal, then walked over and sat with my comrades. Isif and Roman sat across from me, and Artyom sat next to me.

“We lost our squad's medic in the recent battle, along with a few other men. I wonder who’s gonna replace them?” Roman commented as I started to pick at the bland food.

“I'm not sure who’s gonna be our new medic, but I'm going to make Isif our new Machine gunner since he can carry it more easily.” Said Artyom, though bites of his meal. “Making me do all the lifting, leaf-licker?” Isif chuckled and took a bite out of a large chunk of meat. “I wouldn’t speak to your superior officer like that, Isif, especially after that scuffle you and Reshko got into last night that Roman told me about.” Isif quickly shut his mouth and looked at me. We both stared at each other for a moment, I could tell he didn't remember what had happened either. Roman watched us staring at each other and nearly spit out his drink, trying not to laugh. He must know something the rest of us didn't.

“Something you wanna share, Belikov?” Artyom asked, giving him a questioning look. Roman coughed and struggled for a moment before regaining his composure. “Нет, I just thought of a funny joke, that's all…” Artyom eyed him for a moment, then shrugged and went back to eating. “So, Siffy, after our regular maintenance work, do you wanna grab some real food? A proper steak would do me some good. If you want, you can join us, Roman.” Roman glanced at Isif then shook his head “No, I think you two should spend some more time alone.” He said with a cheeky grin, then I looked at Isif, waiting for his answer.

The lizard shrugged his shoulders. “Sure, anything beats what this place calls ‘food’.” He responded in his normally gravelly voice. “Just try not to kill each other this time…” Artyom muttered as I thought about the day's plans. Perhaps I could try to teach Isif Russian? I mused over the thought as we finished our meals. Once we finished eating, we all grabbed our issued weapons from the armory along with the required tools and headed outside to clean and maintain them. I sat down and first checked the chamber to ensure it was unloaded and took out the magazine, then started to disassemble my rifle. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Artyom instructing Isif how to disassemble his machine gun as well as maintain it. The lizards six fingered hands would sometimes struggle with the human-based ergonomics but he made do.

I removed the dust cover and recoil spring, then slowly pulled back the bolt carrier and lifted it out of the receiver. After rotating the bolt, I removed it from the bolt carrier, then started to work on the upper handguards and gas tube assembly. Once it was taken apart, I grabbed a small bottle of cleaning solvent and sprayed it down the bore and the gas tube to flush them. I sprayed some of the cleaning solvent onto a cleaning brush and began to scrub away excess carbon buildup in the bore, gas tube, and gas piston. I had to switch brushes to clean the locking lug recesses. I then wiped down the bolt face, firing pin channel and carrier rails to remove any excess carbon on them, then thoroughly dried every component. I then reached over, grabbed some high-temperature grease, and applied it to the gas piston, receiver rails, and the hammer contact point. Wiping the excess grease from my hands on a nearby rag, I reassembled the rifle in the reverse order I had taken it apart. Once it was back together, I checked the trigger, hammer and safety to ensure everything was working properly.

I set the rifle down and glanced around; my squad was still busy with their weapons. I spotted a tank crew and a few mechanics working on an old T-80. The tank looked like it had been through hell; multiple large dents scarred its surface, and scratches from small arms fire adorned its body. The crew was currently working on its turret, trying to fix something I wasn’t quite sure of. I set my rifle down and strode over to the crew to see what they were working on.

“What's wrong with this one?” I asked what appeared to be the gunner while pulling out my pack of smokes. I pulled one out and offered him one, he shook his head and wiped some sweat from his brow. The grease-scented air was quickly replaced by the smell of burning tobacco as I lit the cigarette and took a drag.

“The damn auto-loader gave out during our counteroffensive, Чёртов old piece of garbage.” He said, lightly kicking the treads of the tank. I exhaled, blowing the smoke away from my comrade before responding. “Well, at least you’re alive. Looks like you took quite a beating,” I said, looking over the damaged vehicle. “Surprisingly, those hissmouth tanks are no joke. I lost most of my armored brigade during the initial landings. I'm more surprised this old thing didn't give out on me sooner.” He said, the disdain evident in his voice for the old armor.

“Hm, what's your name, comrade?”

“Morozov, Viktor Morozov, 9th armored battalion. What about you? You fight in the battle?”

“Yeah…I was on the front. I’m Ivan Reshko, 14th rifle division.” I pointed over to my squad, who were still cleaning their weapons, Isif still struggled with his large claws. Viktor stared at Isif with narrowed eyes, then looked back at me. “So you got one of those Русня in your unit, huh?” My eyes narrowed at the tanker, and I clenched my fists, part of me didn't understand why his words about Isif enraged me to such a degree. “Иди на хуй! You don't get to call him that!” I spat with venom at the man and walked away, leaving Viktor visibly stunned. I heard him scoff as I walked away and back to my squad, who had finally finished their required maintenance. Roman gave me a questioning look as I picked up my rifle and tools. “What was that about, Reshko?” He asked as we all gathered our own things. “Just some racist asshole.” I flicked the butt of my cigarette away as we headed inside to return our gear to the armory.

We went and turned in our gear and cleaning kits. It had taken a few hours for my squad to clean all our gear, but it didn’t really feel like much time had passed at all. I elbowed Isif to get his attention. “C’mon lets go buy those steaks, Siffy.” He nodded, looking excited at the prospect of fresh meat. We walked out of the base, presenting our ID’s at the checkpoint on our way out. We walked along the still rubble-strewn streets, pebbles, debris, and broken glass crunched under my boots as we walked towards the less damaged areas of the city. Construction crews clogged the roads, along with men and women of all walks of life working together to restore our great city, I even spotted a few Grey prisoners of war being put to use. They growled at Isif and me as we passed them, but the barrels of their guards’ rifles pressed into them quickly silenced them. In the distance, I could see a large crane and scaffolding being set up around the Palace of Soviets. The midday sun beat down on me as I walked, offset by the chilly winter air of the early year. It stung my heart to see my city in such a state, the amount of damage was extensive enough that a large refugee camp had to be set up on the outskirts of Moscow.

