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The Nature of Predators 2-93
🕑 Added 2024-12-10 12:00:07 +0000 UTCMemory Transcription Subject: Taylor Trench, Human Colonist
Date [standardized human time]: March 18, 2161
It was eerie to swoop past the ruined crater that was once Tonvos, the capital city of Avor. I remembered the first trip here with Gress, marveling at a pyramid that was taller than many skyscrapers stacked atop each other; the megastructure was a work of art in its own right, having many lives and fixtures set inside like it was a snow globe. The last time I’d visited, I believed I could convince the Krev Consortium to aid the “last of humanity” on Tellus; I’d been awestruck by their splendor and accomplishments, and thought we might’ve finally found aliens that were different.
All I’d wanted back then was to be accepted and loved, and it was Gress who had given me that. Searching for that validation from the Consortium had clearly been the wrong move, in hindsight. If there were any access points to an underground network that would safeguard the government from the fallout, it would be beneath the crushed Delegates Tower. SAR had scanned for entry points and life signs to plan out rescues; I hoped the armor-piercing rounds we’d loaded up would be enough to incapacitate a robot. Our plan to kill them was to either a) blow them up or b) shoot their limbs off so they couldn’t move.
I never imagined that I’d be part of a massive human-led invasion force on this world, taking on a robot army with my alien love, when I was plagued by resentment and despondency seeing my species toil to no end. I see why those minerals we mined were useful to have in reserve: the materials to create an infinite metal legion had to be in excess.
The entrances to the underground network were built to withstand a lot, especially within Delegates Tower. I wondered how much Mayor Hathaway had been aware of, with the KC’s knowledge of Earth surviving and his insistence on staying put. General Radai certainly hadn’t known, since he’d brought the Resket forces to side with the Jaslip Independence Brigade in this mission. Frenelda had insurrectionist sympathies as well, so the Jaslip would have at least known that Esquo was for nothing sooner. The Underscales and the Listeners were the ones undeniably in the know, but it was unclear who in leadership was fully culpable.
The Sapient Coalition had wasted no time rummaging through the debris, and blasting through to reveal an opening to the ominous depths. The gaping hole we punched out in the ground, adding to the one that Krev had already installed, made it easier for our transport shuttle to glide beneath the crust. I had lived my entire life hidden underground, longing for a taste of sunlight; I hated burrowing into the heart of a planet, to a cavern meant to hide people away, again. At least I wasn’t dancing to appease an overlord this time…and I wasn’t facing the darkness alone.
This was about extracting a high price from the Krev for everything they’d done, as well as helping Gress make it out from this hell. I didn’t know what horrors we’d face, but I’d been willing to die to save the innocent lives of the babies we’d been transporting; the next generation of any species was worth protecting. I swallowed a lump in my throat, thinking of Lecca climbing all over me that first day in Tonvos. If it came to it, I was willing to make the ultimate sacrifice so Gress could have the future he wanted. Fear wouldn’t hold me back from protecting him at all costs.
“Off we go,” Cala spoke gently. “This ends here. It takes a predator to hunt a group this evil down; we can’t let them hide. I trust humanity to lead the pack—to take down the beast. We’ve got this.”
I steadied my gun, checking to ensure Gress was following and keeping his cool. “This is no different from the hunt for Mafani. Not our first rodeo with a secret bunker. Let’s find these sons of bitches and fuck ‘em up.”
I dismounted from the transport ship in a large, open lobby at the bottom of the shaft; this seemed designed for ships to be able to exit and enter from. Dozens of vessels circled and took turns landing, representing various SC powers and members of the Jaslip, Resket, and Arxur resistance. This was my first time seeing the infamous man-eating reptiles in person, though I was willing to give them a chance on account of the fact that they’d saved Earth. There’d be no Sapient Coalition or living human homeworld without them; Las Vegas would look like Tonvos did up there.
“Taylor!” a familiar voice shouted, moments before I was enveloped in a hug. “I didn’t know if I’d ever see you again, when you got captured. Did you really go to Earth?”
“Yes. It was…incredible.” I returned the gesture, glad to get a much warmer greeting from Cherise than when she was passing out pamphlets. It seems my suspicions about her being friends with the Jaslip extremists was correct, since she sure as shit isn’t here on behalf of Tellus. That’s why she was acting furtive around me. “An entire planet that truly belonged to us and what we wanted. It’s an adjustment, but you have to see it with your own eyes.”
An Arxur loomed over Cherise’s shoulder, and I could feel her staring into my soul. “She has the option to see it through someone else’s? Where is the nearest eye rental shop?”
