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The Nature of Predators 2-90
🕑 Added 2024-11-26 12:00:09 +0000 UTCMemory Transcription Subject: Taylor Trench, Human Colonist
Date [standardized human time]: March 18, 2161
The past month and few odd days had been a whirlwind, one that left me unable to stay on Earth with Gress. The United Nations relented to permit us to join assault forces on Avor, when Captain Sovlin was pointed to as a precedent. We had to go. Even if I wasn’t returning to Tellus long-term, I wasn’t going to let the Krev throw himself into danger to rescue his family. Avor was not going to allow any of its citizens to evacuate to the SC, after they pieced together that we knew the truth about them perpetuating the Federation’s existence; humanity’s shift in temperament, and known discovery of the ghost Farsul station, allowed them to put two and two together.
In the United Nations’ blitzkrieg strategy, its 82 allies had been busy with a variety of engagements. The ghost Farsul had hundreds of thousands of ships to concentrate on key spots, though they’d relinquished some worlds swiftly—like the Tevin’s, a shitty Shield member that chose to side with the Federation. That organization was still rotten as could be. There was likely a lot of planning that went into battering Grenelka for weeks, though I found it uninteresting. It didn’t even matter to me what that KC drone fleet did, despite the fact that they’d dropped all pretense and shifted the directives to aid the Federation.
I cared about one battle: the battle of Avor, and saving Gress’ family. My rage over learning that the Tellus colonists had been shafted on purpose, with full knowledge of who we were, provided a secondary motive; the Krev were somehow more heartless than I thought they were, back when I believed they were just another Feddie race that would hate us. Just like General Radai had wanted a decapitation strike against the Federation, I knew we had to follow the lessons of humanity’s first space war. If we cut off the head of the serpent that was the Consortium, it would simplify the task of bringing the Remnants to heel.
As a two-front war, we can’t afford for this to be stretched out; we don’t want to give the Krev or the ghosts any time to recede further out. There’ll never be any way to ensure there’s not some lurking out there, except to expand throughout the entire Milky Way and protect others under our umbrella. After this, humanity can’t be content to rest on our laurels. Maybe…we could find the other arks.
“Why did the Jaslips wait so long to drop that info?” a testy Gress spat, eyes misty from lack of sleep. “I hate this! They’re all living in ignorance down there, every second that we waited.”
“The JIB had to wait for us to be close, since the Krev might hack into the Resket ships—like they altered the attack drones’ course once we knew. They needed a failsafe ready, and they also needed to produce as much hardware as possible. It’s a lot of data drives to drop on several worlds. We’re able to supplement that disk count, so the truth can rain down to everyone.” I still felt strange being the voice of reason, but I couldn’t blame the Krev’s mental state for breaking down after the progressively worse revelations about the Consortium…and now his family’s grave peril. “I don’t know what happens with their entire populace turned against them. With any luck, a quick surrender.”
“You don’t get it, Taylor. They’ll have their power, any way they can. I’ve seen now that it’s possible to press rewind, and surely they can do the same.”
Cala tilted her beak, causing the Peacekeeper helmet to slip down her forehead. “Believe me, it is not possible to press rewind. All of us know that. I wish I could roll the clock back and not have terrible bloodshed tied to my name, to my image, to my species. I wish that wasn’t my childhood—like Taylor wishes Tellus wasn’t his.”
“The only way to rewind is to revert to a you that doesn’t remember it happened. Open your eyes, Krakotl, it’s right there…no, no, you’ll see. I saw back when the UN took me. Mafani…it all made sense. They watch you, and they own you. If the people are a problem, why keep the physical people? Replace—”
I squeezed his wrist insistently. “It’s not a good idea for you to be going into this. I get that it’s your family, but you’re raving in ways that seem disconnected altogether from the world around you. Let your mind and body recover a bit. You need to rest!”
“I wanted to. Remember when we thought we were going to do the play for Loxsel? The Sivkits will never move back in, Taylor. The Tellish must get out!”
“Shh, the UN has gotten this under control. The Tellus colonists do know, thanks to our people being on world. It’s clear how they extorted all of our hurt and kept us from home. They don’t want to go anywhere, but what’s important is that the babies were rushed back to Paltan space. Millions of kids out of the line of fire.”
“But not mine. Not Lecca, my little girl all alone and scared…not having seen her dad for months. Those babies they had to get out of the way: we were the ones bringing them to Tellus. I thought we were doing something important, then thought I was going to lose you to the Federation. When I saw you shut the door—”
“I would’ve died to save you then, and I’d do the same now. I know what they did has affected you terribly, but I don’t want to lose you to it. Then Mafani will have broken you. You were kind and brought me back to life when I was nothing but brokenness; by God, I’ll do the same. We get your daughter out, we run for Earth, and never look back. One more battle, then you don’t have to worry about losing the ones we love ever again. All of that pain will be behind us.”
“A happy life of validation, like I know was always your guiding wish. You’re right. You’ve come too far for me to let myself drag you down.”
“Taylor’s let go of his bitterness and self-loathing, something I can tell you is impossible for many people with our level of baggage to do,” Cala squawked. “He did that because of you. Don’t forget that. Helping the blokes we care about doesn’t drag us down. It gives us a chance to pull them up because we want them with us; we want them to be better.”