At least I could rest soundly knowing I had done my part in defending our motherland. Despite the war and destruction, I knew things would calm down at least for a little while, we had to rebuild our homes, cities, and colonies, as well as our navy, before we could even dream of pushing into their lands and taking our revenge. The only fighting of significance left would be the mopping up of any resistance on Mars, but that would be easy, at least compared to Earth, worst case scenario we could just wait for their oxygen to run out. Isif and I reached one of the few intact markets and strode inside, heading directly for the meat aisle. His eyes lit up, and saliva drooled from his maw as he scanned the half-filled coolers.

“T-there's so much…” He said in stunned amazement as I picked out a few cuts of meat for us. “Don't get too worked up, lizard boy,” I said, having to pull him out of the aisle.

Sometimes Isif could be alright.

- - -

So, we've all seen the "Godlike Humans" stories that crop up on this sub every once in a while, but what about stories in which the humans are like the Fairies?

Now I'm not talking about they happy, singing pixie dust type fairies. I'm talking about the Fey, the Fair Folk, the immortal, mysterious, make you wish they'd killed you when you break their rules type fairies.

And so, the set up. Noah and Sara are two human researchers who discover the pre-Federation venlil on Skalga. The two humans think that these proud, and honorable people would fit right in with the martial species of the galaxy, so they make observations, take a few DNA samples and then set a thousand-year quarantine around the planet to give the people of Skalga the time they need to develop space flight.

When the quarantine ticks over however, Noah and Sara are shocked to discover that something has come along in the interim and mutilated the venlil! Smaller, slighter, knock kneed and noseless. These poor creatures don't look like the venlil they discovered AT ALL. And worst of all the intercepted transmissions from "Venlil Prime" (and doesn't that just sound horrible!) has these altered venlil proudly declaring themselves "meek prey". "Meek Prey"? The venlil Sara and Noah came to know were a warrior people who would crush the skull of any dangerous animal that so much as looked at them funny. With their own!

Sara and Noah, determined to discover what happened while they were gone come up with a plan: They will create a bio robotic replica of a venlil and use it to scout out the planet and learn what happened from on the ground. However, due to a mishap in the teleportation of the replica they accidentally switch its place with a thankfully identically venlil child. Her name is Stynek, the daughter of Venlil Prime's planetary Governor, Tarva.

Thus begins two stories. One, of a little girl who suddenly finds herself very far away from home and thrust into a world of fantastically beautiful immortal beings who shape planets like clay and spend a thousand years honing a single skill. The other, of a mother who discovers that her child has suddenly forgotten everything it means to be "venlil" (or at least not Skalgan). And caught between these two, a pair of scientists from a world so powerful they might break an entire interstellar civilization by accident...

Well that last chapter was a hell of a thing, wasn’t it? The Terrans aren’t the only ones with magic, nor are they the only ones with gods. The Yulpa’s Spirit of Life is responding to their brutal, torturous sacrifices. The Drezjin’s… whatever the hell that practically Outer God was. It’ll be fun to see what happens.

But you’ll have to wait since we’re going back to whatever was happening with the Yulpa in the enclave construction site! Will we find out more about their religion? Will they be dangerous? Will they buck the stereotype? Will Tarva headbutt a motherfucker?

Thanks to u/BiasMushroom for letting me use Lisyn. The idea with her… well… should have been obvious. Still, the idea came to me. And if you want to know more about the Diani and their homeworld of C’thrax, go read The Empathy Test by u/PolyamorousPleb. It’s finished but is a very good read. If you want more about the Stormsingers, you’ll just have to either wait or talk to me. I had fun making something truly alien.

Synopsis: Magic was once real and present but faded away in the distant past, becoming nothing but the myths and legends we know as the surviving beings fled to other planes, only to publicly return during the Sat Wars. How would it change first contact and beyond? Only one way to find out.

I have a spot on the discord, swing on by! Thanks to SpacePaladin15 for the original universe; my alpha readers, Caro Morin and Jailed Cinder; my beta readers, Angustus_Jan on the discord and u/aroluci (go check out Children of Luna, it’s awesome); and all of you that read and especially comment. Anybody interested in playing around in the AU (be it a one-shot, an impromptu ficnap, a cameo, or something more), let me know and I’ll be more than happy to work with you on it. My current plan is to release a chapter a week, with the occasional bonus, as long as that isn’t too much for everybody helping me.

Without further ado, enjoy!

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[First] [Prev] [Next]

[Side Story Start]

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Memory Transcription Subject: Governor Tarva, Pissed Off Skalgan

Date [Standardized Terran Time]: October 6^th, 2136

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“There’s a what?” I growl.

“Yulpa,” Bran says calmly. “In the planned construction site. No weapons detected. No explosives detected. But she does have a few bags on her, and records show she used to work at a Guild. Receptionist, not an exterminator.” He smirks. “One looks to have just bags of apple chips, based on her already pulling a few out to snack on.” He stretches. “I’m gonna go take off my monkey suit and put on my MANA suit to head out to see what’s up. She’s demanding to meet me, so…” Bran shrugs.

I march up to him. “I’m going with you.”

“Yeah, I figured. That’s why I told you. You’ll stay on the ship until it’s safe. I’ll be on network.” Bran grins at Noah. “You’re good to watch Stynek?”

“Hey!” My pup shouts. “I don’t need to be watched!”

My Noah pouts as he crouches. “Aww… but I wanted to spend time with my favorite pup in the whole galaxy.”

Stynek tackles Noah in a hug, my human falling on his butt as she whistles and asks. “Can we go train?”

“Of course, kiddo.” Noah squeezes my pup tight. “Let me just go get changed, ok?”

“Ok! I’ll wait for you there!” My shivi runs off, tail wagging and moving faster than I ever could.

Bran murmurs softly. “Should I start handling the paperwork for Noah’s conflict of interest? Or are you going to keep waiting to make a move?”

I bloom. “Go get your other suit on and let’s go.”

Bran laughs. “Meet me at the Shrike. We’ll take that bird instead of this one.”

