Primary memory transcription subject: Zeleveya of Tarn, base security chief, Venlil Trade Commision.
Date [standardized human time]: July 12, 2136
Location: Air Defense Station A-17, capitol outskirts, Venlil Prime.
The tension could practically be cut with a knife as the automated tube came to a stop near the massive air defense station at the edge of the city. Rejio led the way out of the passenger container and onto the platform, his hands instinctively finding their way to his weapon.
“It’s quiet,” Zeleveya murmured as she joined the Exterminators, nervously fiddling with the datapad that she carried as she did so. “Too quiet. Is everyone inside the station?”
Tamak moved his tail in an ambivalent gesture. “They shouldn’t be,” he replied quietly. “For starters, the station’s too small to fit the normal crowd size present here during this claw.”
“Quiet down,” Rejio snapped as he pointed off towards the side. “There’s two other Exterminator pods. Let’s go ask them.”
Immediately, everyone fell silent and hurried over to where ten other venlil were walking up onto the platform. As they drew near, Rejio slung his rifle over his shoulder and popped the seals on his helmet, an action that was quickly mirrored by one of the venlil in front of the other group. “Captain Rejio, Exterminator pod LC-dash-thirty-eight,” the aging venlil announced as he reached out a hand in greeting.
Quickly, the other venlil grasped his forearm, and they gave each other a gentle squeeze as the other Exterminator – a female with a pleasant looking arrangement of dark and light splotches to the longer fur on the sides of her head and neck – flicked her ears forward in happiness. “My name’s Kalne,” she replied. “I’m with pod CR-13, and we’re accompanied by pod SM-27. What are you doing here?”
Rejio gave a shrug. “I’m not entirely sure myself,” he admitted. “Tamak suggested that we check on their progress on figuring out the targeting issue with the predator vessel, so I suppose that that works.”
Zeleveya stepped forward. “Actually, I’ve got a security feed of the landing platform,” she commented as she flipped her tablet around to show the image of the human ship to the other Exterminator pods. “This lets me know the positioning and angles of the human ship, so we could hit it as they try and take off if necessary.”
Kalne nodded slightly as her face took on a pensive cast. “Well,” she said after a moment. “You sound like you know what you’re doing. What’s your name?”
“I am Zeleveya of Tarn,” she responded. “Head of security for the trade landing zone.”
Kalne giggled slightly, her behavior becoming completely at odds with the image of an Exterminator. “That sounds incredibly interesting,” she said cheerfully. “You must get all of the rumors from the space lanes, eh? I would love to get some gossip over a nice drink of algae blooms.”
Zeleveya was about to respond, when one of the Exterminators from the third pod interjected. “Try and land yourself a date later Kalne,” the Exterminator said grumpily. “We should let security chief Zeleveya get to the fire control center with this new info.”
Rejio nodded. “Agreed. It’ll probably be able to forestall the inevitable panic that’s going on in there anyway.”
“Speaking of panic,” Jalnak interjected, “where did all of the commuters run off to?”
It was as if someone had set fire to a bright azure-edge bush, with how quickly the energy that was apparent in Kalne’s bearing faded. “There were signs of a stampede by the south entrance,” she said sadly. “By the time we got there, any injured must have dragged themselves away, or succumbed to their injuries. We couldn’t save anyone.”
Rejio and Jalnak swore violently. “Right,” rejio growled. “Your pods are designated CR and SM, roads and stampede response, right?”
Kalne and the other exterminators nodded. And Rejio looked around for a moment before sighing. “My pod will accompany Zeleveya to the control center,” he said after a moment of hesitation. “There are two other entrances to the station, split up into groups with two from each pod, and get to each of them. We’ll use the radios to call for medical response.”
Kalne nodded. “Will do,” she replied as she placed her flame-retardant helmet back onto her head. “Just hurry, please.”
Everyone in pod LC-38 nodded, as Zelevey briefly rested a hand on Kalne’s shoulder. “We will,” she said softly, before she turned and set off towards the tunnel into the fire control center as quickly as her legs could carry her.
