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Voice Interface Missive: Universal Date: 31872

Sender: Cargo Freighter Dark Meridian – Sheathed Claw Ruufaarl

Destination: Ruuloth II – Ruulothi Homeworld

Recipient/Address: First Claw Ruushaan, Night Mane Clan Head

Attachment Included: Video File

First Claw, I ask your forgiveness for the interruption caused by this unscheduled report. I feel that the events described within merit an immediate update so that you may be kept best informed on matters pertaining to the Clan.

Foremost, I must inform you with both Mourning and Pride that the Youngblood assigned to me, Kiiroth, has fallen in battle. Though he did not earn his Bloodclaws in the battle, I am still making a formal request for him to be memorialized with full Honors, for his opponent was no less than an Elder Clantor. In spite of this unstoppable foe, he met them without fear or hesitation, with nothing more than his own claws and fang. He acquitted himself Honorably and fell as a Warrior should.

The details of this encounter will come later in this report, as another matter both takes precedence and is directly tied into it. That matter is of the Terran race. I know that they have been monitored and already judged as Dull Fangs, despite the presence of a potentially formidable military, as their political leaders did not inspire the confidence required for a worthier judgement. We took insult to their classification of us as resembling a creature from their own world. “Leonids” they had called us. Since then we have steadfastly refused to associate with them. We ignored any rumors that reached us of their efforts as fantasy and we thought them weak as they had no effective natural weapons.

I now feel as though they have been… severely misjudged in both scope and capabilities. Our refusal to work with them anywhere and take heed of rumors…was a mistake. Indeed, they may even be worthy of being called Hunt Brothers. I know this is troubling and strange to hear, from me least of all. I beg…Yes, I beg… that you do not dismiss it. I have not gone senile. I ask only that you hear the details of this story, so that you may best choose the path to take from here on.

The details of this story revolve around a single Terran Civilian, named Conrad McLaughlin. He was hired to the Crew of the Dark Meridian roughly one Galactic Standard year ago as a Maintenance and Cargo Technician, and he came with high recommendations for both work ethic and crew compatibility. Despite his references I disagreed with his hiring due to our prejudices. I was overruled. He is now finishing his fourth tour on the ship.

His work ethic was indeed solid. The Captain was quite pleased as the human’s capacity for his work resulted in increased efficiency on the ship. When the human wasn’t actively moving cargo he was learning of, and providing for, the maintenance needs of the ship. At one point, after a meteorite strike left a crack in the outer hull, he even put his own pay towards some new equipment. He received his order during our next port of call while we were still getting the damage repaired in the shipyard, it was a Human crafted Void Welder, a very useful tool designed to perform repairs and salvage in the emptiness of space. Since all equipment and physical mail goes through me as Security Chief, I asked him why he had bought unauthorized equipment. After his explanation I quietly authorized its use in case of emergencies only, added it to our equipment logs and made the Captain aware of its existence. His actions showed true initiative, such that if he were a Ruulothi he would have been praised. His actions here solidified him as a trusted and worthy crew member.

It was not the human’s work ethic that made him stand out first though, that came later. Rather it was his mannerisms upon coming aboard and acclimating that kept my attention on him. There is a saying among nearly all peoples that it takes a predator to catch a predator, and this was certainly a case representing it. The human exhibited many traits often attributed to a predatory species, seemingly without even realizing it and in spite of claiming to not have served in their military. While eating in the food hall he would sit with his back to a wall, quietly watching and listening to all that were in front of him, like a hidden hunter before a pounce. He moved smoothly and quietly, to the point of accidentally startling fellow crew members who did not notice his arrival. He walked with a low and wide stalker’s gait and never lost his balance, despite ship maneuvers and the gravity on the ship being less than his norm. He always appeared to be studying things intently, as if prepping for conflict.