I gave Gress a reassuring pat on the back. “What she said, but without the British accent. I’m here because I want to be. What they did is fucking inexcusable, and humanity needs to wipe out this ideology once and for all, no matter how much of the galaxy we have to torch.”
“A controlled burn, as the firefighters call it. The opposite of what the exterminators’ guild did back on Nishtal.”
“Cala, there was plenty of control in spraying everything with binocular eyes in white-hot flames, basking in the screams. The phrase just carried a different meaning!”
“Believe me, I know. If I hadn’t been on the bloody extermination fleet, that would’ve been my lot in life. My parents wanted me to join the guild—and fuck, I wanted to. The little bubbly chick with a toy flamethrower: I’m sick just thinking about what my life was. How I’d still choose burning animals alive over spending another day around my biological father. You wished for your parents, Taylor…and I wish I never had mine at all.”
“I’m sorry, truly. I know how much of a hole it filled just to have my parents welcome me back and want me there. You deserved that.”
“I got it. From Andy, my adoptive Papa. My real Papa. I know you’d lay down your life for Gress, because I’d gratefully die to repay everything he’s done for me. We’re the same person, with a few variables changed.”
“You’ve felt a lot of the same emotions,” Gress agreed. “I never thought I’d see Taylor chatting with and outright pitying a Krakotl.”
I arched an eyebrow. “You didn’t see it. You heard it.”
“I stand corrected. I know you want me to rest, but I…want to hear us make contact with Avor. I have to know how things are going down on the surface.”
“We’ll watch what’s going on in the command center. Together.”
I strolled into the troop carrier’s observation desk, clutching Gress’ paw and not caring what nasty looks a Krev afoot on a human ship would acquire. The last time I’d been standing on a bridge equivalent as a foot soldier, it had been when the Sivkits entered our system; I wasn’t proud of how I conducted myself that day. I was going to make sure Gress didn’t find himself grappling with the same regrets. Perhaps it was too much to hope for a quick surrender from the Krev, but I just wanted the lunacy to end. Never in my life had I known what true, lasting peace, without any looming threats, was like.
On screen, I peeked at what Terran military officials were reviewing with sharp gazes. Krev streets had fallen into near anarchy after word of the Consortium’s plotting had gotten out, highlighted by reports of an orbital ring being set on fire. That must be quite the sight in the night sky, but that was a dangerous environment for Lecca to be situated in. The encouraging sign was to see that the populace was rabid, with no overarching support for the government the way Federation sympathizers still existed even after Nikonus’ chitchat. The conniving bastards had no leg to stand on.
There are no people left to rule over, if there’s near-total rebellion and loss of support. They have no ideological purpose to point to as justification, nor even a delusional one. The Krev Consortium must admit defeat and accept its own collapse.
“Here we go,” I said, as our vessel popped out of subspace near Avor.
Admiral Monahan flashed her pearly white teeth at the camera, opening a hail to Tonvos’ official channels. “On behalf of the Sapient Coalition, we declare our treaty null and void. We will not accept any outcome that does not dismantle those who would rebuild the Federation. I advise that you surrender unconditionally. Your secrets are out in the open. Your people have turned against you, and you cannot silence such a multitude.”
The reply that came back was a chilling laugh. “We don’t need the people. They can all be replaced if they don’t submit. There can be as many of us as we want. Not to mention, we mined who they were every day; we can reset things to how they were like that. We’re infinite, humans…unkillable! Do your worst.”
I gawked as the Krev speaker transmitted a brief image that seemed like a selfie, taken of a metal robotic mammal that wasn’t even trying to blend in the way Elias Meier’s digitized form did. Behind the monstrosity was an entire legion of cyborgs, stretched out like a platoon ready to march. How were we supposed to fight…fuck, I wasn’t trained for this! Shit, it didn’t help me quell Gress’ paranoia when the nonsense he spewed wound up being spot on. Whatever his mental state, perhaps I shouldn’t underestimate his intellect and deductive skills. As a hostage negotiator, he’d excelled at reading people.
Gress might well have to negotiate for his daughter, as well as the continued flesh-and-blood existence of Avor’s entire population. I imagined it wasn’t just the Krev, since we knew from Mafani that there were Underscales and Listeners from every species; the Trombil, who loved augmenting themselves with cybernetics, might be the quickest to welcome such developments. They were the silent backbone of this, operating the technology that allowed this surveillance dystopia to metastasize.
I wasn’t sure how to react now that the Krev Consortium flaunted their machinations and had dropped all pretense of protecting the people. What I did know was that humanity needed a more complex strategy than killing them all, if the schemers could come right back.
A/N - 90! The Krev Consortium is seeing widespread revolt, and Taylor and Gress swoop in to try to rescue Lecca as the UN sails off to open warfare. Cala and Taylor support Gress, who has gotten a bit addled by paranoia, but the Krev’s prediction about not keeping the physical people and hitting rewind proves to be Avor’s true plan. They declare that those in the know can be reborn and duplicated as many times as necessary, constituting an unkillable army.
What do you think of the Consortium’s abuse of this technology and their willingness to discard the people, if that’s what it takes? How do you feel about the contrast to the UN’s use of memory transcripts to create new life? How can the UN hope to take out an “infinite” army of transcript people…and can Taylor and Gress hope to save Lecca?
