Ophidian Part 1

Date Point: 3Y 4M BV

Trading Station Daze of Days, Dominion space

Station Security Incident Log

[1830 hours] – Officer received a report of a damaged stasis container left, unsecured, in loading dock 11, berth 38 following unscheduled departure of Corti independent vessel Evaluation Derivative. Officer was unable to contact departed vessel, and no copy of the ship manifest remains – security sweep of container GG18992730 and analysis finds trace unknown inert organic compounds, no reference record on file. Container was breached and stasis deactivated/damaged, but was found otherwise empty. No bio-hazard threat determined present, container swept with bio-field and rendered inert, provided as salvage to reclamation contractor.


Date Point: 3Y 1M BV

Vz’ktk Security Officer Pz’trrk

Station Security Incident Log

[0230 hours] – Dispatch received contact from a concerned citizen, requesting an officer respond to take a report of theft.

Pz’trrk ambled easily to the address his implants displayed as the origin of the call. At the door was an irritated-appearing Rauwhyr, short fur fluffed out in distress and obviously awaiting him impatiently. Pz’trrk chewed placidly on a Cqcq leaf, and leaned down to talk to the shorter shop keeper. There was no sense in getting all upset about things…these kinds of theft reports in his experience never amounted to much – some property damage, some missing things which got paid for by insurance…nobody hurt, not a big deal.

His ocular implant auto-loaded a brief summary of notable information, which was blessedly short; the citizen was a shopkeeper that owned an establishment catering to the few species in the Domain that were meat-eaters, and had moderately good sales for such a niche market. He had been in business for 2 standard [months], was current on his fees and tax assessments, and had universally positive reviews on the local net from customers.

“Officer! Thank you for coming…I hope you can do something about this. If this keeps up, I’m going to be ruined,” the Rauwhyr burst out as Pz’trrk leaned down.

“Okay, now, Mr…,” Pz’trrk consulted his implant for the name, “…Relth. Walk me through what happened.”

“It’s my breeding stock of Dizi rats…it’s my primary source of meat for the shop. This is twice now somebody has raided it. Last time I lost about five or six of them, and this time it was the whole colony full! Thirty of them, nineteen females and eleven males. I’m going to have to buy a whole shipment of them now and have it rushed here, while I stay closed for the next week, because otherwise I’ll run out of meat entirely.”

“You say twice now. Did you report the last time?” Pz’trrk asked.

“No, I’m afraid last time I thought I’d just miscounted or something. I opened for business, this was several weeks ago, and there were some missing out of their container in the back. I didn’t think much of it – nothing else was missing, and there wasn’t any sign of forced entry or whatever. It wasn’t until I got here today and saw that they were all gone that I realized it wasn’t the first time.”

“And nothing else is missing?” Pz’trrk said dubiously. Who steals Dizi rats ?

“Not at all. The first thing I did this morning when I realized what had happened was to do a quick inventory and download the usage history from the door.” The Rauwhyr tapped on a tablet, and Pz’trrk’s implants registered several security files and a video transferred to him. “As you can see, there is literally nothing there. Last night, I had a full stable, and this morning, there is nothing in there at all but blood everywhere and a little fur.”

“Well, let’s take a look,” Pz’trrk said, intrigued a little despite himself. This was actually turning out to be …interesting, of all things. He set his ocular implant to ‘record’ with the streaming upload to the police data storage, and went in. The interior of the shop was oddly anticlimactic; very clean, neat, ordered, with nothing out of place, and he could quickly see why the proprietor was insistent that nothing else was gone. It would clearly have been immediately apparent. A quick once-over of the doors and the front, public area, and he went with Relth into the back, where there was an assortment of grills, cooking equipment, and so on, with two doors to the cooler and to the habitat area.

The latter was where he opted to look first, as the scene of the crime, if crime it was. On opening the door, his nose was assaulted by a wash of warm air and unfamiliar scents; some musky animal-scents, scent of greens used for Dizi rat food, the ozone of electricity running through power cables, the pungent scent of the hydroponic connector, oily grease from a machine of some kind standing in the corner, and overlaid on top of and permeating everything else was the nauseating metallic scent of blood. The source for this was obvious; Pz’trrk was familiar in an academic sense with Dizi rats and how fragile they could be, since it was a primary feature in their breeding as meat animals to begin with, but this…. This looked like someone had exploded an ancient and putrescent Zrrk all over the inside of the habitat, only orangish instead of a dark black/green sludge, with a shallow layer of water covering the very bottom of the container, most likely from the overturned water bottle.