Eventually, the group entered the control center, only to be met with the sounds of chaos. Venlil ran back and forth in confusion, while others were huddled in the corners with their hands clamped tightly over their ears. Zeleveya looked around in confusion for a brief moment as Rejio sighed. “What in the blue blazes is going on in here,” the senior Exterminator shouted, even as he grabbed Tamak’s shoulder and pointed him roughly in the direction of one of the general-use communication units on the left side of the room.
Immediately silence fell, and Zeleveya could hear a conversation playing out over a radio channel. She recognized the Governor’s voice.
Finally, one of the technicians replied hesitantly. “It’s the federation captain Sovlin,” the technician said. “He was broadcasting on an open channel and we tapped in to hear Tarva’s response. She’s denying the presence of those humans!”
Immediately, Zeleveya’s mind flashed back to that puzzling interaction, the one where the biped had asked how it could help. And then her confusion cleared. It hadn’t been a trick. Evidently the predators were in control of their impulses and had proven as such to the Governor. Then she heard Tarva’s voice on the comm channel.
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“You’ll leave now,” the governor was saying. “Your ships are not welcome here. If you enter our orbit, you will be fired upon.”
Panic began to bubble up again in the other venlil, before exploding once more upon Sovlin’s response and a sudden command message from general Kam himself. FIRE MISSILES AT SOVLIN’S VESSEL. MANUALLY DETONATE OUTSIDE OF EFFECTIVE RANGE.
“Do as the General commanded,” Zeleveya abruptly yelled as the technicians made no move to follow the order. “This is governor Tarva’s call and we will not question her on this. You can do it later, but there will likely be an announcement that will put your misgivings to rest, now fire!”
Immediately, Zeleveya felt two weapons leveled at her, by Jalnak and the Exterminator that she still didn’t know, but Rejio immediately gestured for them to stand down. “Do as she says,” the older venlil intoned. There was a brief moment of hesitation, before one of the technicians rapidly input the command to fire.
As the monitors showed the missiles streaking away, Jalnak rounded towards Rejio with a wrath-filled expression on his face. “Have you all taken leave of your sanity,” he spat out. “Why are you listening to the words of this– this corrupted individual who just vouched to fire on her own people?”
Zeleveya scowled. “I have never met that gojid captain,” she spat out. “Remember that I was born on a gojid colony world that wasn’t even worthy of a name, just an alphanumeric designation! Those are not my people!”
Jalnak whirled back around to face her, his hand tightening around the trigger of his gun–
And then Rejio stepped in, his hands sweeping out and directing the younger venlil’s aim upwards just before a shot rang out. The dart embedded itself in the ceiling, and the silver-furred venlil held out an expecting hand as Jalnak slumped in defeat. “We do not enact vigilante justice,” Rejio intoned. “Our duty is to protect the people of venlil prime, even if it is from the gojid navy. Now, your gun. Hand it over.”
“Let him keep it,” Zeleveya said with a sigh. Rejio blinked.
“The lad’s correct,” Rejio commented, confusion evident in his tone. “You definitely aren’t right in the head.”
“Maybe.” Zeleveya shrugged. “But he’ll be more pissy if you take his gun away, and I’d rather not have to deal with that.”
Jalnak gave a reluctant nod, before looking over at Zeleveya. “Thanks, I suppose,” he muttered.
Then, Zeleveya’s comm chimed and she quickly fished out her tablet. It showed an incoming call from… one of the gojid ships. Rejio leaned over to look at the signal. “friend of yours?”
“No idea,” Zeleveya responded, before selecting a file and tapping the tablet against one of the consoles to transfer the data. “there’s the location data and security feeds for the landing platform. Get a pair of techs to work on target-locking the human ship. Jalnak, with me. I might need some proverbial muscle to figure this out, so just stand still and be your usual intimidating self.”