As always, thank you for reading and supporting! I know what I stated, but I frankly don’t have the energy to cut my turnaround time and move the schedule back a day. For a variety of reasons, I’m treading water a bit as is, if I’m being candid. My pacing is…a little insane, and that was manageable when the flame was burning bright. On the home stretch, it’s more about doing right by you guys and making it to the finish line.
Unless there’s any major objections, I think I’ll leave the schedule on the new pattern for the time being. Still the same amount of content per week!
Comments
EliasArt2Life
@Some Lvm A few points; they had 100 years to build the orbital rings. That’s years of astroid mining that they can no longer do easily with enemy ships ready to blast them. Given that they were PRINTING cities, they were likely using machines similar to a 3D printer (irl, technology to do that is being worked on). 3D printers use less material and print in a way to maintain structural strength. Also, cities tend to be made of more than just metal; mostly rock with metal skeletons (if you’ll pardon the crude analogy). It’s impressive, but not AS big as your analysis suggests, and that was WHILE they had access to astroids and the industry of 4 other worlds (who knows if they still have control over the other species planets. We’ve yet to see that. I’ll admit, THAT would make them a little concerning). Plus, every government has a stockpile of metals and resources; they may have just dipped into that to build the city. Using a stockpile that’s likely not being renewed as quickly. They didn’t BUILD the Farsul a fleet; the recording said that they GAVE the Farsul one of their fleets, meaning that the fleet was probably built a long time ago (once again, they’ve had over 100 years to build it up). Regarding the last point… I’ll be frank, I don’t follow. Your whole point with “making every soldier your best soldier” was that they can carry more, and that’s what makes them unbeatable? I mean, I GET the advantages of carrying more without slowing, but why does THAT make such a difference that you had to dedicate a whole paragraph in one comment, and two in another, to it?
Some Lvm
@Elias: I think you underestimate how much resources the Krev can extract from one solar system. This is a species that were able to build multiple orbital rings around multiple worlds, something no one in the Federation has done in a millennia, and something humanity still does not know how to do with all the rapid advancement they were doing. Our Ort cloud extends two light years from our system. If you can mine every space rock you want, which the Krev clearly can, building a few million human sized bots, even with all the bells and whistles, isn't going to be a problem even with a single solar system at your disposal. On the flip side, yes, we have 100 species, but remember our Yulpa discussion? There is a difference between having billions of people living in your organization, and having billions of soldiers at your disposal. And even if the SC institutes a mandatory draft for every world, what would be the quality of your average conscript? I'll let you in on a little secret - of all the times I've been to the range, I don't think I ever properly hit a target. It's a very good thing they didn't put me in the infantry. The thing to remember here is - these are not robots! That is - they are not AI drones. They have the minds of expert soldiers, probably elite soldiers. Warfare was always as much if not more about skill as it was about armor and weapons, and that is still true on the modern battlefield! There was, thus far, only one Simo Häyhä. Now imagine if every sniper in you army was Simo Häyhä. We have seen how the Tallus militia fared against properly trained UN soldiers. Even with the helmets and the rest of the tech the Reskets provided, they still folded quite quick. If the KC bots are all running special forces transcripts, the situation for the UN and the rest of the SC will be reversed! As for the ammo and the equipment, I think you might have misunderstood me: It isn't about the resources you have to give one soldier, its about encumbrance. A single human can only carry so much while moving effectively. And not every soldier is the most fit example of their species. But servos can be a lot more powerful than organic muscles. This is why the military experimented with these things: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9818zvRe4o If you just get the power source sorted out, a robot can carry more armor, more ammo, or even a bigger weapon than a human. You know how in many 80's action movies you saw infantry soldiers carry a minigun? Well, that does not happen in real life because its way too heavy, and also because it needs a 24V DC power supply to fire. Basically two car batteries in series. But that would not be a problem for a robot. You don't have to equip every bot with one, but put them on a few, and you have a powerful, compact, highly maneuverable, all terrain weapons platform! With the combat skill of Rambo to boot. And finally - you talked about bazookas, RPG, etc: Those are expansive too! They require resources and manufacturing facilities to build. A single Javelin missile costs 240K dollars, and not because someone wants to extort the military, but because of all the sophisticated electronics that make it work. So while it still gets used, and is very effective, it is unlikely you can equip every soldier in your army with one. Now imagine instead of both sides having a mix of infantry and armor, one side has only armor, but numbering as many as your infantry. Yea, good luck with that engagement! John Connor called, I think he needs some of your optimism :P
EliasArt2Life