“Down the hall, to the left,” Gress answered in a monotone voice. “Just plug yourself up to the Consortium’s machine and you can see through many eyes, as an outside observer to your own existence.”
“I’d give you shit about being fun at parties, but I saw what happened to your world. I’m sorry; sick fucks have less of a moral compass than Betterment! I’m Hysran.”
I felt a little weird about this bizarre Arxur intruding on our conversation. “Okay?”
“We’re best friends,” Cherise added. “I’m looking forward to getting out of here and planning an open mic night on Tellus, just so she can toss out some god-awful puns and give us all a laugh. It’s time we remembered what it means to live a little and to have a soul.”
“I’m one hundred percent in agreement, but, um, what happened to Quana? Is she alright?”
A tall shadow appeared in my periphery, along with a strict, authoritative voice. “Much like you before you were steered to a better path, she is poisoned by anger. Quana’s barbs are often directed at those who are not her enemy. It is a stain on her reputation.”
“General Radai.” I was struck by how much the Resket had aged, with his pink feathers looking thinner and more grizzled. His helmet visor was translucent, though it surprised me that he wanted his forces to witness how beat down he looked. “It’s good to see you, sir.”
“You as well, Trench. I thought you were leaving the military, and that it was not the best use of your skills?”
“I left the Consortium military, after I saw their true colors from the Mafani incident. Circumstances are different here; I’ll always fight for what’s most important to me. But fuck, I wish I’d have known you served an evil empire sooner.”
“I wish I had known. The harm I’ve caused is irreconcilable with my conscience. The files Gress gave me showed how deep the surveillance state’s wing spanned; your Krev friend had been holding on to quite the cache.”
“I really believed they were looking out for us. It wasn’t until I saw them neglect the people’s interest, and cover up their own dirty deeds that I questioned it,” Gress lamented. “I once thought the right words could talk almost anyone down. Little did I know we were all hostages, or I would’ve bartered for our release.”
Hysran narrowed her eyes. “As someone from a species that’s been locked in an isolation bubble for two decades, it’s not so simple as saying, ‘Let me out.’ Sometimes, you just have to break away. Kaisal is right. Ooh, I got a new one. What do you call a Jaslip using their three fronds to pry open a prison cell?”
“A backdoor?” Cherise guessed.
“A tailbreak!”
Cala chortled, though none of the rest of us were amused. “That is a human dad joke, through and through. Reminds me of being a teenager and Andy would embarrass me for shits and giggles. I’m afraid that silly pun will only translate to the English speakers.”
“I suppose I am glad not to have learned English when Raza was studying human diplomacy. The less meanings I grasp of Hysran’s jokes, the better,” another Arxur grunted, as Quana slouched up alongside him. “I am telling you, she will make a thousand clones of herself just to create more puns and torment my ears. We should get a move on those scanners before she has a chance.”
Cherise shrugged. “Zefriss, you really don’t want your own personal Hysran?”
“She’s your personal Hysran,” Quana growled. “Hello, Taylor. Gress.”
“Glad to see the Jaslips finally slipped away from the Consortium.” Gress turned toward her with a defeated pose. “Esquo wasn’t the only planet they’d raze to get their way, clearly. Since the enclaves were freed beforehand…assuming the other worlds got glassed, Jaslips are the most populous of the KC species left. You wanted to leave anyway. We’ll be…dirty SC refugees at best, like the Kolshians and the Farsul.”
I gasped. “That’s not going to happen! Anyone can see the Krev and all of the other Consortium species are victims to this whole thing, just like the Jaslips were thirty years ago.”
“We did nothing to help ourselves. Do not make excuses for our pitiful judgment,” Radai remarked. “We followed orders without asking questions.”
“So did I, sir. I marched to the beat of Hathaway’s drum just for my own—”
“Then we are both fools, just with different magnitudes of the orders we heeded. I was used to further an agenda far more insidious.”
“None of you set out to do evil, for Christ’s sake,” Cala sputtered, the British accent thickening. “I was told I was doing a good fucking thing back at the extermination fleet as a bloody chicklet. People used me as an instrument of mass murder too, but blimey, you’ve got to try to atone now that you know better. What else can you do?”
A growl rumbled in Quana’s throat. “All of our oppressors should pay with their lives. Quit wasting time yapping and get a move on it; or don’t. I don’t care.”
“People who don’t care don’t need to announce to everyone that they don’t care. That’s how I know that Zefriss secretly does!” Hysran decreed.
Cherise pressed a hand to her forehead mockingly. “Don’t out him like that!”