“I feel like that was intended to be an insult,” Jalnak muttered, but he followed suit as Zeleveya set up the tablet so that the camera framed an empty wall.
Then the venlil opened the incoming transmission, and a gojid’s face appeared on the screen. A face that she recognized. “Fæna,” Zeleveya exclaimed, shock clear in her tone. “The blazes are you doing out here?”
The gojid shook her head. “No time for pleasure, ‘mist of Tarn,’” Fæna replied. “Sovlin’s ordering a fall back. What in the name of the Protector and Ki-yu is going on down there?”
Zeleveya and Jalnak both simultaneously heaved sighs of exasperation. “Do you think it’s like I know,” Zeleveya growled. “I’m at one of the defense platforms, but it’s not like they ever tell me anything!”
Jalnak twitched his ears in agreement before butting in. “Yeah,” he said swiftly. “Zeleveya here is just security. A bit uppity, sure, but she’s not high up the ladder enough to be in the know.”
Fæna let out a long breath. “Fine,” she said slowly. “I won’t pry even though my devices are telling me that you are at the platform that just fired on us. For the record, I think that there are predators down there, which Tarva is trying to keep secret. Maybe you venlil came up with a new idea for a super soldier project against the grays?” the two venlil gave a shrug, although Jalnak’s tail writhed just out of frame in an attempt to suppress and hint of laughter and how close and yet how far the gojid was from the truth.
“Again,” Zeleveya said deliberately. “They never tell me anything.”
“Whatever Zelveveya,” Fæna said with a hint of anger to her tone. “I can’t disobey commander Sovlin’s orders any longer. We’re leaving and you’re going to be on your own.”
Then the transmission ended and Zeleveya let out a long sigh. “Thanks,” she said quietly to Jalnak. “You didn’t have to help – probably didn’t even want to – but you did. So… thank you.”
“I saw the cast of your tail,” Jalnak replied dully. “You looked like someone who’d gotten caught with their hand in the strayu bin, and like my brother. Diseased or not, I couldn’t make myself stop. That gojid, she was a mentor figure to you, wasn’t she⸮”
Zeleveya nodded. “Excellent deduction,” she said wryly, patting Jalnak on the shoulder as she walked past him. “Now we understand each other better. Rejio! What’s the status of the targeting?”
“Aborted,” the older venlil said sourly, as he handed over his tablet and pointed up at the main screen where a news broadcast was beginning to play. “To quote the announcements, ‘visitors are non-hostile.’”
“What‽”
Rejio shrugged. “the governor will be giving a statement soon,” he said. “I’ve had the technicians lock the controls and put one of the news feeds on the main screen. What say we listen in on it?”
As Zeleveya turned to look at the screen, the scene on it shifted from one of the newsrooms to the main government press room that was used for official broadcasts. Tarva was standing center stage with general Kam and a few other advisors standing off to the left… and a pair of predators standing to the right, the camera moving to include them in the frame as Tarva began her speech.
The group listened in silence. A new species among the stars, the humans who had so long been thought to have wiped themselves out. Tarva explained how they had developed ethics that meant they could peacefully work alongside the Federation, but were antithecal to the Arxur’s way of life.
“…I’m sure that historians among you may remember about how the transmissions that we received of the humans implied them to have the same immorality as the Arxur,” Tarva said, her voice clear and calm despite the fact that two towering predators were standing behind he. “But what we never took the time to learn was that those factions in the end lost. The humans of today share many of our values, and unlike us they do not fall prey to fear. They look at the Arxur and see something more bestial than the worst of their numbers, and are willing to aid us in our fight for survival.”
The speech continued, but Zeleveya didn’t care much about it as she turned to look at Rejio. “Yeah,” the venlil muttered, “we are definitely not firing on the humans’ ship.”
“Agreed,” Rejio said succinctly.
“So what do we do now?”
Rejio shrugged. “We head back to the landing platform, and ensure that the humans don’t get mobbed by any reactionary individuals as we send the two ‘ambassadors’ back to their world to let their kind know about the Arxur.”