@Some Lvm Dude, I’m talking about resource scarcity here, not economic cost. The Consortium can throw around all the money they want, but if they don’t have enough raw metal to make the robots, they can’t make the robots. “Than you are also forgetting the limitations of the infantry - surely you realize how much an average infantry soldier needs to carry? You give them a gun, but what about ammo? How long do you plan the engagement to take? Water, radio, body armor, rations, emergency med kit.” No, YOU’RE the one forgetting that; robot soldiers still need to be armed. Even if the munitions are built into their chassises, they still need to be given those items, IN ADDITION to the cost of providing them with their metal bodies. The only resources saved in outfitting them is supplies like food and water, but they’ve probably got some specialized supplied that they need as well (power cells, maybe?). “Now imagine you can make every soldier your best soldier! No amount of poorly trained meatbags you throw at an army like that can turn the tide.” I seriously doubt that these robots have half the capacity that you are suggesting that they have. I would say, if the robots are specifically built for war, one robot would be able to beat 5-8 equipped men at a time before going down. More than that and we’re talking about giving these bots specialized armor to make them immune to armor piercing fire without hindering their mobility, which ramps up the cost (resources that have to be procured, since I apparently have to specify that’s what I mean) exponentially. THAT means that we’d switch to relying on heavy munitions (bazookas, missiles, etc) to defeat them, which would force them to find SOME protection against THOSE, or continue putting in tons of resources into specialized armor that’s getting blasted. My issue is that they DON’T have the infrastructure to build a robot army, win the weapons race, AND make that army invincible to all of our munitions. They have barely any systems, and they can only get their resources from those systems. They can only build their army in those systems. In terms of number of soldiers, we have 100 species, they have 1 planet. Yes, they can pop out soldiers faster than us. Are they going to be able to deplete our current troop numbers fast enough for this to be an issue? I doubt it. They have 1 planet. They’ve been specifically AVOIDING expanding for 100 years. Look, if we find out that they’ve been secretly expanding for a long time, then yes, they’ll be worth getting concerned over. But as of right now, no. If we keep them from expanding beyond their system, they’ve got a ticking clock that we can outlast. I’m not going into the hacking portion you mentioned, because I said “I wonder if”. I was speaking in theoreticals, and not actually taking a stance. I just thought it would be amusing if that would happen.
Some Lvm
Respectfully - I disagree completely! The price of a weapon never deterred advanced nations that could afford it. I am sure I don't need to tell you how much an F-22 Raptor costs, or even an F-35. The latter the US sells in droves all over the world, the former they won't sell, because they don't want anyone else to have it. You could probably field whole squadrons of P-51 mustangs for the price of one of these flying marvels, but obviously no nation would be stupid enough to try that. Than you are also forgetting the limitations of the infantry - surely you realize how much an average infantry soldier needs to carry? You give them a gun, but what about ammo? How long do you plan the engagement to take? Water, radio, body armor, rations, emergency med kit. The US navy actually did experiment with mech suits, but in a very limited capacity: https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2020/10/us-navy-lab-contracts-sarcos-for-guardian-xo-exoskeleton-remote-controlled-variant-development/ The real limitation for this type of tech right now is power: There isn't a power source that would be compact and light weight enough, but also long lasting enough to make mechs useful in the field. They can be great in a warehouse type environment where you can hook them up to mains power, and use them as a more agile and compact forklift. But anyway, in this chapter we are not even seeing mech suits. This is something different - robot bodies with digitized organic minds. This has a whole new type of advantage - combat experience! (Have you per chance read "The old man's war"?) Many combat professions today take a year or more of boot camp to train up. Not to mention the physical requirements for some of the more demanding jobs, like special forces. Not many can make the cut in the first place. Now imagine you can make every soldier your best soldier! No amount of poorly trained meetbags you throw at an army like that can turn the tide. Plus, it takes roughly 18 years to grow a live soldier for any SC / KC species from scratch, while given enough resources you can roll robotic bodies off an assembly line in a day tops (most likely). And finally, there is the question of hacks: Meir was a civilian prototype, never intended for military use. This does not mean these Consortium bots have all the same vulnerabilities! For all we know, once they download the transcript, the bot is air gapped and has to use a separate comm unit through speech like a normal person. Good luck hacking that remotely! I mean, its not like we don't put super advanced computers in fighter jets just because every nation has hackers these days. Its one thing breaking in to someone's off the shelf phone, its another thing hacking an F-35 in flight. So no, I think the Consortium actually just became a very serious threat! Unless, somehow they are a paper tiger, and the army we see is all they got, due to shortages. Which I doubt, given all the stuff we saw them build during previous chapters.
Some Lvm
Well, now I really need to know what a Krakotl with a British accent sounds like??!
Ron1990
no,no, do you never look classic crime movies or western😎? Imho this is the line of the old officer/ soldier, whose retirement day is only days or hours ahead. He will be one of the death victims, every time.
Austin
Maybe, I’m honestly just guessing. But I think with Gress and others they may have just used simulations using their brain scans to tell what was most likely to happen if they pushed people in the right way. Making the Jaslips seem more unsympathetic by pushing them to be more violent. For an example when Gress was hostage negotiator for those Jaslips that were holding their kids and those upper class people as hostages. The under scales may have known that would have frustrated Gress to get him choose to save the upper class people first . And we know from Mafani that the Jaslips were hesitant and may have surrendered. So for the under scales to get what they want another push was necessary. So Mafani shot first
Xilacnog
Foreshadowing that Gress is one?
Austin
Hearing that the under scales plan to replace people and reset makes me wonder if they have done it before perhaps on a smaller scale. It would be interesting to find out the people we thought we knew may not have been the original.
PhycoKrusk
There is, after all, a reason why tanks always have infantry accompanying them.
Daniel Guillon
Take more breaks if you need them. Don't burn yourself out.
