Memory transcription subject: Chief Hunter Isif, Arxur Dominion Sector Fleet
Date [standardized aurigan time]: Fall 8, 1 AA
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The raid on the Gojid homeworld had been a disaster. Someone new was on the galactic scene, a hitherto unknown species or faction. When my ships arrived they found the planetary defenses disabled and the Gojid fleet scattered, as our intelligence predicted. But instead of an unguarded planet, we were faced with a fleet of unknown make, using weapons we'd not faced before, with shield-breaking missiles and continuous plasma beams.
Our forces on the ground encountered no Gojid fighters, but were instead met by fierce resistance from the newcomers. Almost none of our forces that made planetfall survived, and most of them were cattle ship crews that fled empty handed once the hunting teams were killed. A few of them had grunts on board that that fled the onslaught. These were interrogated and then promptly executed for cowardice. Poor bastards.
According to their reports, the newcomers stormed their landing sites and ambushed them. Even when their scent gave them away, they rushed our lines with ferocity and speed, wielding axes and shields like something from ancient history. Their goal was clearly to prevent our hunters from ever catching their targets, and our working theory was that they were a new predator race, like us. The reports that other races were seen amongst their numbers, including red scaled reptilians, gave me some hope that we'd finally found kindred spirits in the galaxy.
Whoever these newcomers were, however, they refused to abandon the Gojid homeworld to our forces, even when nearly defeated their ships kept fighting. Then the gojids arrived, and as if to throw a wrench into my hopes, they joined forces with the newcomers, and forced my surviving ships to retreat from the Gojid homeworld's system.
An overwhelming sense of betrayal filled me and I threw aside all the crap that was on my desk, the datapad with the debrief on the newcomers hitting the wall and shattering. Realizing my stupidity, I sighed, defeated. Great, I had to have a new copy sent over now.
"Maybe you should take a tour of the cattle pens, your viciousness. Eating something should help you clear your thoughts." Coth spoke up from the other side of the room, and I had half the mind to shout at him for interrupting my outburst.
"I'll do that later." I instead growled, before grabbing the broken pad and putting it back on my desk. "You were there on the planet during the battle. How accurate are these reports?"
"Very, your viciousness. I've seen their soldiers, moving at blinding speeds their legs shouldn't allow, smashing into our flanks with axes, while other troops shot at us from the treeline with hunter's accuracy."
"And the reports of flying foes?"
"Also true. Despite not believing my own eyes at first, the fact others saw it too assures me it was real. They had winged reptiles fighting our ships, as well as another species of flying creature. One of them landed on my cockpit, and I saw it in detail. It had sideways eyes, but there was no fear, its eyes were cold and furious. And it snarled at me with a mouth full of fangs, despite its eyes. And its wings defied gravity, like sheets of metal floating off of its back."
I refused to believe that last part wasn't just in Coth's head, but this whole situation was unbelievable enough already, what was one more impossibility for the pile?
"Very well. Now leave me. I'm already tired of your words."
Coth bowed his head and headed out of my office, and I had to think of my next move. My sector was being 'invaded' by a foreign force, and news would soon get out of my failure. I had to present a case that these newcomers were a good thing if I wanted to not be replaced for my failure. But first I had to learn more about them. As far as we could tell, they used the Venlil homeworld as their center of operations.
Hmmm... Maybe it was time to open communications with them.
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Memory transcription subject: Governor Tarva of the Venlil Republic
Date [standardized aurigan time]: Fall 9, 1 AA
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While the negociations with the delegation went well, there was still the matter of the Krakotl. Early intelligence suggested that they, along with 14 other species, were amassing a fleet meant to finish what the Gojid started, and now we had confirmation that their fleet had just departed. Projections indicated that thay'd be here in a week tops, and the Aurigans were already doing their hardest to mass produce a new fleet, while also trying to get the Argosy back into flying shape, and hopefully evacuate it before the Krakotl can start trying to bomb it.
"The Krakotl ambassador declared that anyone who stood with the Aurigans was dead to him, so we have no assurance that they won't attack the Venlil as well. We need to evacuate the planet." Kam spoke up, looking between myself, Piri, and Chauson.