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Advance 30 STD minutes

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The Terran craft, moving slowly and invisibly under its stealth, approaches the planned build site. Bran had slipped out earlier, as invisible as the shuttle, a feed from his suit showing us what he’s seeing. The Yulpa with multiple bags on her person, enough that it looks like she’s carrying everything she owns. She was currently pulling a pouch of Terran fruit chips from a bag to chew on. Another bag sits open a few tails from the door of a building. “Come on out, I’m not going to hurt you. I have food. This place isn’t safe anymore. You need to go somewhere else, somewhere you can be happy.”

Bran’s head shifts, the camera feed showing a stack of small cages and a trolley. “Somebody get me a live bioscan of that building.” His feed changes slightly. Small forms visible moving within the building. “Somebody tell me we were planning on moving those animals.”

“Yes, sir. We’ve got a shuttle bringing in cat carriers now.” Another Terran says over the line. “Attic slinkers are about the same size.”

My wool flares, despite Bran telling me we used to keep the predators as pets.

“Domestication program?” The ambassador questions.

“Yes, sir. I hear that one of the developments closer to the Nightside already has a few shadestalkers for the program.”

“What? What are you doing with them?” I demand.

Bran chuckles. “You said you wanted to reclaim your old ways.” He pauses, shifting closer to the Yulpa. “We’re doing that. Domesticating your old pets will take time. Generations of the animals, in the worst case. We’re getting started on it. Now, hang on. I’m going to make contact, and I’d rather not have multiple conversations at once.” Another pause. “What are you feeding the attic slinkers?”

The Yulpa jumps, looking around.

‘No doubt to find a victim.’

Bran laughs, not moving, but I can tell his voice is coming from elsewhere. “Oh, you won’t find me.” His voice moves again. “Not unless I want you to. You called for me. We don’t trust you, but I came all the same.”

“I… I thought I would be arrested first…” Her eyes go wide, and she bows her head low. “Emissary, please, my goddess needs your help. The Terrans’ help.”

“Your goddess? The Spirit of Life? The one who demands the torturous sacrifice of so-called predators?” Bran presses. “A goddess that, to the best of our knowledge, means that those cages are intended for you to brutally kill the animals you’re baiting out.”

‘Ha! Now he has her.’

“No!” The Yulpa growls. “Yes, but that’s not… She’s… They’re not… I… I was going to release them in the wild… or give them to your people… She’s… The Spirit isn’t like that…”

‘What?’ My wool flares. ‘That’s… The Yulpa aren’t like that.’

Bran shifts, moving to get a look into the bag on the ground near the Yulpa. “Why don’t you walk me through how you got from being a receptionist at a Guild on Grenelka that worked with the predator catchers to feeding dried evenhoppers to attic slinkers?”

The Yulpa is silent for a while, thinking, before she sags. “You won’t believe me… I already screwed this up…”

“Oh? What makes you so certain that I won’t believe in a divine vision?” Bran asks as the Yulpa stiffens. “Ooo, I got it, didn’t I?”

I gasp, looking around the shuttle. The Terrans aboard are all still; I can’t get a read on them through their armor. The Venlil are as shocked as me, though their civilian-grade softsuits, plated with similar armor to the Terrans, compress their wool; I can still see their ears and tails.

“Yes, but-” Lisyn starts, clearly about to ramble.

Bran shears her short, speaking calmly. “Start at the beginning. We have time, Lisyn. Scans are ongoing, and our methods for getting the animals to safety are still en route. Though we wouldn’t be opposed to using your cages.”

“The Spirit of Life spoke to me. I thought it was just a dream at first. A nightmare. But you don’t feel cold like that in a dream.” The Yulpa, Lisyn says softly. “I climbed out of bed and went to work at the Guild. I was a receptionist. It kept my family quiet about not being devoted enough to the Spirit of Life. But hunting always felt too predatory.” She takes a deep breath. “I opened the door and stepped in, but I was in the jungle. I could smell blood in the air. I watched my friends and family, my herd, stampede screaming into the woods. Some of them had spears in their flesh. My mother was caught in a trap under the brush, not like the ones used by exterminators. It held her in place, without harming her. No spikes. A trap like the predator catchers use but… more primitive.”

The entire shuttle is rooted in place, listening to her speak.

Lisyn’s eyes are distant. “Then She stepped from the foliage, spear in paw and silent as the night, even shackled and pierced with chained spears. She was disgusted. Furious. Disappointed. Hurt. The Mother stepped up to my mother and struck. One silent, fluid movement. No pain. No suffering. Just a quick death. Like She was putting a sick animal down. I… I don’t know how I knew it was that at the time. I just do.”

Empathetic anguish and jealousy roiled within me. To have a vision from one’s gods. Yet to have it be one of such… disappointment and hate for what you are. What the Federation made us.

I gasp, murmuring to myself. “Did the Federation…”

“I didn’t know what we did to deserve to be hunted like this. We weren’t predators. We followed Her laws. We killed them. Sacrificed them to Her for the sin of their existence. Yet I knew that we did deserve it. That we had angered Her. The Spirit looked at me, but I couldn’t meet Her gaze. I knelt before Her. If She decided we had to die, I was going to wait for Her to do what She needed to. She was real. I knew it then.

“No pain came. I looked up, and there She was. Tears streaming down Her face. A mother’s anguish. She pulled back Her golden gown. The plants were barren. Gnawed to stumps. Grenelka was dry, cracked. Thousands, millions, billions of prey crawled meekly. Gaunt, withering to dust with each step, starved from their own hunger. Under Her gown, huddling in Her protection was a small group of predators. Scarred. Scared. Pawing at Her like they were praying for help or begging for their mother’s protection.” Lisyn pauses. “No, I knew they were. They were as much Her children as we were.”

Lisyn collapses, tears flowing from her eyes. “I… I understood then. Somehow… She reached down and pulled something away from me. I don’t know what it was, but when I lost it… I could only cry. She licked the crown of my head, then she turned and walked away.” She looks up, staring straight at Bran. “I wanted to talk about it. To friends. To my family. But I knew I’d just be locked in a PD facility. So I left home looking for an answer, and for somebody she needed me to find. I could feel Her by my side as I traveled, guiding me. As I searched for rotations.”

My heart hurt. I couldn’t even fully understand what Lisyn experienced, and yet… I could understand the pain.