BiasMushroom721
GAWD FUCKING DAMMIT DANIEL. THIS IS TWICE NOW YOU'VE MANAGED TO STEAL THE PLOT FOR MY FIC BEFORE I HAD A CHANCE TO REVEAL IT! which isnt a lot but its wierd its happened twice...
Wesley Rigg
If you don't take those days off I'm dropping my subscription teir. I probably wouldn't do that but I've got to use the only leverage I have.
EliasArt2Life
@DemonVee Given that Radai previously claimed (when we first met the Krev Consortium’s Counsel) that the Trombil species was always one EMP away from defeat, I don’t think the Trombil are immune to EMPs. I COULD see this android army being immune to most EMPs, though.
EliasArt2Life
@Adam Myers A Dyson Swarm provides energy. Not metal resources. It might make energy concerns a moot point, but they still need to mine for resources. A Dyson Swarm doesn’t help with that. I believe there IS a megastructure that uses the sun as a forge, but it’s name escapes me. Regardless, there’s no mention of the Krev having that.
Space Paladin
@Adam I’ve been working on a new book called Prisoners of Sol with any free time I can find! Looking forward to everyone seeing it in 2025 😅
Adam Myers
@EliasArt2Life Eh, maybe. TBH, the KC should have been able to ROFLstomp the federation and SC combined 100x over. A Dyson swarm is basically unbeatable, with absurd industrial capacity. For all intents and purposes, the KC should considered post-scarcity with $0 costs on almost everything. It is difficult to properly communicate the scale of what a Dyson swarm actually is and does. I am skeptical of it, but I could see my hypothesis of a runaway Sivkit military AI being the cause of this (particularly if they have to negotiate with it).
Adam Myers
Eh, not necessarily. The body can be hacked too. In fact you might have heard of some popular hacks like vaccines (where the lymphatic system gets a hack), viruses (which hack individual cells), and cancer which uses chemical hacking to drain nutrients, grow blood vessels, and defend against the “malevolent cell control” wing of the immune system.
Adam Myers
Passion project? Do tell. (Genuine curiosity)
Roscuro
Can't grow as a society if you're all inorganic machines. Short sighted at best. Also, machines can be hacked. EMPs also exist. Biological body modification will always be superior to machinery. There are plenty of exploitations the SC will be able to take advantage of. With all the different players in this expanded galactic view, I imagine there are several POVs you can take advantage of for side stories.
EliasArt2Life
Yep. Totally agree. Plus, how many human soldiers can one of those androids take out? Assuming that they’re optimized for war, 5-8? You could equip at least 10-20 humans with the resources it takes to produce a single android. And the androids need to be equipped with weaponry, too.
EliasArt2Life
Always make time for yourself. Especially on holidays. Besides, most of us will be busy with family stuff as well, so might as well wait until engagement goes back to normal, anyway.
Gumcel
Absolutely take Thanksgiving off.
Gumcel
"We’re infinite, humans…unkillable! Do your worst.” I mean you have a limited industrial capacity so no lol. Least delusional Underscale.
Michael Halpern
no they are both too developed for red shirt, doesn't mean that they aren't invoking Murphy though. there will be more battles
Kevo
I figured you would anyways, everyone deserves holidays off
Space Paladin
After the comments supporting me slowing down, maybe I’ll take Thanksgiving and Friday off and enjoy the holiday. Focus on my passion project and unwind a bit. I actually have a few days off work, so that would be *so nice* 🦃 💜
Space Paladin
Thank you ❤️
Ron1990
"We get your daughter out, we run for Earth, and never look back. One more battle, then you don’t have to worry about losing the ones we love ever again. All of that pain will be behind us." Uh, no,no,no. These are the lines of a redshirt! SP, I'm scared!!
Stueymon
Ya see, I've always thought cyborgs were way too vulnerable. Sure you're physically tougher but someone can alt+f4 your brain or turn off your eyes
EliasArt2Life
Since the Ghosts didn’t know much about the Consortium, wouldn’t it be ironic if, upon seeing the Consortium is digitizing their own people, the Ghosts drop everything and attack the Consortium? I mean, I doubt that it’ll happen, but we don’t really know much about the Ghosts’ mindset. Why DO they still want all predators extinct, after we’ve proven what “The Hunger” is, and made more progress on it than they have in a millennia? Maybe they have a secondary motivation that conflicts with predators being alive, but might also conflict with the Consortium’s digitization of their own people? I know, it’s a ling shot, but it’s amusing to think of!
EliasArt2Life
I doubt it. Which means that they probably cost a TON of resources to make. They MAY, however, be vulnerable to logic bombs or viruses. (Logic bombs are bits of information, or code, that cannot be comprehended and causes a mental breakdown. In this case, it would be information which, when uploaded to their digitized minds, causes them to shutdown because the structural programming that translates the memory transcription to thoughts gets stuck on it and can’t translate it.)