Zefriss roared in both of their faces, as they giggled. Cherise is very comfortable around Arxur to not even flinch, damn. “I am not amused by your social contrivances. I am an operative who appreciates serious, solitary pursuits.”
“But you want to be serious and solitary together,” Hysran countered.
“That sounds more like Radai.” I gestured with a thumb toward the towering pink bird, who glowered at me; I lost my nerve beneath his withering stare. “Um…Radai, sir.”
“Just move along.” The Resket gestured toward the rear of our marching troops, who were following Kaisal in groupings of a few hundred at a time into the labyrinth. “We’re going toward the blueprint location of the bunker. Any civilians hunkering down there, we have to get them to safety. Before the Underscales use this secret tunnel network to bust in and pick them off.”
I switched off the helmet speaker on my spacesuit, and trundled down the metal walkway without further ado. I was hoping for a miracle, that we’d find Lecca in this central bunker and gallivant out—despite the fact that Gress’ family didn’t even live in Tonvos, and had only made the trip on that first day to catch a glimpse of the “big obors.” Humanity technicians got to work cutting openings in thick, sealed bulkheads at the end of our path, and I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand upright. My gun was poised and ready for whatever was on the other side: anything metal between us and the civilians was going down.
We crouched alongside the still intact metal, as bullets flew through holes as soon as they were open. The one thing our flesh-and-blood bodies had over their untiring steel was that humans had the built-in ability to throw with precision. After checking with a tiny camera that there were no civilian hostages inside, the Terrans lobbed an absurd amount of grenades toward enemy clusters. The Consortium had far less range that they could use grenades…or so we thought, until explosives came bouncing out right at our feet.
“Fuck!” I leapt into action, kicking the grenade back through the opening with little time to spare. It was fortunate that soccer was one of the few sports passed down in the cavern, as something to do for children to kill time. I switched my helmet microphone back on. “They must’ve cloned humans already?! They don’t know who they’re fighting. It’s not even just the Underscales in the legion. We could talk them down!”
Radai lowered his head. “Negative, Trench. They just want the benefits of human biology. Those…things are brainwashed, and will see and hear whatever they want. They’re living in a different reality. The revived Underscales are the only ones truly aware of what’s going on, I’m certain.”
“It could be me, thinking I’m fighting Federation exterminators come to finish the Tellish off! Doesn’t that make you feel some sort of way?”
“It could be all of us, Trench; they don’t care who they use! I was scanned, Gress was scanned, just the same as you were. The Reskets are the strongest military species, and I am their leader, so who do you think they’re the most likely to replicate ad nauseum? It helps no one to dwell on it. There is no honor down here!”
Cherise shouldered a rocket launcher, looking a bit too practiced with it. “Taylor, I always wanted to blow you up.”
I huffed with indignation, as she blasted a rocket through the gash in the bulkhead. Was I going to let her get away with such a remark? Honestly, I had to agree with Hysran’s belief that humor under such gloomy circumstances did lighten the mood. What Radai had suggested was enough to chill my bone marrow. The Jaslips followed Cherise’s lead with the rocket launchers, going overboard in the hopes of cleaning up any robots lurking inside. With a few more human grenades chucked in, we sent combat drones ahead of the foot soldiers to chop away at any survivors.
Gress was one of the first to push inside, after a lull from our automatons that suggested it was all clear; I could see how desperate he was to reach the bunker and search for Lecca. I followed the Krev inside, still feeling that quiet hum of rage over everything that was done to him and to Avor. I walked over to a human robot that had been snapped in two at the waist, but was still buzzing from a creepy metal skull. Imagining that was Taylor Trench fighting the phantoms of the Federation, I decided to put it out of its misery.
I unloaded my entire clip between its head and its chest cavity, ensuring that the lights were off for this enslaved Tellish soul. Whoever this was, I knew that the colonists of Ark Ship 3 had suffered enough in this one lifetime. General Radai was right; the closest thing we could get to honor would be to eliminate all of these robots indiscriminately. All that mattered was reaching the central bunker to save Lecca and getting the job done.
A/N - 93! The Sapient Coalition, the Reskets, the Jaslips, and the Arxur all rendezvous in the depths below Avor’s capital city, with a reunion for much of the cast here; Radai doesn’t want excuses for his own behavior, while Cherise and Hysran happily greet Taylor with jokes abounding. The SC soldiers push on in massive numbers to rescue the civilians from the bunkers, using explosives on the way in the hopes of taking out the robots. Radai raises the full implications of brainwashed humans fighting, with how it could be any of them, in a false reality.