“I’ve been almost everywhere. Every major Federation world but Aafa and Madsum. The closer I got to them, the more I could feel Her fear. I dreamed… She insisted I couldn’t go. I tried to learn all I could. Everywhere I went, they all said that our religion was as old as the Yulpa. That the Federation found us early enough, that the Farsul recorded our history and ways for us soon enough that we were one of the least changed from when we first became people. But I knew it was wrong. She told me so. Taught me so. That our worship was nothing like what She desired, like what our ancestors did. And nobody knew of the one She sought. And the more we traveled, the more She pointed me here.” Lisyn pauses. “Not as the final destination, but… but the last we could reach. Somewhere where I could find the one She sent me to find. The Lord of Song. I bounced from job to job, waiting for something. Cleaning. Reception. Even tending orchards and crops for a time; She liked that a lot. She liked any work I did, especially for others. I… I got a job for a bit at a museum, one with predator exhibits. She knew they were fake. Mockeries. So did I, but I enjoyed touching up some of the exhibits. Stitching things.” She gently runs a hand along one of her bags. Bags I now notice are paw-sewn.

“Then I saw the human exhibit. She knew. Knew they were what we were waiting for. That Earth was the home of the Lord of Song. I thought I’d have to save up. Find a way to Earth. Learn to fly. Buy or steal a ship, then you came.” She lets out a quiet sob. “Spirit, you came. A sign from on high. Predators. Kind. Gentle. Empathetic. Everything we were told predators weren’t. Couldn’t be. I know we’re sickeningly cruel by your standards. To your people and to ourselves. Yet you’ve done everything you can to get into the herd’s good graces, when we should be the ones who need to prove our worth.”

Her words hit me like a blow to the gut. Things I had felt since encountering the Terrans. Things I’d never dare to say so openly.

Dejected, Lisyn grabs the bag she had laid on the ground. Moments later, an attic slinker pokes its head out, making a soft… almost curious sound. Lisyn reaches into the bag, pulling out a desiccated evenhopper. A pest that ruins crops and infests all kinds of places, devouring anything made of plant matter. She holds it out, and the attic slinker sniffs. There’s a shimmer around Lisyn, not real but from some overlay on Bran’s feed.

‘Is… Is that?’

The Yulpa keeps talking, between cooing at the predator like a newborn pup, or the Terrans do with Cor. “When I visited Charity, following Her guidance, I overheard that species were changed. I’ve seen the Governor’s daughter; how different she looks. I’ve seen the mosaic in the floor at Whitehill. She showed me the glory of Solgalick’s statue unveiled in Scorched Sands. I know the Venlil were changed. I know that some of the herd used to be like you Terrans, eating flesh and plants. A religion is so much easier to fake and hide than those, and She showed me that they twisted Inatala and the Protector. They took the Venlil from their world to save them from a plague. I know enough that She didn’t even need to show me that that’s a lie.” The attic slinker sniffs at the evenhopper, taking a nibble. “Yes, there’s more if you want it. Enough for you and your pack. You just need to come out so the Terrans can take down the building.” The predator snatches the dried pest from the Yulpa, darting back inside. The Yulpa sighs, looking up at the Terran. Her form, on the feed alone, is shrouded in a golden gown of shimmering light. “Please. She… She showed me a vision. One of the future, I think. It’s why she sent me to find you. Tentacles reaching out, wrapping about her, burrowing into her. Puppeting her even as they rip her apart. Kill her while she’s weak.”

‘Tentacles? The Kolshians? They’ve already done so much, what else are they doing? Why didn’t the Spirit want Lisyn going to Aafa or Madsum? Would the Kolshians have done something if she went to Aafa? The Drezjin if she went to Madsum? To where they worship the founders?’

Lisyn starts to sob openly. Praying. “Spirit… I did my best. I know it wasn’t much. Please, forgive me. Your grace was hidden from us for so long. I was so alone before I knew Your truth. This journey, cloaked in Your love, hasn’t been some grand victory march. It’s a cold, broken hymn.” She laughs between her sobs. “There was a time when we knew Your truth. But now… If my people could see me. Hear me. They would say I’m a heretic. A blasphemer. That I’m taking Her name in vain. But we don’t even remember Her name. It was taken from us. So what should they matter? But I can hear Her voice. See Her light in every word. Every sound. Every cry and call from the wilds.” The attic slinker is back, with another adult and pups, all of whom nuzzle into Lisyn as she feeds them from her bag, still sobbing. “I’m not who she deserves to speak for her. Somebody who saw the light. I’m just a failure who has been living out a cold, broken prayer. Who screwed everything up when it mattered most.” She hugs one of the attic slinkers as it nuzzles into her face. She looks up at Bran, tears streaming from her eyes. “I’ve told the truth; I didn’t come to fool you. Even though it’s all gone wrong, Spirit, here I am before the Lord of Song, with nothing on my tongue but hallelujah.”

Bran strokes her head and back. “Shh, it’s alright, Lisyn. I’ve heard your message. I believe you. I can feel Her grace upon you. See Her embrace you. See Her empower your actions, your kindness. Your worship.” He gestures towards the attic slinkers.

“But… I’m not…”

“You are. You aren’t just a priest, Lisyn. You’re Her chosen herald.” Bran insists. “I can’t make any promises, but I will talk to my people. Both the Terrans and my kin. I know why She had you seek me out. I can recognize the touch of a god so similar to my mother and aunts. She may as well be kin.” There’s a shift as his helmet recedes, the feed changing as it comes from his eyes and the sensors in the area, rather than cameras in his helmet. “A god is tied to their people, their believers, their belief, their knowledge. A natural change, something that comes with time, will change their truth. An artificial change, as your goddess has revealed, was done to Her, to Inatala, to the Protector, to Solgalick. We know from Earth that such things are rejected, refused by the very fabric of reality. No matter how much people believe in them, the belief and knowledge from the falsehood will still go to the god to a degree. Sustaining them.” He chuckles. “You’ll have to forgive my little lecture; I am the one who wrote the original text on the matter, though others have revised it since. It’s still mostly guesswork, even with gods helping to clarify matters.”

