Memory transcription subject: Sadie Hughs, UN representative
Date [Standardized human time]: August 12th, 2148
[Day 5]
The Ransu City limits were almost completely blockaded now. With nobody allowed in or out, we were no strangers to unrest at our worksites. I was ordered to stay alongside the group managing the northmost intercity freeway, where the most traffic comes in from both sides.
I woke up this paw to one of my coworkers, a bulky red-headed chap named Pherson, shaking my cot.
“Sadie, Sadie!” he was frantic.
“What?” I snapped, quickly steeling myself.
“There’re protesters again, a lot more than we’re equipped to deal with,” he was in the process of putting on riot gear while he spoke. I quickly got up to begin doing the same. Running between the tents we set up, I could hear the chants of unruly civilians demanding free travel.
I slipped into our makeshift armory and got my hands on some riot gear and a heavy shield. It was common for a small group of disgruntled venlil to sit outside camp with signs and xenophobic slogans, we’d been dealing with that nonstop since closing the streets, but the sheer numbers that turned out today could quickly become overwhelming.
I slid a baton into its holder at my hips, praying I didn’t need to use it. Before stepping out, I pulled out my holopad and quickly typed out a request for backup, hopefully, the UN isn’t spread too thin right now.
Outside, the chanting was growing louder. A line of peacekeepers had formed along the roadway, with just a hastily built chain link fence and out tents to keep the protestors on our side. I joined up in the line, now I had a front-row seat to the whole event.
A sea of venlil, seemingly no other species present, was pressed up against the line, screaming and shouting. Some held signs with slogans and calls to arms, others just screamed slurs at the top of their lungs. Pherson was next to me, he had a terrified look in his eyes.
I heard several bouts of coughing amidst the crowd, no doubt most of them were infected with the Skalgan Flu. For this exact reason, the UN refrained from stationing any non-human personnel at the borders to keep them from getting sick. Unfortunately, that makes an all-human team look incredibly suspect to certain radical parties.
I held up my shield as it got bashed full force by a member of the horde.
“Alright, deploy the tear gas,” the exhausted voice of our superior, a lady named Irine Strauss, sounded over a headset in our helmets. I glanced around, a little pissed at how far this was taken, then reached for my belt where the canister of tear gas was hooked.
With one hand deploying the can, I used the other to pull down a retractable mask tucked on the inside of the helmet. When my own breathing was louder than the noises of the protesters, I knew it was fastened. I raised my arm to hurl the canister when-
Bang!
The shield I carried shattered into a million pieces. The bullet smashed through my vest, slamming straight into my lower gut. The primed gas container, still in my hand, erupted into a cloud of smoke. Immediately, the protestors began backing away.
My ears were ringing, the gas made the fresh wound burn worse than it already did, I screamed into my mask. “Fuck!” I cried.
Through the fog, I could make out silhouettes of peacekeepers and venlil. Some of the rioters took my gap in the formation as an opportunity to skip past. I felt several paws slam into me, smashing the mask into my face, and crushing my nose with a nauseating crunch.
Blood covered the goggles, I started choking as more paws landed on me. It was a stampede, I was being trampled.
Someone tried to pull me up, only to get pulled back by the torrent of rioters. Another kick to the face and my mask popped back up into the helmet, the gas stung my eyes and blinded me. I couldn’t move, my left leg had been completely crushed, and searing pain rolled through it and up my spine.
Finally, a pair of medics lifted me from the crimson dirt and hauled me to a medical tent, dazed and completely disoriented, I passed out on the stretcher.
~~~
Memory transcription subject: Seava, venlil protester
Date [Standardized human time]: August 12th, 2148
[Day 5]
The predator forces were incredibly easy to overpower. They hide behind their false morals and the facade that they want to help us. They can’t hurt us! They can’t do shit! Cause then, they’d be revealed for the frauds they are.
As I ran through the gap made by the filthy predator I shot down, I made sure to give it a real hard kick in the face, for all the brainwashing and tenderizing they’ve done to our species. One human made a swipe at me with his baton, I almost dodged it.
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A swift crack to the head, harder than I thought it’d be, knocked me off my feet. I fell into a nasty coughing fit, blood from my mouth coated my fur as I hacked into my elbow. One of the humans approached, in that shitty faux-caution they always display around beings they think are lesser.
The tear gas had long cleared, guess the stupid preddies didn’t realize that shit doesn’t work on us. It popped off its mask, the thing’s wild fur was the color of blood and stuck out awkwardly, like tendrils ready to grip at its next victim.
It growled something in its vile archaic tongue, I’d blocked human speech from my translator to keep their disgusting words from corrupting and brainwashing me. I could only imagine what vitriol it must be spouting, knowing I was weak and cornered on the ground, coughing up a lung.