What do you think of the horrifying idea of a fate for Taylor and the Tellish where their Krev automaton selves believe they’re fighting the Federation? What future do you imagine the Consortium species will have after these worlds have been glassed? What’s your final wager on if Gress will find Lecca…and will there be any other surprise guests?
As always, thank you for reading and supporting!
Comments
EliasArt2Life
@Some Lvm As for the Kolshians and Farsul, you’re taking a few things out of context here. First, they DID NOT support murder of entire groups. That was their whole thing against the Arxur. They also believed in unity of the herd. The problem was that they had been societally brainwashed for a MILLENNIA to believe that predators weren’t people and would wipe them out, and that people with “Predator Disease” were as good as predators. So what’s my problem with you using this as an excuse for why we shouldn’t forgive the Kolshians and Farsul? Just that EVERY OTHER SPECIES was the same way. Seriously. If you’re going to take that stance, why not lock up the Venlil and other members of the SC too? They believed in it until they were shown the lie. The Kolshians and Farsul had minimum contact with us after the Summit at Aafa. They weren’t exposed to us showing people the lies. “The Kolshians only turned on their government because it failed to protect them from predators.” No. They turned on the government — in the middle of the battle against the predators — because their government was using them as pawns, sacrificing them as ammunition, had stripped them of many of their rights, and had a Secret Police “disappearing” people. It was primarily due to their government’s treatment and not their incompetence in fighting predators. I won’t bother with the Farsul, since we only got one or two chapters of their non-government society. There’s just not enough information to really debate on it. Besides all of that, you’re missing the point; it doesn’t really matter what WE the audience think. All that matters is what the SC is going to think. They are going to want someone to pay for this war, and the Krev are the likely fall guys. I wouldn’t bank on the other SC species taking too close a look at the morality of this, and not just heaping the blame onto the Krev, citing how they previously put the masterminds of the Federation in quarantine, so why not do the same to the masterminds of the Consortium. That being said, given the next chapter, I would amend my statement to be possible, rather than likely; it looks like there won’t be enough loss to warrant a scapegoat. If you hate people defending the Farsul and Kolshians, then fine. But that hate is not going to make people stop. And your arguments AREN’T exactly convincing. The problem is that your statements are skewed AGAINST the Farsul and Kolshians, but you are trying to convince people who’s opinions make them sensitive to those skewed arguments. It’s not going to work. They’re going to notice your biases and discount your arguments based on them. You talk about the bad things they’ve done, but always choose to leave out the reason for them doing it and the environment that promoted it. If there’s ANY ambiguity, you try to interpret it in the worst possible way. I’m not the only person who notices these things. If you truly want to convince people to stop defending the civilians, you need to stop thinking like yourself, and learn to think like the people you’re trying to convince. Work within THEIR frame of logic, and they’ll be more receptive. Keep repeating your opinions, and they’ll keep noticing all your biases and use them as their reason not to listen.
EliasArt2Life
@Some Lvm Please. They can be half destroyed and function because they’re robots and as long as the half that contains their power module isn’t destroyed, they’ll continue to function. THAT robot wasn’t exactly a threat. And you seem to have forgotten all the OTHER bots hit by the blast who got totally destroyed. What makes you think that THIS bot was hit in it’s center of mass rather than hit by shrapnel/the edges of the blast? These bots are getting taken down with grenades and armor piercing rounds. Not exactly the “take an RPG to the center of mass and still function” you’ve interpreted them as. As for you saying that it took a whole magazine to kill the incapacitated bot, read again. Taylor was clearly going for overkill to MAKE SURE the robot was destroyed. It never said that it TOOK the whole magazine; it said that he emptied the whole magazine into it to make sure it was destroyed. You’re assuming that Taylor is an effective soldier who knows to conserve ammo, when it’s pretty clear that, even with his character development, he’s very emotional and doesn’t always make rational decisions. I’ll give you that they’re above the average human (though clearly not in skill, given how this battle went), and I’ll take the blame for that; when I said that they weren’t super soldiers, I meant compared to a baseline robot soldier. Basically, if we consider the battle droids from Star Wars as the baseline, I’d call the Commando Droids from Clone Wars “super soldiers”. These bot in NOP clearly aren’t super soldiers by that definition. I’d call them the baseline of robot soldiers. Also, aren’t you moving the goalposts a little? In a previous comment, you said the robots were a threat because the Consortium could make “every soldier their best soldier”. You were talking about their physical and mental capabilities then. Do their best soldiers really all get beaten in their first confrontation with a known enemy that attacks without the element of surprise? These don’t seem like their best soldiers to me.