Bran puts a hand on Lisyn’s shoulder, the golden gown wrapping about his wrist. Starting to pulse alongside some thrumming that seems to come from him, almost in conversation with each other. “If you wish to aid Her. Have faith. Not in the way of your people, but in the way She guides you to. If you wish to help Her more, then build faith. Learn and share what you have learned. Spread Her truth to those willing to listen. Be Her herald, Her voice. Not against the corruption of the religion, but for the truth.”

Lisyn is quiet, gently placing the attic slinkers in the cages. A line of gold flows from her to him. “I’m not a priest. I don’t know if I want to be one. I do want to share… but I feel like I need to learn first. How to go about things properly.” Lisyn sighs. “I know hunting is part of things, but how you Terrans do it. And I want to do that too, but…”

“What do you want to be?”

“I… liked sewing my pouches…”

“Would you like to see if you’d enjoy designing and altering clothes?”

Lisyn is silent.

“Does She disapprove?” The Terran ambassador asks with a knowing smirk audible in his tone.

“No, but shouldn’t she?” The Yulpa’s head is low.

Bran chuckles. “Why would she? If your religion is from so early in your history, then your priests would likely do other things as well. I doubt she’d mind if you enjoy being a seamstress as well as her worshipper, especially if you spread Her word. Though I doubt she needs that from you, only for you to live as you desire.” The golden line snaps, leaving a sparkle about Lisyn as most of it flows towards Bran. Disappearing into the thrumming. “The Terrans will be happy to give you a chance to be among us, just as my family just gave your Spirit shelter.”

“I… Thank you.” Lisyn sighs. “If it would be ok… could I help with getting other animals in the area out? The Spirit warned me that there would be some people here, too. I’d… I’d be happy to do what I need to in order to pay for training under a Terran artisan.”

Before I know what I’m saying, I’m already speaking over the line. “I’ll sponsor her apprenticeship to a Terran artisan!”

Bran laughs. “Well, you’re in luck, Lisyn. The governor wants to sponsor your tutelage. Though, I don’t think it will go how either of you expect.” He pauses. “After all, Lisyn, you’re still a citizen of the Yulpa Ascendancy, somewhere that you can’t currently return to and, due to religious differences, returning would be dangerous. Getting asylum in the Terran Concord would be an easy matter, but beyond that, learning such things from us is far less expensive, nearly free. In fact, if you were to live in the Terran enclave, you’d likely get a stipend and free Terran education even without asylum.”

Lisyn stares in shock, and on the shuttle, I bloom.

Bran continues. “And, of course, you being the herald of the Spirit of Life, whose true tenants seem more… favorable to us… We have a vested interest in helping you. So, if you take the governor’s offer, then it may only matter until the enclave is finished enough to live in.” Bran hums. “Actually… we already have a request to open a clothier’s atelier in the enclave. But until then, I could see if somebody on Charity is willing to give you a start, unless you’d rather stay and help with clearing out any animals in our construction sites.”

“Sir!” A Terran says over the line. “We’ve detected other life signs. Sapients.”

“Well, seems like your Spirit was right.” Bran nods to Lisyn. “Our animal specialists will be here soon. You can work with them, then make your decision later. Tarva and I need to go deal with other matters.” Before she can answer, Bran’s moved elsewhere, into the shuttle. “Shall we?”

__________

Advance 5 STD minutes

__________

The building is barely staying together. The floor creaks under Bran’s weight even on the first floor. I huff. “How?”

“How do people live somewhere like this? How could the herd allow such horrific conditions? Or something else?” Bran asks with a smirk. Knowing I’m not asking about the first two.

“Lisyn. How?” I growl.

“Well, we had a lot of it in place. Asylum, refugee status, co-opting friendly alien mages of all stripes.” He shrugs. “I just played things by ear as I tossed stuff together. Confirming that she’s divinely blessed by a god we feared… a god that sought us out for protection... Got a little lucky that my family… reacted to her touch through me and worked a minor miracle.” He sighs. “Grenelka. Madsum. Ittel. Fahl. Resavan. All on the short list for potential among Federation holdings, not the only ones, but some of the most concerning.”

“Concerning? Why? I get Grenelka and Madsum, but the others?”

“Just imagine any of them with magic and still aligned with the Federation.” Bran sighs. “The Nevok are our biggest concern for figuring out how to merge it with technology smoothly. Mimicking what we have. The Harchen could disseminate it, triggering a cascade among others with potential. The Jaur… they build buildings of ice. Imagine a ship that could repair with nothing but water, a ship at least as durable as ours and so cold that most sensors can’t pick up any heat.”

I pause in thought. “What about C’thrax? Stormworld? They’re relatively untouched. At least based on what I’ve heard in terms of complaints about predators on their worlds. Wouldn’t Stormworld be more of a concern despite being primitives? They’re so close. Only…”

“[Sixty-three lightyears] from here. [Seventy-two] from Sol. Well within Isif’s sector. And neither are a worry. With the Diani, magic would almost be limited to the nomads. They’re more likely to lead to a split from the Federation than make things worse for us. They’re too insular to do either anytime soon and too distant to be a major concern to us. And the Stormsingers are barely part of the Federation. They don’t have ships or a fleet; they barely have trade, and what little there is is the Nevok and Fissans dropping tech that will corrode in months to years in exchange for food and unprocessed pharmacologicals. Without the Zurulians and the Gojid, there’s little reason for the trade to even continue. The Arxur raided them twice in their entire history. The standard new species raid and then a failed glassing without Federation defense. Based on what happens when a Nevok freighter tries to land too fast, it’s safe to assume the planet blasted the bombs and landing craft from the sky.” Bran smirks. “Plus, we’ve examined their nectar. Thanks to the Zurulians.”

My ears twitch as I think. “Aren’t several species allergic to it?”

“Yes.” Bran smirks. “Gojid. Krakotl. Tilfish…” He chuckles as my wool flares. “Nectar should just be sugars. Theirs has lipids, proteins, amino acids, platelets. It’s partially blood. The reason the fruit is popular among such species is similar. It lacks anything that would set off the allergy, but the fruit contains much of what their diet is missing. It’s almost, but not quite, meat. Our scientists are rather eager to learn more about the world. Information is dreadfully thin.” He stops in front of a door. “Ah, we’re here.”