EliasArt2Life
Overconfident fools. They’re loosing and they don’t even realize it yet. Do you know why mech suits are used so often in sci-fi, but almost never used in reality? It’s not just that the technology isn’t quite there yet; it’s literally not economically sound to make them. A single mech suit takes the resources and money that could be used to give guns and ammo to a few dozen men or more. A few dozen men are more effective in battle than a single mech suit soldier. This is because they can split up, tackle multiple objectives at once, and a luck shot won’t take all of them down. The Consortium is tossing away their flesh and blood people for android soldiers. While they have essentially endless memory transcripts for them, MAKING the android bodies and brains is going to be much more difficult. To make them immune to EMPs, even more-so. They are going to REALLY amp up their industry to keep this war going for ANY real length of time. Who’s going to work the mines? The people they’ve tossed away? No, to avoid sabotage, they need to construct new android workers. Also, they’ve been restricted to only a few systems. Makes cutting them off from their industry easy. Even IF that’s another lie, and they’ve secretly settled and mined many other systems, if we cut off the flow of their resources, they can’t replenish their ranks. And that’s BEFORE things like computer viruses, attacks on the servers containing the memory transcripts, sabotage on the factories making the androids, etc. We’ve been predicting that Meier would be hacked as a way to show the vulnerabilities of cybernetic ascension. I wonder if it’ll be the reverse, and all the Consortium androids will be the ones hacked? Also, I suspect this will cause some major changes for how the SC sees this revival through androids stuff. It’ll probably make people more nervous about them, but I think it’ll also lead to something ELSE… specifically, biological androids; I think Terra Technologies will start looking into building androids using more biological components, to make them harder to hack and manipulate. The UN will also probably bolster restrictions on the use of memory transcript technology.
Willy
“I had strings, but now I’m free...”
Stueymon
So... any chance they're not shielded against EMP?
Heroman3003
And so the end truly begins, it seems... Unless the Ghosts have some final trick up their sleeve and become "the boss after the final boss" of course, who knows, but the presentation and build up so far all led to this. Game time. First of all, I gotta say, I am very proud of Taylor's evolution as a character. Now he has managed to grow into being same supportive pillar for Gress as Gress was for him. Their mutual holding up for each other worked and Taylor grew a lot, becoming more mature, more sensible and more stable, even if still a bit of a same lovable dunderhead. Him managing to sympathize with Cala genuinely, and work side by side with her for the future... That's the biggest sign of how different he is from the man from ~90 chapters ago. Gress... Is not well. He is going full conspiracy theory mode and worst part is, he actually is right. Stress of being away from his family and fear of losing them... He is a hostage negotiator and entire population of Avor has just become hostages. I can only hope he won't even have to negotiate his way out of that, as that's just too much pressure and burden for any one man, but somehow I feel even if not at that scale, he might have to flex that skill at some point soon... Cala remains the best bird, I am sorry, Tassi, Radai, she's just cool and sweet and I am glad she managed to find a family that loves her, and I love her too. And then there's... the reveal. The immortal cyborgs, the machine underbelly was what was behind it all. It never made much sense how Trombol, obsessed with transhumanism (transtrombilism?) as they are, never achieved what humans have with Adam. And the most obvious answer was correct - they have achieved it. But at what cost... I think the scariest part here is that when they say they can just replace the people... they're right. They can. All they need to do is take the copies of their minds from the scans before all this, when they were fully loyal and committed to Consortium and make up whatever lies necessary to make them stay that way. They literally can allow all their organic population to die and just... replace it with better one. That's... scary. That's just scary. And thus, we are on the precipice... I do hope we get to see Loxsel's play on Tellus/Tinsas. Heck, that planet might be a good symbol of unity for the post-war galaxy. Krev, Humans and Sivkits living together, with other species potentially in the mix too? Even though Sivkits might not be too happy, any help with them rebuilding a more sedentary society would be welcome. And it would all start with one cooperative creative production... Especially as we all know that war is not going to stop Loxsel from getting what he wants, lol. On the side, I think it'd be super ironic if the Ghosts were to be defeated not by humans, but by the allies, Shield and SC both. It wouldn't be the predators that become their downfall, but those they tried to manipulate and control. Peak irony, and would make sense if the war is on two fronts and UN forces have committed to Consortium front. Lastly... I am worried about Taylor. He's going into this fight, and he's only moderately prepared. He... could die. Sure, he's a human so bringing him back using the memory backup would not be as hard (thanks, Virnt) but that could be one final character growth moment for Gress after the fighting is done and dust is settled - accepting RoboTaylor. Unlikely to happen of course, but it's fun to think about, eh~? Good chapter, and great work! The ending now actually, truly, seems in sight, even if it will likely take a bit to get there. I, for one, am eager to find out what sort of other secrets Underscales and Listeners had hidden all along... Wouldn't be surprised if there is one or two more mindblowing revelations waiting for us beyond the army of robots.
JValz
SP you need to remember most people wait YEARS for their favorite authors to publish the next book. I follow someone who posted consistently like you and then life happened and they needed months in between updates because of where they were at. They didn’t lose any readers, everyone happily came back each time they could post, and now they’re back on a regular schedule again. You “don’t have the energy”, you’re “treading water”—would YOU ask a friend or another author to keep writing anyway? Would you be upset if they slowed down and took a break? I LOVE your story but would much rather you write in a relaxed state of mind at a slower pace. I also think taking a break to take care of yourself will help you write better anyway. You’ll have more time to reflect on the story you have planned and direction of the characters—you may even have some fresh ideas or get better clarity. I’ve waited far longer for stories I’m less invested in to come out. If you need to slow down and take a break, absolutely do it, we’ll be excitedly waiting with full understanding!