Some Lvm
On a separate note: I am really sick and tired of people trying to remove responsibility from Kolshian and Farsul civilians. Sure, they didn't know about the Archives or the Shadow caste, but they knew and fully accepted their government murderous intent towards any meat eating species and their government treatment of anyone non conformists even among themselves. This is a completely different situation from the Krev, and the other Consortium species. Radai and Frenelda were at the top of the government and even they knew nothing of the conspiracy. We can't know how the rest of the representatives would have reacted to the reveal, because Cherise and Quana murdered them, but we do know how the wider population of Avor reacted once they learned what really was going on: They turned on their government, they didn't support what was done! The average citizen of the consortium never supported wholesale murder, unlike Kolshians and Farsul. Even the Esqu massacre was controversial. No - they should not be compared with any Fed species. The Kolshians only turned on their government because it failed to protect them from predators. They didn't change their feelings about humanity after learning the truth, they just hated that their leaders failed and sacrificed them. Same goes for the Farsul - they never turned on their leaders, the UN had to take them to trial by force. Its kind of ironic we had to wait for another "bad guy" for those two societies to get what was coming to them, because the UN was too humane for their own good.
Some Lvm
Not super soldiers??? We literally read about a bot that was split in half by a missile or grenade and was still somewhat functional, and then it took a whole magazine of an assault rifle to finally "kill it". If you think that isn't a "super soldier" by realistic standards compared to any biological, you've' been watching too much action / scifi. If it takes a rocket from a shoulder launcher just to incapacitate a bot, this fight is going to be tougher than anything the Coalition has faced before, and same goes for the Reskets. The main weapons of their soldiers are basically useless, and they have to rely solely on heavy explosives which couldn't possibly be as abundant as regular ammo. Also, do you know what it means to "unload and entire clip" on a real battlefield??? If you take something like the M16 / AR15 magazine which holds 30 rounds of 5.56, a regular soldier would be carrying between 5 and 10 of those in to battle. In a human to human battle if you run out of ammo and you have the training, you might be able to survive with a knife or hand to hand fighting in close quarters, but against even the most basic bots those would be worse than useless. And these are clearly not basic bots! I doubt any of Boston Dynamics creations would still be chirping with an RPG to center mass. Clearly we have at least T-800 level units here!
EliasArt2Life
@PhycoKrusk Both the Farsul and Kolshian governments flagged and imprisoned members of their society who were against their actions, citing Predator Disease. The Kolshians outright had a Secret Police that was going around assessing who was loyal or not, and those who weren’t loyal were never heard from again. The Kolshians who defied their inhumane orders, like the captain of the Kolshian fleet, who refused to bomb the Mazic homeworld, were imprisoned in the Shadow Caste cities in terrible conditions. People who wished to leave Aafa were refused. The only time they let people flee was when they turned the refugee ships into missiles agains the SC fleet. This led to an outright revolt on Aafa that tore down much of the government’s control over the planet before the SC landed. (There’s less information about what happened with Farsul society, as the story more or less glossed over it.) So tell me, how were the Kolshians NOT prisoners of their own planet, same as the Krev? Can you do it without splitting hairs? At the end of this, the SC will want to hold SOMEBODY responsible. They didn’t let the brainwashed Kolshian civilians who were slaughtered by their own government off the hook, so why would they not blame the Krev? They shouldn’t, but one of the major themes in this series has been how little all the other aliens have changed in 20 years. Too many of them are still holding onto their old ways.
PhycoKrusk
Something else to consider is that, even after the depths of tampering with other species and the destruction of histories came to light, the Farsul and Kolshians didn't abandon their governments. They (ostensibly) had the ability to, and didn't. The Krev are prisoners on their own planet; even if they want to leave, they physically cannot. Additionally, so far as I am aware, every Consortium species was in open rebellion before the mask came off, to include the Krev (although I may be wrong on that specific point). The Kolshians didn't start rebelling until the UN was putting boots on the ground and it was clear there was no other way out; the Krev started rebelling when the war wasn't yet a done deal. So, you know, maybe that'll count for something? (Or who knows, maybe in spite of being hostages, there is a group of Krev who nevertheless look at their neighbors, their obors, and themselves, and decide "It is a good day to die.")
EliasArt2Life
Yeah, I was concerned about that at the start of their relationship. It’s a very real and likely thing to happen in these types of scenarios in real life. Still, given the cues the story is giving, I don’t think that’s the direction that Space Paladin is taking things.