“So…,” Pz’trrk started, then paused. “Yeah. It looks more like something exploded your Dizi rats, not took them.”

“That’s what I don’t understand. None of the containers were used to take anything away. There’s no sign of any of the meat anywhere outside of the habitat, and the meat of the actual animals is just …gone.”

It was true. Other than the smears…on the inside of the habitat and nowhere else…there was no sign of any of the little derpy creatures anywhere. No blood, almost no fur at all, no bones, no flesh, meat, or whatever else you wanted to call it…they were just gone. He took his forensic kit out, enabling the uplink from his own implants and the data already connected to a fresh case file almost on autopilot. He took another Cqcq leaf out and began chewing on it. It helped him think.

Several disbelieving scans later, he was forced to conclude that there was really no evidence to go on. No evidence of entry, no video from outside, no indication of how whoever had taken the rats had gotten in, or out for that matter…just…nothing.

“I’ll go ahead and file this. I’m afraid that there isn’t going to be much to go on, though, and I don’t think we’re going to have a resolution for you,” Pz’trrk finally told him. “We’ll keep it open, and if anything else comes up that looks related, we’ll take it into consideration…but I have no idea who could have done this, or how it happened. It’s possible something else may come up that will make this more clear, but I wouldn’t count on it happening.”

Relth made a curious gesture with his wings that Pz’trrk’s translator interpreted as resignation. “Very well, officer. Thank you for coming, at least.”

Pz’trrk filed the report on his way out the front door and went off to his next dispatched call. By the end of his shift, he had forgotten all about it.


Date Point: 2Y 1M 4D BV

Hydroponic engineer Lolwut

“That’s odd,” the big Locayl muttered to himself, giving the diagnostic tool in his hand a thump with another hand. It didn’t change the reading at all; there was definitely a sizeable clog in the junction he’d been dispatched to check out, found an hour earlier by an automated water-flow monitor.

This shouldn’t even be possible, he thought. How did that saying go? “Anything that can go wrong, will….?” He put the sensor away and pulled a hefty pipe wrench out of a tool bag. A few quick turns later, the water flow was diverted out of the section he was in, leaving only whatever it was that was stuck, stuck. He found the closest connector and began to uncouple it, resigning himself to the fact that this was probably not going to smell terribly good. Long experience had taught him that much – despite the fact that this was supposed to be an outflow from the initial water treatment stage to the primary stage, something obviously could and had gone wrong, allowing this clog to occ…

The seal on the pipe popped, and the mildly pressurized contents came spraying out, in a foul greenish-black goop with an unbelievable stench that made him gag. Fortunately, Lolwut had also encountered such things before and was prepared with protective equipment in the form of a body shield that prevented the worst of it from getting on him. It wasn’t a protective shield against any kind of weapon, but more of a “let’s not get whatever that is on me” barrier that was helpful for all manner of common hazards. Eventually, most of the pressure had been bled off, and he was able to peer in and see what exactly it was that had gotten in there, holding his nose with one hand and trying to breathe shallowly.

As he expected, the internal screen filter had done what it was intended to do and had caught the majority of whatever this was, preventing it from going further. He popped the thing out and stuck it in a bio-hazard container, grumbling about how disgusting people could be, when something shiny fell out of the glop onto the floor with a metallic clink. He reached down and picked it up, examining what was unmistakably a high-end cranial implant of some kind. It looked almost …melted… around the edges. What the hell? Not even a trip through the treatment plant would do that. It was also, apparently, totally inert, since it didn’t respond at all to an experimental query of who it had been attached to or where it had come from.

As he scooped out the rest of the muck, resorting to a set of hand tools rather than using his own hands, he began running across larger chunks of something unidentifiable that had a sort of…meaty texture to it. He schlorped it all into the hazard container along with the filter, rinsed everything out, and then put a new filter in. At long last, he was able to seal the bio-hazard container and sanitize the outside of it. Hopefully, whatever this had been was sufficiently sterilized by the treatment system, but he wasn’t going to bet on it. The smell certainly lingered. He activated the hover unit under the hazard container and pushed it ahead of himself to the nearest comm point, where he alerted the lab – like most large communities housed in the hard vacuum of space, being self-contained meant needing things like a full diagnostic suite in the event of something going haywire with the oxygen-, food-, and water-providing hydroponic system. After letting them know he was coming in with something to take a look at, he thought for the moment and made another call to the security office. The implant he’d found had come from somewhere, and how it had ended up where he’d found it was a very, very good question.