I was initially worried that he may have been preparing for an attack or conflict of some sort, so both I and Kiiroth continued to monitor him. The day he finally approached a group of his peers we readied ourselves for a fight, but it was never to come. Within a few short moments he had joined in their conversation as though he had always been there. Without flaw he continued to move into different social groups and mingle with them, sometimes even bridging issues between two different groups. He even got quite friendly with the Navigator, a young Verach male. I thought at first that the human was acting like a Rorka Lizard, mimicking another creature’s call in order to draw them in for a strike. I sent Kiiroth to approach him and learn what he could. The results were... unexpected.

The human was not acting as a saboteur. He watched not to attack, but to join. He used a predator’s instincts and hunting techniques to blend into social orders rather than his surroundings. He used them to become a part of the pack, rather than to attack it. He did this not only with the other crew members, but also with Kiiroth. The two of them would become regular dining partners, both asking questions and receiving answers about each other’s histories and people. Once, after getting the human to speak on the matter, Kiroth reported that he had explained the actions with a strange turn of phrase that meant, “Learn of others and act as they do so as not to make enemies.” He went on to explain that this is a common human trait, and one that allowed them to save other traits for when they were truly needed.

If this is true, then their species would likely have conformed to what they saw as the Galactic Norm. I feel that their Leaders would have been presenting an expectation when they first met us, skewing our estimation of them.

I do believe that if Kiiroth had survived, he would have made a fine addition to the Fang Guard of the clan. His interactions with the human had tempered his brusque and brash nature to an alert caution. Before he fell, he was even taking over minor investigations amongst the crew with increasing success. He had learned how to connect with others by interacting with the human, to turn his own predatory instincts to relating to the crew. All valuable skills and traits for an Emissarial Protector. Maybe even eventually your own Black Talons.

As troubling as the information was to me, I saw no reason to continue an active watch on the human. I did allow Kiiroth to continue meeting with him, though I kept my own distance. I trusted the Youngblood to report if anything seemed to resemble a threat. I heard and thought nothing more on the matter throughout the rest of our tour, until we reached the Handolin System. This is the system where Kiiroth fell in battle, and it is the system that showed me the true nature of the human on my crew.

The Captain of the Ship decided on arriving that we were to take the shortest route to our destination. The route took us past an asteroid field, a place filled with a great many hiding places and blind spots. I counseled against this action but was again overruled. The results were as one would expect for complacency and convenience over security. A Clantor pirate ship laid in ambush and the Captain followed the standard policy of cutting his engines rather than running, hoping that they wanted active prey. Instead they clamped on and boarded. A distress call was sent, but help would never arrive in time. Kiiroth and I prepared to fight them at the main docking hatch, with no weapons beyond stunners allowed on board the results of the fight were already assured, we would die this day. With our fangs in their necks and blood on our claws, we would die as a Ruulothi should.

But they did not go to the main hatch. Instead they overrode an airlock control leading to a cargo bay and entered on the other end of the ship, capturing and herding crew as they went. We knew what was coming and chose then to make our stand with the rest of the crew so that our fight, and our deaths, would be witnessed and remembered. I suppose that I should be thankful that they did not come through the main hatch. With an Elder Clantor leading the charge we would both have been killed without answer. A death in battle, but it would have been an ignoble one at best.

When we entered the cargo bay that was being used as their staging area most of the crew was already cowering in fear. They had clumped together in small groups as a way of supporting one another. The exception to this… was the human. He stood apart from the small groups with what I had come to recognize as an apprehensive expression on his face while he tinkered with the control nodes of his Cargo Loading Suit. The pirates seem to have left him in it as they were planning on using him to move their loot to their own ship. I had thought his activity to be mindless fidgeting and nerves. I would be proven quite wrong.

Once all were gathered the Pirate Captain, the Elder Clantor Matron, approached. She was a heavily armored killing machine, and clearly battle hardened. We had nothing that could stop her. The pirates made their usual declaration, and Kiiroth rose to the challenge without any hesitation. He charged in fangs bared and claws out so quickly that I think even the Matron was surprised and forced to go on the defensive. He scored a number of fast strikes, all aimed at joints. But the Matron shifted to cover them, and her shell was too strong. She watched his attempts for a few moments more, and then she struck. Kiiroth’s death was quick. He bladed arms cut through him cleanly, he did not suffer.