EliasArt2Life
Based on how the first robots went down, it looks like my suspicions of these guys being just robots, and not super soldier robots, was right. Doesn’t make me feel better; if they were super soldier bots, I’d feel less conflicted about the extremes we need to take here. Cherise looks a WHOLE LOT better! I don’t think I’ve EVER seen her so happy. Time away from Quana and with Hysran has done a TON of good for her. I hope this keeps up for her. And also that someone can snap Quana out of her attitude. Hearing Radai say that “there’s no honor here”… terrifying. I agree completely, but for a member of an honor-bound species to say that… Unfortunately, I think Gress is right about the outcome of the war; the Kolshians and the Farsul were unaware of their governments’ evils, and were in many ways victims of it, and yet they both got put in an even worse quarantine than the Arxur. Hard to believe that the same won’t happen to the Krev at the least. Maybe the societal changes humanity has been pushing towards in this series will let the Krev off the hook. I hope so.
Alekss Žukovskis
trauma bonding is the word
Xilacnog
I think you could get there faster by having a bio-robot Lecca pretend she's the real one, nearly kill Taylor and Gress pulling the trigger taking it down to save Taylor. After that, Gress won't even be able to trust the real Lecca.
Stueymon
I wonder if Taylor really does love Gress or if he's just confusing acceptance for love.
Byron Ritchie
Can tell if I should make clone wars references or death korps of krieg references Also while I can’t say I entirely agree with it I do think xilacnog has a interesting theory on who the big bad (or at least one of the big bads) is
Kevo
Extremely sad for the Krev
Sci-fi reader
For The Emperor or something.
PhycoKrusk
I only speak comprehensible gibberish, thank you. Good thing, too, otherwise I wouldn't communicate with anybody.
Gumcel
"I was willing to make the ultimate sacrifice so Gress could have the future he wanted." My brother in Christ you are literally a part of Gress' ideal future. "What’s your final wager on if Gress will find Lecca…and will there be any other surprise guests?" Well I'm assuming there will be surprise guests, otherwise you wouldn't have brought it up lol.
Alekss Žukovskis
please dont jinx it
Alekss Žukovskis
SP will you make taylor shoot lecca and derange gress to slaneks level? im in for it
REDemon14
I had a lot of thoughts :3
Alekss Žukovskis
i mean, SP introduced the chekovs son of a gun, Taylor, and he wrote a lot about his seething rage. so, its safe to say, its ALL taylor, but every ally has a picture of his krev now-BF hovering in front. all they have to say is "this is simulated training".
Alekss Žukovskis
thats a lot of text
Xilacnog
I have a feeling there'll be a Sugar Watkins moment for one of them.
Xilacnog
I said it before and I'll say it again, Lecca is with whoever is calling the shots and will be used to turn Gress on Taylor. And I bet the one behind it all is Gress's ex-wife, why would she use her daughter against her father? Spite, any kid that has separated parents where one of them is spiteful, will resonate with this, I think.
Xilacnog
Maybe those secrets were pre-approved for leaking?
Heroman3003
Tonvos just gone... That's... I mean, antimatter bombing it was to be expected, but after the time spent there both here and in Exchange Program, it kinda hurts still to see the consequence. Hopefully enough people were taken away by the evacuation at least... Though I doubt it was even close to half of the population. The krev are gonna end up in a very krakotl/gojid situation afterwards, relying on few evacuees and survivors on other planets to repopulate as a species. There'd be some irony in there, but unlike the other two, the general populace this time wasn't in any way complicit. They didn't believe in the robot uprising or preserving Underscale control, what the leadership did went not WITH but AGAINST what people wanted. There is no catharsis or satisfaction to be found in this bombing. The way the delegates have been treated, it does sound like none of them knew. I doubt it was just those three. The way Underscales operated, having an easily manipulated clueless government sounds right up their alley, so while they did die to Cherise and Quana's Christmas Surprise, I believe Riccin, Viddel, Evala and Dioki were about as innocent as Radai and Hathaway - still complicit in crimes against Jaslip, but completely unaware of any deeper conspiracies. Also, the long awaited reunion! Cherise and Quana meet Gress and Taylor again. Honestly, I didn't even think of the emotional moment it'd be for Cherise to hear from Taylor now, considering he's been to Earth. And that little talk... Well, it might have just scratched up more of Quana's wounds. Also Zefriss and Hysran and Radai and Cala are all there! Warcrime gang! I imagine that's gonna be our team for going down and seeing what truly lies at the depths of the Consortium, and for confronting the real masterminds in charge. Praying they all live through it... Also, Cherise, you should probably shut up about blowing up Taylor because for some reason I think you, being more competent soldier, are probably more represented on that battlefield than Taylor is. There will be more Cherises blown up this day than Taylors. And damn, Taylor... That's... harsh. I'm glad there's no more of his self-hatred showing in executing someone he decides, for a moment, to see as himself though. Our boy has truly grown as a person through it all, hadn't he...? Great chapter! Reunions, meetings, horrors of war, nightmares beyond comprehension, all things we love~ Can't wait for the next one!