As he was arriving at the lab, he was greeted by a Vz’ktk officer placidly chewing something and obviously in no hurry to do anything, ever. He kept the container of Maker-only-knew-what moving with two hands, and extended the implant in a bag as he walked slowly.

“Hi, officer. I sent the details on where I found this along with the report. Here it is.” The taller officer took it with one hand.

“Thank you. I’ll see if I can track down whose this was, and maybe figure out how it got there,” he said. “I’ll let you know if I find anything.”

“Sounds good. I’ll let you know if I find anything in all of this,” Lolwut replied, gesturing at the container. “I have no idea what this is, or how it got there.” The security officer acknowledged his statement, and plodded off to the next call. Lolwut slid the hovering container though the large lab doors and into a diagnostic cell, where the automated systems promptly made a series of bloop noises. That, he had expected.

What he hadn’t expected, though, was the immediate bath of violet light and the alarm that indicated a biological contagion inside the container. A maximum-strength quarantine field popped into existence around the diagnostic cell, and Lolwut himself was suddenly immobilized as well, as a Corti-made sterilization field played up and down him several times. A second, weaker quarantine field for good measure blocked off the still-open door, and he was able to look beyond to see the security officer (actually moving quickly for once) hustling back with a look of obvious alarm.

“What’s going on?” the officer asked through the opening, as though it weren’t relatively obvious.

“I’m not sure. I guess whatever this stuff was, was dangerous in some way. I feel okay, but…” Lolwut trailed off. Outside, the officer had held up a blue hand as both text and an audible voice began listing off results via the interface just outside the room.

Scan result: contents of container, 76% match with Corti genome. 24% unknown foreign biological material. Warning: inert but dangerous sporocysts and bacterial samples found, unknown origin. Precautionary stasis field active. Purge? (Y) (N)

The interface blinked insistently, demanding an answer of some kid and repeating the question. Lolwut, all too aware of what a “purge” protocol entailed, waved urgently.

“No!!!! I’m in here too, if you purge the contents of this room, I’ll go with it!” he yelled in a bass squeal of panic. The look of comprehension on the security officer’s face was as welcome as it was slow to arrive. He pulled a hand back from the display interface, just as it greyed out, the secondary quarantine field deactivated, and Lolwut was released. From behind the security officer came the knee-level small piping voice that had the distinctive tones of a displeased Corti.

“Thank you officer, I will take it from here.” Scurrying past the much taller Vz’ktk came a diminutive gray figure, who favored both of the taller aliens with a displeased sort of noncommittal annoyance. When he didn’t move, the new arrival gave him a level look. “Officer, unless you plan to stay and assist me, which would be both very brave and utterly foolish, I am quite capable of dealing with a simple biological contagion in my own lab.”

“Yes ma’am. I will be going to file my report,” said the hapless security officer, intimidated despite himself at the sudden appearance of competent authority.

“I’ll take that as well, please,” she said, holding out a hand. “It would be unfair to place the complex task of tracking down the last owner when the security force has so many…other… important things to be doing.” Wordlessly, the officer gave her the implant and beat a hasty retreat. “Now,” she said, “What to do with you?”

Lolwut, still shaking a little from the close encounter with whatever it was that he’d pulled out of the hydroponic system, stood very still, perfectly aware that Netri, as the chief engineer for habitat operations, was well within her rights to fire him on the spot. Belatedly, he recalled that there was a protocol for active dangerous biological contagions, and if he had followed that protocol, he probably wouldn’t currently be between an angry administrator and a bucket full of something that could potentially kill everything on the station. She sighed a moment later.

“You have no idea what is going on here, really, do you?” she finally asked him. Numbly, he shook his head in an almost universal gesture for ‘no’. “I suppose I can enlighten you, inasmuch as I am able….Suffice to say, I have been looking for this implant, or more to the point, its owner, for a while now. He owed me a great deal and disappeared on board about three weeks ago.” Her long grey fingers played idly over the terminal display, and abruptly within the quarantine field, a blazing orange light played over and both container and its contents were vaporized in a hellish bath of energy. “However it happened, this is obviously what is left of him.”