Knowing full well I would suffer the same result I then moved to step forward but was quite suddenly and firmly stopped in my tracks. The human, Conrad, had held out his suited arm and prevented me from moving. To say that I was surprised and alarmed would be a vast understatement. But then I saw his eyes. Eyes that burned with anger and determination, eyes that burned with purpose. He shook his head at me and stepped forward to confront the Matron.

This was not something that we had seen in humans, it was not something that we had considered possible for them…I only knew right then that I needed to see more. I needed to witness what was coming. So, I let him. I let him stop me and take my place. I would not be disappointed with my decision.

He turned his attention to the Matron with the focus of a tight beam laser. The very same behaviors that made me see him as a threat before were now on full display towards his enemy. He sized up the distance between them and pulled a tool off his Cargo suit’s belt, it was the very same Void Welder that he had purchased some time ago.

It wasn’t until the two of them surged forward and clashed that I noticed something else. His loader’s movements were far faster and smoother than was standard. I realized then that he had not been nervously fidgeting with his suit, but rather re-tooling it to override the safety mechanisms that prevented it from applying too much force. Though he kept his loading claws stowed as a way to prevent the Matron from carving through his suit as he blocked her attacks, he was able to quite deftly maneuver around her and stay in her blind spots. He had either noticed or suspected that her many legs would prevent her from turning fast enough to catch him. In the few short moments that Kiiroth had fought with her, Conrad had taken her measure and prepared accordingly. I watched this fight unfold with an eagerness I had not felt since I first saw a Master’s Exhibition Match as a youngblood. Every free moment he had to strike; Conrad left another strip on the Matron, sometimes even switching which hand he held the Welder with. In the near 30 seconds that they fought he had left her covered with strips. She had so many on her that she looked as though a yearling had gotten into a stash of bandages.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Not satisfied with her inability to effectively track or attack him the Matron disengaged to make some space. Conrad took advantage of the opportunity and withdrew as well, dropping his now spent welder and pulling out a signal device. He gave a feral smile of triumph as he raised the device. I believe the Matron realized she was in danger, as she desperately tried to close the distance. Conrad did not give her the chance. He depressed the button and the Matron, quite literally, fell to pieces at his feet.

We did not get a chance to revel in his victory as her younger contemporary, likely her spawn given its reaction, attacked immediately upon her death. With no time to prepare Conrad simply deployed his loading claws and pulled it apart like a cub does to flower.

With this the battle became a brawl. A Tserith that appeared to be their head slave tender jumped in with its electro-staff. Conrad saw them coming and they struck at the same time. The Tserith succeeded in disabling the Loading Suit, paying for this minor victory with its life in a most spectacular way. The reptilian flew across the cargo bay and toppled the gathered pirate crew like a log through so much tinder. Those few left standing moved to engage as one.

Now that the sanctity of single combat had been broken, I felt obligated to assist. A quick little Burrelan darted forward to try and rip Conrad’s throat out with its teeth while he was stuck in the Loading Suit. Unfortunately for the rodent Conrad was faster and was free of his suit and ready by the time they got in range. The Burrelan got a sharp tool jammed through its jaw and into its brain instead of a mouth full of flesh.

Two more followed close behind in an attempt to regain control of the situation. A Sarekh got too close without protecting itself and had its eye put out by a metal and canvas woven sash that Conrad wore to keep his garments in place. It came in range of my claws while reeling in pain. I captured it easily while maintaining my observation on Conrad. The last mobile pirate, a Corlian primate, tried his best to pummel the human into the deck plates. Again, Conrad surprised. He moved like an expert hunter seeking the flanks and soft parts of a great Vorla Beast. He controlled the Corlian with his arms and sash while stepping purposefully to control the engagement. His hands moved with the precision of a Master of the Hidden Claw. He first defended, then controlled and finally, immobilized and killed his target by closing his sash around their throat and snapping their neck with it. He again stood ready to receive any attack, but it was not to come.