DemonVee
God damnit, that actually means something 😅
Wingit98
I mean, maybe he won't for leaking secrets
Fergon
It only now clicked for me, why Mafani was so ok with being taken out. He knew, that he would be revived.
DDDragoni
Cala: "Yeah, yeah, everyone here was complicit in some manner of atrocity, now stop beating yourselves up about it and go make it better!"
REDemon14
Taylor recalling the time he went to Avor is actually kinda sad. To think of all that once stood on the surface of the planet, now all gone. Only hope that a good amount of people managed to get to safety and that the Jaslips-made bunkers held. I have no idea how much Hathaway knew about this. The Tellish’s labor went into mining the resources for the bots so maybe he didn’t know much or he knew quite a bit and was promised power if he kept quiet. Taylor resolves himself to be the one to see Gress out of this darkness is sweet, especially since that's what Gress did for him. Good idea on the SC to make a larger hole to land for them and their allies, not like they could do much more damage. Hey, reunion of our KC squad, for better or for worst! Here's hoping Cherise does get to see Earth one day. We get to see Taylor's view of meeting the Arxur and he's a bit accepting, though I wonder how the other SC members are handling it. I feel like the Venlil squad leader wouldn't be too happy, given what the Arxur most likely used his people for. Hysran, may you never change XD. (Kinda sad to hear Cherise refer to her as her best friend but, I don't blame her. Not worth how Quana has been. Radai’s description of her hate is quite fitting) “These people have less of a moral compass than Betterment.” Betterment forced people to “breed”. Big X to doubt. I'd be curious if Tellus would allow Hysran to participate in an open mic night, because Tellus is still actually *Tinsas* and the Sivkits may not like an Arxur on their planet. Radai being here on the ground implies that Resket commanders lead from the front. That or this is just a very unique situation. Man, I can't imagine the stress Radai has been through ever since he destroyed the Sivkit fleet. I *can* imagine how it would've aged him significantly. He's probably open to showing his men how things have weighed on him for the sake of honorable honesty. While Radai, Gress, and Taylor can blame themselves all they want for serving the KC, Cala is right in that what is most important is what you do afterwards and they decided to stand up against their oppressors. I think Hysran is right about the procomation of not caring coming from Quana. I think she really does care, but she's putting up a wall/barbs to convince everyone else otherwise. A gaggle of Hysrans sounds like an Arxur’s worst nightmare. I can imagine Hysran having her posse sitting around a table coming up with jokes as seriously as any business meeting XD It's interesting to think that the Jaslips could now be the most populace group in KC. I wonder how the Tellish and Sivkits will think of that. Now comes the ground engagements. Of course they copied humans to assist in their legion. The done most likely to be seen are the ones with capable combat prowess. So humans, Reskets, Krev, Trombil, and maybe Jadlips. I don't know how Ulchid or Smigli drones work in combat. Maybe the Smigli bots’ unique frame could be used for flanks or just being hard to hit. Good thing there are a lot of grenades from humans and rockets from the Jaslips. (Man, do the Jaslips have a ton of launchers) Considering that the KC knew of humans longer than what was believed, my thinking is that they had the human bots on standby then waited for the Tellish to reveal themselves to get mind scans. I don't know how many Tellish were scanned but we know for a fact that Taylor and Cherise were scanned. We can assume Cherise was scanned before she bombed the leaders, but avoided them afterwards. So that's the latest from her. Don't know the last time Taylor was scanned. Hopefully the brain damage from his first scan was carried over to his copies :3 For someone to make copies of your mind and warp them to the point of illusion is diabolical. I agree that destroying them would be a mercy. I don't see *most* of the former KC species being treated like the Kolshians and Farsul. Generally: They only started to wrong others in the galaxy and a had a grand conspiracy around 20 years ago. Until they met the Ghost Farsul, the KC seemed to be rather sincere compared to the Kolsul Federation who were genetically altering and crippling people, sterilizing, drugging, lobotimizing, and burning people for almost 1000 years. Add on the deal they made with Betterment and the fact that they could've freed all the people being tortured, eaten, and forcibly "bred”; the KC just isn't the same as the Feds. The Krev: They just suffered a massive loss after rebelling against their government the