Zeleveya of Tarn watched as the humans, predator nightmares from a forgotten corner of space, made contact with the leaders of her people. Across the void, Jade Novikhan and Leia Kieran Irons-N found themselves adrift and turned towards new and unfamiliar people in search of a connection. Three minds eventually finding the glimmers of hope for a better future. But that is not the fate set in store for the world the outcasts would share. Three travelers beyond their worlds, survivors of terrible tragedies, find themselves facing a war that bodes the coming of more than any one person can hope to survive alone. — — — — — This story starts out in medias res, so it might be best if you start out by reading at least the first few chapters of SpacePaladin15’s The Nature of Predators (posted here and on r/HFY), which this story runs alongside of as part of the truly massive literary universe going on on r/HFY and the subreddit dedicated to the story’s community. It also includes numerous references and shout-outs to other stories within the literary universe, which shall be pointed out as they come up. This fan story will also try to be as canon compliant as possible, but it will be going off in its own direction eventually. originally posted on r/HFY and can be found here, we are moving entirely to RoyalRoad after complications. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Depiction does not equal endorsement. A note on the ratings: this story does tend to shy away from gore, but it does convey the frantic atmosphere of a battle, some injuries are described, and a few scenes may dive into the technical details of injuries; hence, I have chosen to mark it with the warning. For profanity, there's several alien curse words (please forward your "thanks" for that to u/CruisingNW on r/NatureofPredators for that) and some more familiar ones, though I try to use them sparingly and only at points where they make sense for characters to curse.