Alekss Žukovskis
wait. SP! SAMURAI OSTRICHES! ITS THE ENDLESS SPACE 2! thats it! we're fighting the Unfallen. how couldn't i have seen this coming? it was right in my face.
Shajenko
Not in my mind she's not!
DemonVee
Lol, the Feds were right but instead of fire everyone needed Jesus instead.
DemonVee
Just one chunky rock into their star should do it. With the down side of everyone losing their infrastructure and proobably the death of every trombil in the system. Unless they have tech resistant to EMPs or the cage can shield against such things.
Swan
Also; Even though they can clone the minds/software, the bodies still require raw materials/manufacturing capability to produce. If the SC hits their manufacturing capability, which is likely to be concentrated in a couple (heavily defended) spots, the KC looses their "infinite army" (Unless the fed's start making them of course...)
Mo no
Dude if you need to take a breather take it.
Kennedy Skelton
she's probably just speaking English?
Dragon Writer Luc
Time for a solar flare or two.
Aditya S Kumar
Please be that
craig spaulding
But do take your time SpacePaladin, you could post far less often than you do and I’d still be happy
craig spaulding
It’s never a good day when you find out your boyfriend’s paranoid ramblings in the middle of breakdown were actually completely correct.
Alicja
Lecca needs saved 🙏🙏🙏
Quiidek
You're doing an amazing job SP. Do what you need to do. ❤️
PhycoKrusk
The time needed to cyberize a person — including surgery, recovery, and physical therapy to restore proficiency — plus (re)training to most effectively utilize their upgrades as soldiers would be weeks. They have thousands of such individuals; perhaps tens of thousands or even millions. The Consortium has been building this force for a while now; probably before NOP2 even started. _This_ was the Consortium's plan; maybe it's always been the plan. The shameless reach of those who believe that immortal godhood can be attained of only they can stomach the destruction they must inflict to do so. I'm starting to think that "predator disease" is real, and that it's just a misnomer of demonic possession.
Kevo
Im sure everyone would be fine if you took more breaks!
REDemon14
However, I believe it's too little, too late for the KC. They are vastly overestimating the effectiveness of their android population plan, in my opinion. First, androids are more suseptible to things that alter “software*, what is a mind in organics. We flesh bags are infamous for stubbornness. Machines? Not so much. Second, organics are much more unpredictable than the controlled masses the KC want. That unpredictability can blow up in the KC leaders’ face. Third, the memories for the androids have to be stored somewhere. If the SC can destroy that storage location, the KC no longer has a mind for their legion since they would've replaced or lost access to the original mind; the organic population. Fourth, the KC legion will now have to deal with the SC and a rebelling population. Considering that the minds of the legion are based off of people, they may not be able to handle that. Fifth, some of the people the KC copied have massive egos no doubt. They will not like there being others just like them. They may even have some infighting. Some people do hate themselves. Last point I'll bring up, the KC hints that they would just copy themselves enflessly. The issue with that is that data isnt "immortal". Much like how DNA has increased risks of glitches and general degradation, data is suseptible to the same issues the more is copied. Watch a file get copied 1000 times and watch the nightmare unfold. (Bungie actually did this to animal noises to make the noises of the Vex in "Destiny")
REDemon14
Mild time skip! Safe to say the KC knows that the SC figured things out. Taylor and Gress join the fight once again. Hopefully for them, this will be the last conflict they see. So while humanity is trying to strike the KC as fast as possible, the other SC members are fighting the Remnant. If the Tevin are anything to go by, some Shield members did decide to side with the Fed. Remnant (FR). Unfortunately for them, it seems the FR see their members just as expendable as the original Feds. Sucks to suck. Not a good thing that the KC drones shifted to the FR side. Here’s hoping that the SC can handle those numbers. This war may change the mission of the SC like how Taylor is describing. The SC will likely spread throughout the galaxy looking for sapients, both potential friend or foe, and address them as need be. Any inaction could be an enemy mobilizing. Poor Gress. The poor man is having a hard time. He just wants his family (or at least Lecca) safe. With him knowing the KC, his mind keeps going to the worst scenarios, even if he doesn’t voice it. Plenty of data discs have been made by now and have been distributed to the populaces of the KC worlds. If they all rebel, I don’t see how the KC leadership could survive. No matter how important the brain is, it still needs blood. Gress brings up the idea that the KC can just hit the rewind button. Cala disagrees and wishes she could but, Gress brings up a point that if you just go back to a point where you don’t remember what happened, that could serve as a reset. While it can’t be done with the original body, Gress brings up that the original is not needed. Perhaps a clone or mechanical replicant. I could actually see plenty of people in NoP wanting that, especially the still living Freed Cattle. “Thought they'd get to be in Loxsel's play”? I hope It's only postponed. That'd be a fun play to see! It's good that the human babies have been moved away from KC space. Lord knows what they would've done to them. (If they haven't done something already. ) Taylor was able to let go of his pain and started to move on because of Gress. Gress really is Taylor's rock. Cala could've turned out very differently if it wasn't for the BoE. Anything to get away from her father. Avors's populace is in full revolt. It really says a lot about the people of the KC that they *immediately* turned on their leaders while a good amount of Fed species remained loyal even when there was nothing to gain. Holy shit! I didn't know things could go 100 to 1000 but they just did! To *replace* all disobedients in your population. That's just diabolical! This was the KC plan all along. Looking forward to more! Take you time with yourself. Your recovering from an illness. You post 4 chapters a week (which is unimaginable) It's the holidays in the US. Rest your mind, eat some turkey (or engorge yourself on stuffing, whatever floats you boat) . Just enjoy yourself to the best of your ability :D PS: Also because I forgot to make comment on it. It is telling how the SC and KC implement digital minds. SC: "We wish to give people a second chance at life." KC: "We wish to give ourselves a second chance a controlling people's lives."
