Memory transcription subject: Chief Hunter Isif, Arxur Dominion Sector Fleet
Date [standardized Aurigan time]: 30th Day of the Month of Braying, Year 1 After Auriga
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The primates and their allies were already destabilizing the status quo. On one side of the war they were taking the fight to the Federation, and on the other they were reclaiming or defending worlds taken by the Dominion. The Prophet-Descendant had already admonished me for trusting them when they informed us of the undefended Federation worlds, but I pointed out that we still got quite a plethora of cattle from those raids, and that any arxur we may have lost were simply weaker specimens being culled from the gene pool.
In reality, I was also mad that the mezari attacked our raiding fleets, though it was mostly because it only made my plans harder to implement in the long run. The arxur needed to trust the Aurigans if we were to ever cull the rewards from potential deals with them, and the Aurigans needed to be careful not to antagonize other Chief Hunters in the process.
For now though, it was time to initiate the next step in our plan, and another meeting with the Aurigans was on my itinerary. Using an encrypted communication device they'd given me, I set up a meeting somewhere in neutral space, an abandoned Venlil colony. Officially, we were exchanging prisoners for cattle, with the mezari returning a few dozen arxur found hiding alive on the Cradle, and me handing over a few dozen venlil in return. In reality we were meeting to set up further clandestine co-operation between us.
Arriving at the colony, the planet was guarded by a small wing of venlil vessels, though something told me the pilots were anything but. As soon as we approached, they hailed us.
"This is Jiraduveja of the 5th Brass Weyr, identify yourselves, arxur vessels." The voice from the other end was deep, guttural, no doubt one of the other species, not a mezari.
"This is Chief Hunter Isif of the Third Sector Fleet. We are here to conduct the prisoner exchange." I responded, before ordering my escorts to stand by, just in case.
"Acknowledged, Chief Hunter. You may land at these co-ordinates." The voice on the other end responded calmly, before transmitting a data packet with the co-ordinates, somewhere on the edge of an abandoned settlement.
Landing my cattle ship next to the ruins, with my squadron of escorts hovering overhead, I stepped out into the grassy fields. A makeshift camp was waiting for me, guarded by the red reptilians I'd seen on the venlil homeworld.
I motioned for my crew to wait inside with the cattle, while I approached the camp with a small squad.
"We were expecting you earlier. The envoys are waiting for you in the command tent." One of the red scales began, eyeing my squad. "But not them. They stay outside. If they want, they can walk around camp, but we're going to keep our eyes on them throughout."
"They will stay out here while I speak with the envoys. If that is acceptable." I hissed softly, gesturing for the squad to stay outside of camp. I didn't need them accidentally eavesdropping.
"However you wish to do this." The ruddy guard said, shrugging its shoulders. I was certain this species would be able to rip an arxur apart in a fight, so it was good that they seemed non-confrontational.
I made my way over towards the tent that the guard had pointed out, and carefully ducked my head inside.
Inside were more red scaled reptilians, a particularly bulky one sitting at the far end of the table, with two more flanking them.
"Ah, Chief Hunter Isif. We were waiting for you. Please, sit down." The bulky one said, gesturing to the seat opposite from themselves. It was clearly designed for their kind, which made it easy for me to sit in it and slip my tail through.
"Welcome. I am Ambassador Namkang, I am here representing the Aurigan Federacy. Before we begin, we should wait for Seeker Klapatch. Until then, would you like a drink of water?"
"I would like to skip the formalities and head straight to the exchange. It would save us all time, no?" I responded, regarding the ambassador with curiosity. The other redscales whispered something to said ambassador, and the ambassador nodded thoughtfully.
"Very well. So, as you know, the Federacy has been working on creating a livestock substitute from a mixture of cell cultures and material replication technology. Seeker Klapatch is arriving with a sample for you, as well as with a trade deal that will hopefully please both your government and the Venlil Republic. Until they arrive, perhaps you'd like to inspect the prisoners?"
I gave a nod and stood back up, while the ambassador gestured for one of their aides to also stand. The smaller redscale then motioned towards the door and gave a very friendly "Right this way, Chief Hunter."
It was surprising how cordial the aurigan reptilians were, and I was wondering if they were specifically chosen for this job.
I followed the aide towards the back of the camp, where around thirty or so arxur were kept in a large cage. Unlike a cattle pen, it was neatly organized with tables in the center and some latrines in the back. By the looks of it, it had only just been set up, the grass still green underfoot, untrampled by prolonged living. The captured hunters looked healthy and unmolested, and some were covered in bandages, showing that the aurigans had tended to their wounds.
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They were mostly spread out, sleeping in the daytime sun, and empty plates on the tables showed that they'd been fed recently, though there was no scent of blood in the air, and I was wandering what exactly they'd eaten. Those not sleeping were keeping to themselves regardless, distinct boredom on their faces.
I cleared my throat with a bellowing hiss to get their attention, and the awake ones got up, moving towards the bars. A few of the sleeping ones also woke up, turning their attention to the noise.
"Your savageness, you're here. The apes weren't lying." One of them spoke up, a young grunt by the looks of it.
"Of course not, sapients don't lie to each other. Isn't that correct?" I spoke with confidence, despite having had my own worries about the aurigans keeping their end of the deal. "What is your name, hunter?" I then asked the grunt that had spoken up, looking down at him.