"The Zurulian people are more than willing to take as many Venlil in as possible." Chauson added.
"As are we." Piri affirmed. "And let's not forget the Paltan offer."
"Thank you, but I think that the people should decide for themselves. Whoever wishes to leave the planet is free to do so. I myself will stay behind, and trust that the Krakotl haven't gone completely insane."
"I'm staying with you." Kam said with determination. "This is our world, and if the Krakotl come to harm it, I will not abandon it."
"Thank you, Kam. You are the bravest of us." I punctuated my gratitude with a tail swish.
The calm of our meeting was then interrupted by blaring alarms, and everyone in the room shot up in panic.
Kam then punched the comms unit on the table with a finger. "What's happening? Report!" He demanded to whoever was on the other side.
"An Arxur ship was just pulled out of subspace at the edge of our system. T-they're hailing the planet, sir!" Whoever was on the other side replied, before whimpering. The Arxur, sending a single ship? Hailing the planet? What was this madness?
"P-Patch them through to me. And get everyone to the damned bunkers!"
I steeled myself for whatever was to come, but the pale reptilian face appearing on screen sent shivers down my spine and tail. The creature glared at me with its eyes, before snarling. "What is this? They're letting the animals run free?"
"I-I..." I began, but my throat seized up. What was it implying? Did it mean the Aurigans? Did it think we were cattle? Was it actually in cahoots with them?
"I-I lead this planet." I managed to continue, feeling my knees give way. "W-what do you want?"
"Fascinating, they let you keep your position?" The reptilian hissed, before lowering its gaze. "I want to talk to the newcomers. The predators that destroyed part of my fleet."
"I'm right here." Zolya's voice joined the call, and her steely gaze suddenly filled half of the screen. Was she monitoring our communications? How'd she know what was going on? She was sitting at her desk in the Argosy, a sword slung over her lap, resting against her shoulder.
"Fascinating..." The gray muttered, his eyes fixed on the Zolya's transmission. "You are predators, correct?"
"Predator, prey, these are silly concepts that this corner of the galaxy follows. We are people, just like everyone else." Zolya replied, keeping a calm demeanor.
"Bah! Prey aren't people. They're sniveling animals, controlled by instincts." The monster on the other side of the transmission retorted.
"Funny, the 'prey' tell me predators aren't people either." The mezari said, before shifting her posture, leaning into the camera. She was probably attempting to seem fierce to the gray, but it had way more of an effect on me, and I had to support my weight against the table, out of fear of falling backwards.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
"See? See how it cowers!?" The gray then laughed at my distress, and I felt anger well up in my chest. If the Gaurans could be brave, then maybe so could I.
I forced myself back up to my feet, pointing at the camera. "Rot in a cesspit, you monster!" I shouted, despite my voice quivering.
The gray laughed and looked over at Zolya again. "You shouldn't let them get that feisty, it makes the meat stringy."
"Tarva is not an animal, she is my friend. Now what do you want, corpse-eater?" Zolya remained undaunted by the gray's appearance.
The creature snarled in amusement. "I should have my fleets destroy you for such insolence, but we should instead work together. I know the Federation is your enemy."
The Zolya seemed to contemplate the monster's words, and I couldn't believe she was genuinely considering the offer. The arxur were monsters! They couldn't be trusted! This was madness!
"Maybe. We'll hear you out. If you're brave enough to show yourself in person. Come to the Argosy. We will escort your ship over."
"W-what?! I won't allow it! Are you insane!?" I managed to shout, coming out of my stupor.
Zolya looked to me with those forward facing eyes of hers, though her expression was far more mellow than when she looked at the gray's feed.
"Tarva, do you trust me?" She asked. I truly wasn't sure anymore, but so far the Aurigans hadn't done a single thing to harm us, it was always others that tried to harm them.
"I- I do."
"Good. Take care of your people, and I'll deal with the Arxur."
The Gray watched in silence as we talked, before squinting its eyes at Zolya. "Very well, I shall visit your Argosy in person. Whatever that is. I await your escort."