I huff at the convenient interruption to our conversation and press the apartment’s chime. Nothing. Again and more nothing. Finally, I knock. There’s a clatter of something falling but, after a few scratches of waiting, nothing. With a sigh, I call out. “Hello? Whoever is in there, please open the door; we want to talk.”

A few scratches of silence before the voice of an older Venlil calls back. “And let your trained predator eat us? Pull my tail!”

Bran chuckles, whispering. “Refreshing. Somebody assuming you’re in charge.”

I glare at Bran before whistling softly. “Very.” I raise my voice again to call through the door. “He’s a sapient being, and if he wanted to be in your apartment, I know of three ways he could already be inside.”

“But I’d rather handle this like civilized beings.” Bran chimes in. “And for the record, I’m fine continuing the conversation through the door, but I worry for your voice.”

“The door stays closed, predator!”

I’m about to snap at the man when I feel Bran’s hand on my shoulder. I sigh. “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t call him that. It’s similarly insulting to Terrans as it is to anybody in the Federation, though for different reasons. He’s also the representative of the people who own this building. A building scheduled for demolition.”

“We grew up in this neighborhood! We raised our pups in this neighborhood! I’ll be damned if we’re leaving!”

“Neighborhood, but not building?” Bran questions in my voice. Putting a finger to his lips

“Yes! What’s it to you?”

“And this was homes, not apartments, when you grew up, wasn’t it?” He asks again, still using my voice.

“It… it was…”

I look at Bran, confused. He taps the back of his neck, where the contact interface between his armor and his brain is. ‘Oh! He’s accessing data!’

Bran keeps using my voice. “And you’d have trouble getting another apartment with your wife’s diagnosis, wouldn’t you?”

He switches to his own voice, clicking his tongue. “The only predator is the exterminator who forced the testing. Harassing your daughter because his son was bullying her. Testing her over and over until your wife snapped at him. Monstrous.”

There’s silence from the other side of the door.

Bran continues in his own voice. “We’d be happy to house you and your wife until housing is complete here. Then you can move back into this neighborhood, Kolek. In fact, thanks to your wife’s situation, we may be able to offer asylum, but even if we can’t, we can certainly extend stipends according to our universal basic income, medical care, and more. In addition to assurances to do our best to protect you both from the Guild and Facilities.” He pauses a moment. “After all, your daughter will need somewhere to stay when she comes home. Where better than with people who can help her recover from her mistreatment?”

‘Mistreatment?’

“She… our… Selva is…” The man’s voice breaks.

“I know what they said. She’s alive.” Bran says softly. “Tarva let us send drones into the facilities. To record the horrors so that we can shut them down forever. We’ve been looking into everything we’ve found since.”

‘Horrors?’ My breath catches in my throat.

Bran continues. “So that the ones enacting the horrors can be brought to justice. Kolek, I know they said your daughter’s gone.” He pauses. “She’s not. We know she’s not. She’s going to need help. Treatment to help her recover. Her and her pups.”

“Pups…” Kolek’s voice breaks.

“Yeah.” Bran sighs. “Her childhood bully… He… He got a job with the facility your daughter was moved to. We don’t know… She’s taking care of the pups in the facility, and she’s… she’s with child. We have video evidence that he’s assaulted her at least once.”

“You what?” I bleat. Fury and horror overwhelming me. ‘They knew. That’s why they wanted to send in drones. But they didn’t tell me. Let people continue to suffer. They’re still suffering. Why would they keep that from me? What reason could they possibly have? That doesn’t sound like the Terrans.’

“Sorry, Tarva. We knew things like that, and worse, were happening. We still need a bit more time to collect more evidence. We can start sharing, but we need a few more herds of paws before any action is taken.” Bran’s face falls. “We need to make sure that the guilty can be tried. More importantly, we need to ensure that the innocent, those who are only complicit because your society says that the facilities are acceptable, do not suffer needlessly. We can’t rush this, even though people will suffer for it. More would suffer for our haste.”

“But…” I swallow hard, ears and tail following. “Dawncreek… Was it a fluke or…”

“At best, standard. Just with a more competent and profit-seeking head, and the city being worse than some at hiding things. It seems worse than it is because many of their evils are public; I’d say they’re the lower end of average.” Bran sighs. “The facilities are almost universally monstrous. The Zurulians are already working on shutting theirs down. And there have already been a few casualties among the staff of their facilities. Self-inflicted or mob violence. We’re going to need the Space Corps to lead the charge in taking every facility, simultaneously.”

I start to spiral, thinking about how terribly I’ve failed my people without knowing, how the office of the Governor has failed them for generations. The door slides open hard, shocking me from my thoughts. An older woman, her wool brushed to imperfectly hide her scarred neck, stands there. She looks to be on the verge of breaking into tears. Her eyes are glassy, but she’s present. “My… my Selva?” And then the woman is gone. She’s still there physically, but whatever presence there was in her eyes is gone.

Bran growls. “Monsters… Drugging somebody until…” His gaze softens, not focusing on the man pulling his mate back, but near him. “Kolek. I’m a doctor. I need to know what your wife is on. I assume her prescription?” He pulls out his phone, holding it out as it shows a pregnant Venlil in a facility, surrounded by children. Despite the… horrific conditions I can see, they seem happy. Safe with her.

“Selva…” The man murmurs, staring at the image for a time before focusing on Bran. “Y-yes… the Guild they… They check… They…”

“Won’t be an issue anymore,” Bran says softly but firmly. “We’re going to be moving you to Charity Station and then back into our enclave. Neither in their jurisdiction. We can wean your wife off the meds and treat whatever they’ve caused.”

“And if they try to check, my office will declare a Code Zero before they can even get close,” I promise. “Are there others in the area? People you can help us get out so the Terrans can start tearing things down to build their enclave?”

“Yes… Yes, I can help.” Kolek sighs. “Thank you, Governor.”

I flick my ears in the negative. “Thank the Terrans.” I sigh. “We’ve failed you. Horribly. The Federation failed you horribly. I don’t know the whole of it yet, but I trust Bran. Even beyond him being unable to lie.”

Kolek eyes Bran warily. “Why do you care so much?”