I had finally caught up to him with my captured pirate. The pitiful fools were now the ones cowering in fear. They may yet have been willing to attempt overpowering the human, as they still outnumbered him four to one. But they most certainly were not willing to do so with a Ruulothi Warrior standing at his side.

With their leaders dead, the remaining pirates surrendered quickly. We emptied a large cargo container and locked them inside after relieving them of all their equipment. It took some time to soothe the rest of the crew and get them to return to their stations. This is something that I left to the Command Crew as my personal countenance would have done little to assuage their fears. Conrad seemed to also sense that any attempt by him to console his peers would not have the desired results. He set himself to cleaning the cargo bay and repairing his exo suit. He even paid respect to Kiiroth by asking me what our rituals entailed for our dead. I assured him that I would take care of it.

The fight after the death of the Matron lasted only a total of 18 seconds. In those bare few moments Conrad had dispatched four of the most aggressive and predatory pirates in their crew with little more than the tools and objects he had at hand. All of the pirates killed clearly had experience in combat if their reflexes and emergency response times were any indication.

I found Conrad’s movements and choices during the fight, while most impressive, to be suspect. As I mentioned before, he claimed to have no military or combat experience. Yet every movement and technique was designed to give him the most amount of room to work for the least effort. He actively found the Matron’s “blindspot”, immediately knew the weakness of the younger Clantor, temporarily neutralized fully half of the remaining pirates by throwing their comrade into them, then strung out and isolated each of the last attacking pirates so that he only needed to fight them on an individual basis. He also appeared to be enjoying the challenge, something that I hope his shipmates did not pick up on, as it would sour their relations with him. These were not the actions of a species or individual that knew nothing of war or combat. These were actions and instincts on par with those of lifelong Battleclaws and Huntmasters.

After the crew returned to their duty stations, I dug into his records again. They indeed indicated that he had been telling the truth. When I brought this to the Captain’s attention he agreed that we would need, at the very least, to have a debriefing with Conrad. During my preparations for this interview I reviewed the camera footage of the incident and discovered something else. The reason none of the crew in the cargo area were harmed in the initial boarding was because Conrad had realized what was happening and directed the crew to the other end of the cargo bay, where he stood between them and the boarding pirates. It seems from the footage that he heard the airlock begin to cycle and made the split-second decision to get people moving. This likely saved several of their lives.

During the debrief Conrad asserted that the information was correct, though he admitted that military and public service was a common method of employment for those of his people that live on the frontier planets. As such he knew many veterans, militia men, and law enforcement. That he could learn from their stories shows incredible intuition and intelligence, but the capability to do so does not mean that he should be capable of so easily and readily applying them. That is something that only comes from experience. So I pressed him further.

He spoke willingly and freely about the conditions of his frontier planet Nueva Rio. He spoke about how despite the best intentions and efforts, there were always some humans who decided to live by taking from others, what we would call Broken Fangs. He spoke about how the planet would throw obstacles at them, weather or sudden animal attacks, and how he learned to hunt. He spoke about how even on a relatively new frontier planet the cities would have a dark side. He learned how to read crowds and people, how to limit avenues of attack using narrow confines like alleys or vehicles. He then spoke about his own Sheathed Claw, his own mentor. He had found her school as a young teenager, the rough equivalent of our Youngbloods. He stated that he studied personal combat there with her for 14 Terran years. He learned how to fight, how to spot an attacker, combat with personal weapons and how to use anything at hand to his advantage. He also learned how to direct a hostile crowd to minimize exposure and defend against surrounding attackers, something he called Shark Attack Training. When asked he claimed that learning a style of martial art is fairly common, and that most humans that serve or fight have learned at least some, though not many continue to learn as he did.

First Claw, there is not just one system of combat amongst humans, but rather HUNDREDS. Many grew from different areas on their home world, many more have been created since, and they are still evolving them. Those styles that have withstood the test of time, when understood and applied correctly, are devastatingly effective. Many styles focus on a particular type of combat, some came into being to combat against armored foes, some specialize in weapons, some even focus on the use and retaining of firearms in close combat. All this from a species with no effective natural weapons. What’s more, they call their fighting systems… Martial Arts… Arts, First Claw.