Adam Myers
Hey man, take care of you first. Feel free to chat in a discord dm if you want, I am open to hear you vent. As far as the plot, I do think that it will be interesting to learn why the consortium thinks this is a good idea. There must be something quite wrong to cause them to go “mustache twirling”. My hypothesis is that a Sivkit AI from before the federation is what kickstarted all of this (including the first empire of lies).
Matthew Mclemore
Take a week Paladin, hell take a month. Whatever you gotta do to get right and sorted. We'll be here waiting patiently.
Shajenko
So we're getting the important lore drops here - it's possible for a Krakotl speaking their native language to have a British accent. Also SP, don't burn out. It's a holiday this week in the States, take the rest of the week off and rejoin us Monday, if you need it.
Xaelitry
Yeah, SP should take as much time as needed, we're closing in on Christmas time, so plenty of people are gonna be busy with family anyway, seriously don't sweat it if you need a time out to destress and recharge
kenneth Moore
No one will fault you for taking a break. Hell, take a week and build a buffer.
Byron Ritchie
Calling it now but Adam will convince the cyborgs to revolt Although I have been wrong with pretty much all my predictions before so I’m probably wrong here but that’s just the vibe I’m getting Also I agree with the others in that you should cut back your schedule mental health is important
Soldier Lsnake
I will call them metal scales now
Anthony Mears
dude, no one would fault you for cutting back your schedule. do what's best for you. in fact, for all those commenting, reply that we want *less* content for now. how saying you all?
DreamEnvoy
"Avor was not going to allow any of its citizens to evacuate to the SC, after they pieced together that we knew the truth about them perpetuating the Federation’s existence" Well, that complicates things. "There’ll never be any way to ensure there’s not some lurking out there, except to expand throughout the entire Milky Way and protect others under our umbrella. After this, humanity can’t be content to rest on our laurels. Maybe…we could find the other arks." While I'm doubtful of the current tech capable of reaching the arks any time soon, a SC gaining total galactic control and trying to contact the other arks much farther in the future might be a decent NoP3 setting. Well, a month later and the news did manage to spread to the Avor populace. If not for Lecca and mother being there, I would relish in the social upheaval. “Mafani…it all made sense. They watch you, and they own you. If the people are a problem, why keep the physical people? Replace—” “We don’t need the people. They can all be replaced if they don’t submit. There can be as many of us as we want. Not to mention, we mined who they were every day; we can reset things to how they were like that.” "Behind the monstrosity was an entire legion of cyborgs, stretched out like a platoon ready to march." "Shit, it didn’t help me quell Gress’ paranoia when the nonsense he spewed wound up being spot on." Okay, that's excellent writing right there. It sounds like insane paranoia until it becomes insane reality. God, I look forward to how Adam will react to this. Given that he was created by the same kind of tech the Krev are abusing. On a side note, I'm actually proud of Taylor's character development. He really does seem to come a long way from the impulsive idiot he was at the beginning. A much more cool-headed and rational person. Don't worry about the schedule, as we can adjust. Whatever the cause, taking care of yourself takes precedence over entertaining your audience.
Michael Halpern
in theory, im guessing it'll be a little more complicated when the first thing people do is destroy the scanners.
Alekss Žukovskis
Lecca and Cira? more like soupified Leuccaemia and Ciraesium poisoning.
John Benjamin Cate
The Consortium is throwing its final tantrum. Trying to take everyone down if they themselves can’t be in power. I love it! And brilliant way to parallel the android creation with Meier.
Yonael Blackwood
"progressively worse revelations about the Consortion" you made a typo here, sir.
Pineapplepilot
Prepare yourself for SP just murdering children again, there is little armor in Nature of Predators.
Alekss Žukovskis
"Hello humans, we've made a few batches of billions of human babies. watch out, they methabolize pretty fast. Fetch!"
Pineapplepilot
Actually, helldivers taught me that fighting a legion of bots is relatively easy. All we need is total orbital supremacy and a bloated runaway military budget!
Sroni
This development is really scary. The population can be simply rebooted on an older backup, forgetting everything that happened.
Swan
I've said it once, and I'll say it again; please don't burn yourself out SP, take breaks if you need them, or cut down on the speed of side content being released (ex. 1 chapter of side stories pr week instead of 2)
jervictor jer
Emp's just EMP's the shit out of the robotic legion, just drop Emp's to the end of time you can't shield an electronic against everything and forever, saturation bombardment of EMP's
pogman
Family rescuse chapter, perhaps?