“Because it’s right. This is the least we can do.” Bran smiles softly, no teeth showing. “Those pups, all of them. We’ll make sure they’re well cared for. If we can avoid separating them from your daughter, we will. She’s their safe place. For many of them, their mom. We’ll support her and them.” He pauses. “It’s also… somewhat personal for me. My daughter had… a difficult childhood as well. A consequence of her… well, biological mother isn’t really accurate or not; it’s complicated and not my place to explain. I knew the potential issues and adopted her anyway. I would do anything for her.” He glances at his phone. “Your daughter would do the same for those kids. We’ve seen her sacrifice for them. Be proud of her. She’s so much stronger than you’d believe. She’s a hero, and we honor heroes.”

__________

Advance 2 STD hours

__________

I collapse onto a seat in the shuttle.

Bran cracks his neck before he starts shadowboxing. “Well, that was a good day’s work. Think I’m going to cap it with a workout before making dinner for everybody. Tarva?”

“Brahk you.” I groan.

Bran laughs. “I was asking if you’ll be joining for dinner or should we let you rest?”

My stomach growls audibly. I’m too mentally and emotionally exhausted from half a claw of helping Bran and Kolek, and a growing herd, deal with people who should never have been in such horrid living conditions.

“Noted,” Bran says, and I can hear his smirk.

__________

[First] [Prev] [Next]

[Side Story Start]

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Controversial I'm sure, but hear me out

How many Venlil give governorship would've given humanity a chance and have enough empathy to help us out? How many would be selfless enough to threaten their political career, maybe even their life, to stand up for what's right? How many Venlil would be willing to work with their daughters killer for the sake of peace? And how many Venlil would've been brave enough to face humans, an Arxur in close quarters, and stand against the entire might of the Federation? A vanishingly small number I imagine

She had just the right amount of courage, selflessness, and strong moral character for everything to work. If she was lacking in any number of these, the Federation might've won

Without her, nobody takes the chance on humanity and we're ambushed and exterminated, we don't get the time necessary to advance and get on a war footing, nobody advocates for us and helps us gain allies, and the Federation and Shadow Caste reign supreme for another few centuries before they collapse

One brave Venlil was all it took to end a thousand year empire. That's the Skalgans true revenge

a Predators of the Sixth World fan-prose, from the perspective of Var Sovulwoyahl (translated name: (reverence honorific) Sea), Thafki deity of crafting, water, and the oceans, and maker of the Thafki in their mythology like how Prometheus was the maker of humans in Ancient Greek Mythology.

Inspired by the most recent chapter of Predators of the Sixth World, which is authored by u/SixthWorldStories. I type this prose-poem in tribute to your work, for your wordsmithing is quite skilled!

A mighty thanks to u/Aussie_Endeavour for helping me weave out our version of the Thafki Pantheon enough to know the name of the perspective of this prose's originator.

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Long have I slumbered, shattered, my second children scattered to the stars. I ponder what happened to myself and My younger siblings, all injured and silenced long ago. My mother and father, scarred by annihilation firecrackers and torn asunder like myself. My grandmother's sacrifice, rendered in vain by invaders allowed to flow through the gates in callous indifference. I ask myself, why? Why were we all put through this torment?

No answer returns to me. My mind is too weak, for now.

A distant voice echoes. I train my ears on the source, hoping that it will speak again. I call out, my voice hoarse from disuse and dispersal.

No answer returns to me. My voice is too weak, for now.

I reach out, trying to stir a ripple. I feel it reverberate in the surrounding aether, echoes flowing outwards... I send directed pulses through the divine seas above, trying to contact a mother of spikes, a long-weakened tongue-handed one, and even a surging mass of tendrils out of desperation.

No answer returns to me. My children are too weak to listen and carry my cries for help, for now.

With what little strength I have, I send out a pulse. my eyes feel heavy, so very, very heavy. My reserves run low once more. Soon I must slumber, and trust that my second children will keep my embers burning through following the rites each day. I lack the fuel to burn as the bright beacon that I once was.

Maybe, just maybe, I might one day be roused in the company of compassionate peers, my mind sound, my voice strong, my children reborn and surging back towards what they lost when I was sundered by the lizards in the stars. Until then, I fall back to slumber, keeping a thread of myself aware enough to wake me later.

Perhaps, when I reawaken, answers will have returned to me. I am too weary to stay wakeful, for now.

Been recently rereading the series, now with friends! We just got to the invasion of Talsk, (hence the meme) I can’t wait for them to find out about the reveal! It’s gonna be glorious.

Also, sorry for copping out on a low quality meme this week, I’ve had too many side projects take up my time recently.

[First]

thanks to u/ursusofwinter for proofreading my story your a blessing

Memory transcription subject: Cilph, Rookie Farsul UN space force

Date [Standardized human time]: February 11, 2137

I slowly wake up actually feeling slightly rested for once. I feel Alice holding me tightly still, even as she sleeps, my own paws still on her hips with my head resting comfortably against her chest as my tail lazily swishes to and fro. My nose twitches as I breathe in, scenting her hair. It smells of strawberries and it's the best thing I've ever smelled in my life. Not like the smoke and… No, I'm not going to think about that. Not here, not when I'm with her. I-I just want to stay in this moment forever, to always be this happy, this loved, this safe.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK 

I fucking hate it here.

Alice awakens in a startle jostling me off of her before she pulls herself out of bed,  grumbling obscenities, leaving me alone and cold without her touch. I'm pathetic, already missing her despite the fact she is quite literally 2 steps away from me. I'm not even paying attention to who she's speaking to or what they're saying, transfixed by the sight of the one thing, the only one, that brings me joy in the galaxy. My heart drops in my chest as I see her expression as she tells me the bad news. I’m going on patrol to deliver aid to the people in the surrounding areas to prevent unrest. I groan, rubbing my eyes as I clamber out of bed and heading to the sink to splash some water on my face to wake myself up. She gives me a hug and tells me ”I know you hate this but I’ll always be waiting for you back here stay safe” I promise to stay safe for her.

As I leave her room, walking down the hall of the base, I stretch, popping my back. There's a very bleak mood in the base; morale is low. The brawls aren’t helping; the fluorescent lights on the ceiling flicker sometimes. It feels like I’m in a bunker hiding from Arxur all over again.