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Memory transcription subject: Chief Hunter Isif, Arxur Dominion Sector Fleet
Date [standardized aurigan time]: Fall 8, 1 AA
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The Venlil governor amused me. She had pep, spirit. I could respect that. But the newcomer... She was hard to read, her emotions concealed. This may end poorly for me, but the alternative is to face Betterment with my failure.
Not long after the conversation that was had over comms, a trio of boxy ships greeted my shuttle. They didn't say anything, but moved in formation around me, one in front of the shuttle, and one on each flank. The ship in front then started flying towards the planet, and I began to follow it. The other two ships tailed my shuttle from close distance, their weapons trained on my. I had faith that the newcomers wouldn't attack in panic, but I couldn't be so sure that they wouldn't kill me just on a whim.
Thankfully my shuttle arrived on the surface unmolested, touching down next to what I assume was the aforementioned Argosy. A massive ship, nearly two clicks long, surrounded by a massive ring that could easily fit two of its make inside. The ring seemed to serve as an impromptu wall, inside of which a shanty town was built. Tents and structures both clustered and distanced were built within its perimeter.
Then I saw them, the reports were true, bipedal reptilians with red scales, giant winged lizards, white furred bipeds with metal wings, and even some other creatures not mentioned in the reports: snarling quadrupeds with bony jaws, and large, horned bipeds with burly bodies.
Whoever these hairless bipeds were, they had indeed come with others, and by the looks of them some were prey animals. Perhaps there truly was hope for peace between predator and prey in the future.
Stepping out of the shuttle, I was greeted by two of the horned bipeds, eyes on the sides of their heads. Unlike the Federation prey, they didn't flinch or cower, they even seemed unimpressed with me as they held great pole axes in their hands. They were about a head taller than me, even when accounting for our different postures.
"The Zolya is waiting for you. Follow us." One of them spoke, a hint of disdain in his voice. I did not expect a warm welcome, the Federation has no doubt already told them of our cruelty, so I tried my best not to let it get to me.
"Very well." I replied, and the beasts began leading me into the large arkship, up a loading ramp. As they led me, I couldn't help but notice that everyone's eyes were on me, even those of the reptilians. Some of them were clutching axes and swords, and the looks were definitely unfriendly. I hoped I could change their mind about us, once they learned the truth about the 'poor prey'.
The walk through the corridors of the ship took us past other members of the hairless species, which seemed to be the dominant species in this faction. They all shot me glances, varying from disdain to confusion.
After a few short minutes we reached a door, and the horned aliens told me we'd arrived at our destination, before positioning themselves in front of it as guards.
The inside of the room was fairly dim, with black walls and a few small light sources on the walls. On one end of the room was a desk, where the alien from the communication was sitting. Across from her were three others, sitting around a circular table.
When I stepped in, all of them looked towards me, and I detected no fear in their eyes. The leader of the aliens then greeted me.
"Welcome to the Argosy. I am Zolya, and these are Raudd, Kata, and Jutka. I am the leader of my people. Who might you be?" The alien leader was cordial enough, so I stepped closer with confidence.
"I am Chief Hunter Isif. I manage this sector of space for the Arxur Dominion. And I'll be frank. Your defeat of my fleet at the Gojid homeworld is bad news, for all of us."
"For all of us? Care to explain?"
"Simple, they will likely replace me with someone far more cruel, for my failure. And whoever that may end up being, they won't be so cordial as to come to you peacefully. They will try to eradicate you for being a threat. And you already have enough enemies, no?"
"Hmmmm... True. What is it you want then?"
"I want this damned war to end once and for all."
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Memory transcription subject: Governor Tarva of the Venlil Republic
Date [standardized aurigan time]: Fall 9, 1 AA
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I couldn't believe what I was seeing on the live feed. An arxur that wanted peace? That was ridiculous! Who would believe such a blatant lie?
"Is this because your people are starving?" Raudd then asked, and the Gray gave a non-committal noise.