"I am Kaisal, my Chief Hunter." The young grunt bowed before me, and the others followed suit. I then motioned for them to rise, before looking over them.
"How have the aurigans been treating you?" I asked, looking at the prisoners' faces, my gaze scanning over them for signs of nausea.
"V-Very well, your savageness. Before we got here, they kept us in individual cells with daily meals and running water. The dried meat tends to get stuck in your teeth, but it is filling all the same." The grunt answered, keeping his head low in submission. I could sense some trepidation in his voice, probably from having to speak to someone of my standing.
I then turned to the redscale aide and gave a slow nod. "I am pleased to see that my hunters are well. We-"
"Chief Hunter Isif, in the flesh." I then heard a voice that was unmistakingly Tarva's, though something was definitely off about it, like two people were speaking at once. Turning my head, I could see the venlil, though something indeed very off about her, a golden glow was emanating from under the fur, and her knees were bending in a weird direction. I then realized that she also had nostrils where previously there were none.
Seeker Klapatch was trying to hold her back, fury evident in her eyes, and she immediately turned towards him, jabbing a finger against his chest. "No. I need to do this. For my own sake." She said forcefully, before pushing past the mezari and towards me. Her gait was confident, her gaze fierce, nothing like what we were used to seeing from Venlil.
She stared up at me with a complete lack of fear, and I had to act fast or embarrass myself in front of the hunters. My image needed to go untarnished by this, lest I lose all authority and most likely my head. I hissed at the approaching venlil, but much to everyone's surprised she wasn't scared.
"Were you expecting me to cower like an animal? Those days are over. I am reborn, as a true venlil, as we were before the Federation crippled us. Before those treacherous kolshians came, we were a race of warriors and mages. I have spent the last ten days reliving that past, learning of what was taken from us. From now on the venlil people will work to recapture our past and throw off the Federation's lies."
"Are you here to challenge me, Governor?" I asked. The feistiness in her was respectable, but I really didn't need this right now, not in front of the prisoners.
"No, I am not here to challenge you. I am here to secure my people's future." The venlil then gestured for her mezari companion to come forth, a large container under one of his arms.
Tarva took the container and opened it up, revealing dozens of slabs of meat packed inside. The walls of the container were covered in a light frost, telling me that it was some sort of ice box, only without the ice.
The venlil picked up one of the vacuum wrapped pieces of meat and held it out to me, and I reached out to grab it. It was odd to see a venlil handling raw meat without any disgust, but if her words were true, she'd managed to throw off the Federation indoctrination that'd rendered other prey fearful.
Ripping the plastic open, the scent of fresh, iron-rich blood filled the air. I wasn't sure what animal this meat was from, but it was obvious by the lack of connective tissue that it must've been created by Seeker Klapatch's meat growing program, rather than coming from a real animal.
I turned the slaw in my hands, examining it. Besides the cold of the ice box, nothing else stood out about it, so I took the risk and swallowed it down. The texture was soft, easily breaking up in the mouth from the lack of connective tissues, but the taste was quite pleasant, no doubt very similar to what our ancient, Wriss-born livestock would've tasted like. This was the first time in centuries that any arxur had tasted iron-blooded meat, and it was far better than any alien meat, it felt natural, which was quite ironic.
"Satisfied?" The venlil asked, closing the box with narrowed eyes. Despite having just watched me scarf down a cut of meat, she was still not twitching, which seemed to instill awe and respect in my underlings.
"Very. When will mass production start?" I asked, standing tall so as not to give the hunters any ideas that I was intimidated, which in truth I was, if only a little. Seeing a venlil act without fear was... short circuiting my brain.
"The plans are already in motion. The public have been told that it's an initiative to feed the aurigans, and most of the workers in the factories are going to be aurigan at first, but we're going to scale production with venlil volunteers once more and more of them open up to the idea. Any excess we produce every month will be traded to you monthly in exchange for its weight in venlil captives."
I could see that the hunters in the cage were getting very suspicious of what was going on, and I had to think fast. I couldn't let them think the prey were starting to dictate us around. Knowing full well that food would keep them quiet, I opened the container at Tarva's feet again and threw everything inside over the fence.
"Taste the future, my hunters. The aurigans give us iron rich meat, as we used to hunt on Wriss before the Federation came. Meat as we evolved to eat it."
A few skeptical looks were exchanged, before the more desperate or trusting prisoners ripped into the plastic packs and devoured the meat inside. This made even more of them lunge for the meat, and in a few seconds it was gone.
"More awaits us if we work with the aurigans on this exchange. They wish to keep the venlil close, but we will not go uncompensated for handing them over. You have faced their warriors and survived, most have not. You know that they are worthy of our respect, so I will honor their request to trade venlil for fresh meat."
I could spot Tarva giving me a squinted look as I turned my head away from the hunters in the cage, before gesturing towards my ship to change the subject, and to get the exchanged finished. "The venlil are waiting on the ship, if you wish to inspect them before we release them."
The governor remained stoic, and merely turned to walk towards the edge of camp and the cattle ship. I was glad to be out of sight of the prisoners, and hoped that they hadn't seen through my mask of confidence. One more failure and the Prophet-Descendant would have me gutted.