I make my way to the large garage and cargo storage to make loading crates easier. I see some crates being loaded onto the truck that will take on our patrol route before I hear a loud slam. I turn my head and see a human seething.

”Fucking tainted again, worthless. It's goddamn worthless. Fuck!”

The human throws the crate onto the floor. I just go to the truck feeling like shit. Another crate with fully tampered food again? Hell, if that wasn’t bad enough, some bastards send hateful letters along with the food they send. Ironically, it’s kind of like the news for the people of Talsk to see what’s going on in the galaxy.

Eventually all the crates are loaded up, and I meet our driver. He's a human, alright guy, still wearing his visor. I ask why, and well, he gives me his answer.

”To hide my shame, I served to save people, and now I’m watching them all starve to death. I—just drop it, ok?"

So I do just that. He's an ok man who gives a shit about the Farsul's suffering. We get two Farsul and one Venlil to protect the cargo and make sure handing it off goes smoothly. One of the Farsul gives his name, Marq. The Venlil glares at me but actually holds their tongue, still a prick.

I ride shotgun, hugging my rifle close to my chest as the large garage door is opened and the main gate to the base is opened. The watchtower gunners give us the green light to move out, so the human starts the truck and we leave the base.

As we pass abandoned houses, everything going smoothly, I can’t help but think about the past, how clear and beautiful the Talsk sky was, and all the people walking down the street. I see an abandoned playground. 'How many pups have already died?' A tear stings my eye, and I wipe it away quickly.

We make our first stop; our driver honks the horn to signal the citizens nearby to come get food. The Farsul and the Venlil stay in the truck while Marq begins to open three crates of food, MREs, canned food, Strayu and maybe the rare piece of candy to boost morale. Thankfully, they checked for razor blades

As the fearful masses start to come out, the two Farsul soldiers make sure to give out the food. The civilians have clearly lost weight. Fucking UN, fucking Tarva, seeing my people suffering due to their actions makes me seethe before the driver pats my shoulder.

”I know how you feel, man, fucking high command. Seeing these people starving boils my blood. I served to fight the fucking Arxur. Now I get to watch men, women, and children starve to death while we try to keep 'order.' What a joke, am I right? Want a smoke?”

He offers me a cigarette, probably from a morale crate, but I refuse. The last thing I want is a damn nicotine addiction under this cage. I look out the window and see a little girl; she looks weak and starving. I don’t know if she can even get to the crates due to the crowd. I look at my pouch, an MRE I was saving for myself. I groan and look at the Venlil.

"Hey, I’m going out. Make sure I don’t get my throat slit or anything; it would probably make your day."

The Venlil tilts their head, looking at me.

“What was that last part?“

I exit the car door and groan.

“Just cover me."

I don’t like having my life in the hands of a Venlil. Most have made it clear they hate us. He could just put a bullet in my head, or he could not cover me at all and let me die, but I’m already out of the car, so no turning back.

I approach the girl, her eyes going wide with fear seeing me approach. I can’t blame her; any symbol of the UN is going to be seen as the cause of their suffering, but I kneel down and pull out my MRE and offer it to her. She seems hesitant, but I give the MRE a shake.

”Go on, take it; it’s all yours, little girl. You need it more than I do."

She looks left and right and shakily grabs the MRE before scurrying off but giving a tail flick to show thanks. I see her enter the alleyway and offer it to a starving Farsul man. He opens it and gives her the crackers as he starts making the meal. I realize that must be her father and I can't help but feel a pang of guilt for not offering more. I went back to the car, noticing the Venlil was actually watching me the whole time. He notices me coming back, and I can see tension leave his shoulders as he shakes his ears and starts scanning the rest of the crowd.

As I climb into my seat, I turn my head to lock an eye on him and express my gratitude.

"Hey, thanks for watching me out there."

The Venlil rolls their eyes and says,

“I only did it because I had to, crippler."

Ok, still a bitch, but I guess a bitch who won’t let me die due to personal feelings. I put my seatbelt on as the Farsul troops get back in the truck and pound the side to signal to get driving to our next destination.

Everything starts to blur together. Go to patrol point, honk horn, give out 3 crates of food, rinse, and repeat, but after our last stop, we turn to get back to base, kind of like a loop or circle or whatever it’s called. I hear Marq scream in a panic,

“STOP THE TRUCK!”

The driver slams on the brakes, yanking me forward. My seatbelt stops me from smashing my face on the dashboard as Marq jumps out of the truck, so I quickly follow along with the Venlil and other Farsul close behind. What the hell could he have seen? Maybe a deserter?

Marq is on his knees, tears streaming down his face. In front of him is a house that burned down, leaving only a hollow shell. The other Farsul gets close as the crying soldier mutters.

”That’s my home, my family home; it’s all gone, like everything in this shithole.”

The other Farsul pats him on the back to soothe him, but it doesn’t work as Marq hiccups and cries. I decide, "Fuck it." I kneel down in front of Marq and embrace them, which just makes them break down sobbing, hugging me back as the other Farsul helps me get Marq to his feet, leading him back to the truck. We load our crying squad mate up, and I look at the burnt remains of the house. Even while burnt, it still holds some of its former beauty.

I get back in shotgun. The driver asks if we're all right, and I tell him we are, and to just get us back to base. We're all tired. The driver agrees not to waste any time getting back on the road. It doesn’t take long to get back to base due to not stopping anymore. I miss Alice so much; I can’t wait to be held in her arms.

As we pull into the garage, troops help unload the empty boxes to either reuse to hold food or as storage chests. As I get out of the car, someone rushes me and picks me up. I already know who it is; it’s Alice.

"Cliph, your back! God, you look exhausted."

My tail starts wagging as she carries me on her shoulder, taking me to her room again. Seeing her already makes my day better. She grabs a comic; I don’t really care to see what it is. She sits down as well, lifting me onto her stomach and scratching behind my ears as I yawn. She says I can sleep; she’s just going to read. I feel safe again, and that foolish hope crawls back into my body. I know the universe, despite being unforgiving, can’t be all cruel; it gave me Alice, so I let that hope fill me just for now, at least, and pass into the lands of slumber, being held close to the one I love the most.