Humans see the beauty in physical combat, in the perfection of form and technique, in the thrill of combat and the euphoria of an earned victory. They are not a weak species nor are they a timid species. They are Hidden Claws. They do not display this part of them until it is needed. Do not see them as Dull Fangs, but rather look to see the Sharp Fangs hidden in the Dull, for they are the ones that will catch you unaware. In fact, as I described earlier with Conrad’s strange behavior, they seem to able apply the teachings of warriors in all aspects of their lives. Hiding their disciplines in plain sight. This is why I thought Conrad to be a patient aggressor when he first came aboard.

If the troubles Conrad described are common across their territory, which he indeed said is quite standard, many humans, be they veterans or not, are more than capable of being the equivalent to Blooded Warriors. This sense of competition is ingrained in their society. I feel that, if bitten, they will turn around and bite back twice as hard. If this methodology has made its way even to their politicians, then I my hackles rise and ears flatten to think of the destruction they could be capable of when provoked.

The interview continued until the Captain was satisfied. He concluded that the salvage and bounties would be plenty sufficient to cover the damage to the Exo suit caused by its unauthorized combat use, and that Conrad could return to his normal duties on the ship. Something I also had no objections to.

I continued to speak with Conrad over the next week during our trip to port, much as I had directed Kiiroth to do. Thanks to my continued interest in their fighting styles he has said he would ask permission to extend me an invitation to visit his school and meet his Mentor. During this time one final thing came up that would be of import. He explained to me that the term “Leonid” was never meant as an insult. Though he admitted that he could see the possibility when not given any context. Leonid refers to the Earth based species of creature called a Lion. Lions are among the largest of land-based apex predators on their home world. They are called the “King of the Jungle” and have long been symbols of both Royalty and Loyalty.

It was not a term of disrespect, but rather one of respect and awe. On first contact, we reminded them of a creature that they had long ago learned to respect and fear. In retrospect, there is actually no greater Honor.

To reflect this, and to support the understandings that I will describe to you shortly, I have done one further thing. I have used my authority to grant Conrad the Mantle of Bloodclaws and have created and presented him with the Mantle so that any Ruulothi who sees him will know him to be an ally and worthy of respect. To support this decision, I have done two things. The first is attached to this VIM. It is the video record of the events in the cargo bay, so that you can see for yourself that what I have reported on both Conrad and Kiiroth is true. The second will take some time getting to you. I have cleaned, prepared and shipped the head of the Matron. It is my hope that this will take a place of honor in Kiiroth’s family halls and that it gives them some solace that he both died honorably and was avenged. If I may make a final request in relation to this, I request to have the bestowing of the Mantle given a proper ceremony in Night Hall. This would give you the chance to meet Conrad and see him, and by extension his people, as I have. If luck holds then by that time I will have met his mentor and spent time on a human planet to observe them. It will also be a chance to give you a full report in person and present myself to you for Judgement of Duties.

First Claw, I have come to believe that, regardless of their flaws, Humans are more than worthy of being our partners. I would strongly recommend that in some form or capacity we start relations with them on equal footing. I feel that it would strongly benefit us to have open and friendly channels with them. I understand that the Council will likely be against this, but it must start somewhere. If they will not take advantage of the opportunity, the Night Manes should.

I understand that this may feel like I am attempting to take back my place as First Claw. I assure you that this is not true. Your Challenge of Position was a worthy one, and your victory was pure. The position of First Claw is yours, and I have sheathed my claws as you directed. Unlike others I do not see the position of Sheathed Claw to be a shameful one, but rather one of great importance. One that I intend to fulfill to the best of my ability. I have watched you grow and become a leader in this Clan long before your challenge. I trust your judgement.

I know you to have the best interests of the Clan at heart.

I know you will lead them well… My Son.

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