moment they learned the truth. That's something most of the Feddy populace didn't do. Also, they find humans cute and whole-heartedly accept them. That may help their standing. Resket: They may receive some ire but, they too are also fighting back right now. They are honor bound and are rather easy to understand if you know their honor system. Also, much like how the Krakotl suffered mass suicide when they found out about the truth of their ancestry; the Resket may do a more “traditional” version of such for their part in the KC, which shows deep remorse and may win points with the SC. Ulchids: They are hyper-social incarnate. If their planet is still intact, locking them away could be seen as torture. If their planet is gone like Avor, they are likely going to spread out trying to befriend every species they can. Which could help build a rapport with the other races. They also don't seem to be too militarized or conflict minded, so they may not be seen as aggressive. (Also, if their world is gone; bye bye Yulchids D: ) Smigli: Considering that they are largely entertainers first, they could be seen as a more passive species who wish to avoid conflict. Don't know much else about them, so that's all I can say about them. Jaslips: They have been resisting the KC for decades. They will likely be seen as the ones most able to shake off the KC ideals. Rumen being carnivores will still irk some of SC herbivores, but the Arxur Collective will be more than willing to help them. Trombil: They are the interesting ones. The Legion will likely cause a stigma for robotics and even *cybernetics*. Guess who has a culture surrounding such things. I can see them being distrusted everywhere. They may even be forced to cut back on the cybernetics I order to be accepted in the wider galaxy. Now the UN being responsible with similar tech may be more accepting, but that's only one species. I do believe/believe that Lecca will be found safe and sound in the flesh, if for no other reason than for the Underscales/ Listeners to torment and mock Gress. “*Any surprise guests*”? 0.0 Now, you got my brain a thinkin’ The only ones I would be surprised by would be a quick fire list so here we go. Flesh Quana as a twist that the Quana we've been following for her past few POV's is actually a bot used for spying. The skirmish the JIB had before the Arxur got involved did go quite poorly after all, almost like they (the Gov't) had inside intel. Any hostile leadership from NoP 1, such as Nikonas, as a favor to the Ghost Farsul. General Axsel the Sivkit. But if a long shot, but hey, you never know. The Federation had humans from the second World War and a pre-Betterment Arxur. I'm not ruling it out. Then of course, Marcel and/or Slanek. I see this as most unlikely since Terran Technologies has shown they have the tech already. Also, Marcel would trust the KC govt to not mess with Slenky. I can hardly wait to see what comes next! So much could go wrong but, the end of this madness is in sight!
TheBlack2007
Keep calm and ⬆️➡️⬇️⬇️⬇️
TheBlack2007
FOR SUPER EARTH! Wait, wrong franchise...
PhycoKrusk
Stratagems??? I thought you said "Stratego!"
PhycoKrusk
I think I speak for everyone when I say: Heghlu’meH QaQ jajvam!
PhycoKrusk
"If." They haven't gotten communication from anyone else to confirm anything, so Taylor is inferring that, since the Krev glassed their own planet, it's not outside the realm of possibility that they did the same to all the others.
Austin Arlt
Phrasing ?
Matěj Kratochvíla
When and how did all the Consortium worlds get glassed?! I thought that the Krev leadership saying they don't need their populace and implying they have no problem with killing them was just a threat
Sci-fi reader
I hope Cala and Hysran survive!
EclipseDragon96
Where's my stratagams when I need them!
Sroni
Are they more like Automatons or Terminators? From the POV of individuality. I know neither are individuals, but terminators seem to be more single-minded, and Automatons are kinda hive-minded.
John Benjamin Cate
Hysran remains amazing, Randai is a badass, and good lord are the robot army terrifying. Didn’t even make them have the appearance of their former selves. A tragedy.
Michael Halpern
Survivors of the consortium may go the nomad route at least until their worlds can be resettled. Lecca lives,
Willy
though it suppressed me that he wanted his forces to witness how beat down he looked. “It’s good to see you, sir.” A small spelling mistake here being ,"though it suppressed me". Correction: "though it surprised me."
RaphaelFrog
Time to blow some bots👁️👁️ Also great job with this chapter! I'm really looking forward to see more >:3
Cheesy Power
That’s a good point about how someone who doesn’t care wouldn’t feel the need to announce it- Quana is just wrapping herself in anger to try and keep from being hurt. Hopefully she learns better before it’s too late…