It crouched down on one knee and reached a hand out toward me. I took it, leaped forward, and slashed my claws across its disgusting face. I was aiming for its eyes, but it was shielded with its armored arms. I continued slashing at him, quickly devolving again into coughing hysterics. I realized my strength was faltering, and turned to run. The human grabbed my tail, so I swiftly spun around, grabbed the gun with my free hand, aim, Bang!
His brain matter painted the dirt and I made my getaway amidst the panic. I was home free! The nearest town was well within walking distance, I could make it within a couple hours. Plenty more rioters made it through, cheering and chanting their curses at our binocular overlords.
Helicopters flew over the camp, likely reinforcements for the huge amount of protestors that didn’t make it through. I scampered off the main road, trudging more through the forest so they wouldn’t find me. I’d blend right in when I returned to society.
~~~
Memory transcription subject: Sadie Hughs, UN representative
Date [Standardized human time]: August 12th, 2148
[Day 5]
According to the doctor, I was only out for a couple of hours. I awoke with my left leg, right foot, and left wrist in casts. My nose was completely wrapped up. There was still a stinging where I got shot, but the gauze on my gut at least told me the bullet was out.
“Ms. Hughs,” the nurse said, “how do you feel?”
“Bad,” I coughed, shooting pain through me. “Is everyone else okay?”
The nurse took a moment to answer. “There were a few casualties,” she expressed somberly.
“On our side? Or theirs?”
“Both sides. Theirs got it easier than ours though,” She explained. “A lot of rioters slipped through and escaped out toward Beiton. One of them, probably the same guy who shot you, also shot Pherson.”
“What?” I gasped, painfully attempting to sit up. The nurse put her hands up and motioned for me to be still. “Is he- is he okay?”
She shook her head. Fuck! Those fucking protesters are going to bring the infection elsewhere! There’ll be no possible way to contain it if it hits the spaceport!
“Can you bring me my holopad?” I asked, “It was in my uniform pocket.” She obliged, opening a drawer in the bedside table and digging around in the pockets of my blood-stained uniform. She pulled out the holopad and handed it to me, then excused herself to tend to the other patients.
I hastily dialed Servaen, and he answered immediately.
“Sadie!” he was scared. His fluff was uncharacteristically unkempt, and his green eyes looked almost devoid of color. “I heard what happened, are you okay?”
“I’m just fine, Servaen. There are more pressing matters right now than my health. How much of the situation have you heard?”
“All I know is some protester shot you. I take it from your tone, it’s worse than that?” his ears drooped in anticipation of bad news.
“Yeah, way worse, for everyone. Some of the fuckers broke past, real sick ones too. They’re probably in Beiton by now,” I explained.
“Oh stars! I’ll inform Governor Maulo right away! Stars… This won’t be good…”
“Especially not if they hit the starport there. We need it immediately shut down, and any outgoing and incoming flights canceled. We can still contain the virus,” I shuddered imagining the devastation the Skalgan Flu would cause if it made it offworld.
Servaen nodded and signed affirmations in tail language before hanging up. All I could do now was sit on the sidelines and watch.
~~~
Memory transcription subject: Governor Maulo of the Venlil Republic
Date [Standardized human time]: August 12th, 2148
[Day 5]
“Governor!” Servaen’s voice called from my office’s doorway. He didn’t even knock this time, I knew something was wrong.
“Servaen, didn’t I tell you to go home and rest?” He caught his breath quickly, he ran all the way here.
“Governor…” he huffed, “It’s getting bad, real bad, Sadie Hughs, our human representative, was shot by some protestors up north in Ransu City. She said a couple got through, they’d be in Beiton right now!” He quickly spat, trying to get all the information out immediately, “She says we need to close the spaceport- it could spread across the planet- or to the colonies!”
I flicked my tail, telling him to calm down, “I’ll issue an order immediately. Please, take it easy. You need to go home, you look like you haven’t gotten a wink of sleep since this whole thing started. I can call in someone to fill in for you, please, take a rest paw,” the disheveled venlil nodded, then stumbled out.
I shook my head and opened my holopad to type up a hasty order to the Beiton spaceport. Anything already in the air couldn’t just be canceled, but anything scheduled was required to stay grounded. Stars.
It felt like tensions were getting worse by the day. Servaen’s death tallies only grew, and the violence against humans did too. All over the planet, online ‘news’ stations and extremist groups were calling the Skalgan Flu ‘Predator’s Disease’, and blaming humanity for it. I’d make a statement on it if there wasn’t some truth to the matter.
The virus was from a human, but just saying that much publically would have terrible effects on our relationship with our closest allies. I grumbled, sent out the email, and then buried my face in my paws. It was stressful having to manage all this, and it’s embarrassing that my people are acting like fucking animals!
There was a knock at my door. If it’s Servaen again I swear- in walked a tall human with darker skin and almost no fur on his head. He was wearing a very fancy suit adorned with a patch on the right side of the uniform bearing the flag of the Sapient Coalition.
“Secretary General Abdul, to what do I owe the pleasure?”