"Partially. Our entire society is based around cruelty, violence. This is something I tire of. I'm tired of eating people. Yes, unlike most of my kind, I agree with you. The prey are just as sapient as us, it doesn't take a genius to figure that out. But anyone who would voice such an opinion is executed. I've worked hard to climb the ranks, reach a position of power, in hopes that I would some day bring about change from within. But until now there was no hope."
I was shocked, livid! The gray that called me an animal not even an hour ago just admitted that prey were sapients. This had to be a trick! He even admitted that his people were cruel!
"Hope? You mean predators and prey peacefully co-existing?" Jutka then asked the gray, and despite the voice at the back of my head telling me to not listen to any more of this, I was glued to the screen.
"Yes. You lack the baggage of this war. Fresh eyes. You can help us put an end to the madness."
"Why would we help you?" Kata butted in.
"Because we are victims of the Federation, not the aggressors. They came to our world during a time of famine and war. They offered a cure for our plight, two drugs, one for our people, one for our livestock."
"We trusted them, in our desperation, but it was a ploy. The first of these cures made the volunteers allergic to meat, millions of my people died of either anaphylaxis or starvation. And the other cure killed off all our livestock, leaving the survivors with nothing to eat. So our ancestors turned against the Federation, preying on them instead."
"And because the Federation exterminates any animal with a hint of aggression, you were left with no other option?" Raudd then spoke up.
No, you fool! We- we do that, though, don't we? No, Tarva! It's a lie! Even if we exterminate animals, the gray is lying!
"Exactly. We had no other source of sustenance, while the Federation species had plentiful numbers. I wish we hadn't, but what was the alternative? Starvation was the only alternative."
"Why not find new, untouched planets, and find animals there?" Kata put forth a good point. Aha, this is were the lie falls apart!
"Domesticating animals takes thousands of generations. Our people were starving then and there. Even if we took animals to tame or started to hunt them, it wouldn't be enough to feed us short term, we'd still all starve. Each of us needs around thirty pounds of meat a day to be properly sated, and ten pounds is the minimum needed to avoid starvation."
"With billions of arxur to feed, that's tens of billions of pounds of meat every single day. It's why most of us are starving still to this day. The average citizen only gets three meals a week."
I screamed in frustration as the math added up in my head! Was this really true? Had the Kolshians created the very monsters that killed my daughter! I couldn't contain my rage anymore, and smashed the keyboard off my desk, the plastic cracking against the wall.
Stop being so emotional, Tarva. You're an embarrassment. I then chided myself, and picked the keyboard back up as the conversation continued on my screen.
"Our own livestock and meat reserves are barely enough to feed our own carnivores. So I understand the pragmatism, but... Why the cruelty?" Zolya asked.
"When the Federation found us, we were in the midst of our fourth world war. One of the factions, the Northeast Bloc, was preaching something called Betterment, the selective breeding of the population towards improvement of the gene pool. After the aliens gave us the 'cure', the Northeast Bloc's philosophy became much more appealing. With starvation running even more rampant than before, every nation had to decide who lives and who dies. So the strongest, most aggressive Arxur were allowed to live and breed, while the others were left to starve. This allowed the leader of the Bloc to gain popularity and power, and he founded the Dominion."
The very concept made me gag. Such disregard for personal freedom and the value of life. Surely the Aurigans would realize that.
"That's deeply disturbing and saddening, if... coldly logical. However, that doesn't excuse what your people do. if you wish to work together with us towards a better future, that has to be stopped, sooner or later. As I've said, we barely have livestock and stores of meat for our own people. We need something rev-" Zolya was suddenly interrupted by Raudd.
"I have it!" The ginger mezari began, standing upright while looking at his data pad. "All this talking got me thinking, so I did some digging into the data dumps we got from the Venlil. Look here. If we combine the Federation's tissue culturing techniques with our regenerative medicine, we could effectively grown meat in a lab!" The man looked up with excitement at the others in the room, and even the gray was stunned.
I was even more stunned, that sound disgusting, a perversion of medical technology. But at the same time, it removed suffering from the equation, meat that came, virtually, from nothing.
"Raudd, was it?" The gray began, its eyes fixed on the man. "You may have just saved the galaxy."