“One final note. If you encounter anything further in the hydroponic system, I expect to be notified about it prior to you doing anything else at all. Is that understood?” Her tone made it abundantly clear that any other response would be met with swift disciplinary action. He nodded. “Good. Back to work…and Lolwut? Not a word to anyone.”

continued

Date Point: 1Y 10M 15D BV

bzzzzt

bzzzzzzzzt bzzzzzt

“Come on, Kitro. Answer the door, we’re gonna be late,” clacked Tri’ttktt at the closed door to her friend’s apartment. Kitro was always a little late, but he usually answered the door chime at least. Their first day of work at the station’s Service Help for IT Solutions (a name that would have wildly amused any human putting the obvious acronym together in English) was due to start in about an [hour], and she didn’t want to be late. She looked surreptitiously right and left, and slid a hand-sized device out of one pocket, pressed it to the door-chime pad, and the door abruptly whooshed open. She practically leaped inside, shutting the door behind her lest anyone see her hack the door controls.

“Kitro….come on, where are you?” she called. Her heels clacked across the hard floor as she hurriedly checked his bedroom…nope. Primary living space…no….she went reluctantly towards the bathing and personal waste room. Nothing there either, or at least no sign of her friend. The floor was wet, and she felt her breakfast about to come back up when she realized that while most of it was water, some was most definitely not and had the sharp nasal tang of blood. Her friend’s clothes were strewn everywhere, which wasn’t like him at all. The air was moist from recent bathing, carrying with it an odd musky scent that was utterly unfamiliar.

Puzzled and not a little alarmed, she called a report to station security and to her new supervisor, and once security had arrived, hustled to work. She spent her first entire day trying hard to focus on learning her job and reviewing everything put in front of her without getting sidetracked in wondering what had happened.

Kitro was never seen again.


Date Point: 1Y 5M 27D BV

Trading Station Daze of Days Security meeting

The buzz, clacking, and murmuring of the security force filled the room in an expectant soft cacophony as the various attendees spoke with one another. None of them knew what the subject of the meeting was, and it was highly unusual to have this many off-duty officers present. In fact, no-one could remember the last time it had happened, and it wasn’t time for their quarterly staff review.

The chatter died away abruptly as tall door at the front of the room entered, and a dignified Rrrrtktktkp’ch entered, ambling slowly to the podium at the front. To an attendant room, he looked around and made the peculiar rumbling gurgle that was the Rrrrtktktkp’ch equivalent of clearing the throat.

“Good morning. The reason for this meeting is to discuss a pattern of incidents, or potential crimes, that are emerging stationwide.” The room’s lights dimmed abruptly, and a hologram of the station came up as a softly glowing blue wireframe and rotating slowly.

“We have identified a trend in residents and transient workers disappearing; when this trend was identified, we did a comparison of similar incidents and found…well, this. Each red dot represents a disappearance.” On the model hovering mid-room, a scattering of dots appeared, crawling from one side of the station to the other in a steady progression. “This is over the last two years. At first, nothing, and then with a striking regularity, every few [cycles], one after another. Something is happening, and the only anomaly we can find that immediately predates the beginning of this pattern, is this.” The display of the station’s layout dissolved and reformed into a security video of an abandoned stasis container in a loading dock.

“Something or someone was in this container. We are certain of it. What that something or someone was, or where it came from, we do not know at this point.” The security administrator’s gaze swept the room as the lights came back up. “We know that the vessel that held this container left it here and departed without filing a flight plan or giving any indication of where they had come from or were departing to. What records there are reflect only that the ship was flying under a false registration. Beyond that we simply do not know. These disappearances take place almost universally in a specific set of circumstances; low light or darkness, and the person that disappears is alone. It has happened in private quarters, in maintenance hallways, in the waste-water treatment facility, and in the outer docking ring. There is no evidence of how entry or egress is being made, and there is never much beyond trace evidence left behind to indicate that anything has happened. We suspect that the hydroponic or other water treatment systems are involved in some way, because we have, several times, encountered scenes from where someone went missing, where the floor was still wet.”

One, more senior, officer raised his hand, to the murmuring encouragement of the others in his immediate vicinity. “Sir? Do we have a plan for approaching this yet? I don’t think the public has yet caught on, but that can’t be too far away, or we wouldn’t be having this meeting.”

“Indeed. The more we can do now to forestall a public panic, the more effective it will be when the news does break.” The Chief of Security turned back to the holo in the middle of the room, which again changed back to a display of the station, with a particular section outlined in a brighter blue.

“Most of the disappearances are here, in this general area. This is where we will begin our search, starting with maintenance accessways and the hydroponics and other water system main lines. You will work in pairs, and each of you will have scanning tools for anyone there that shouldn’t be, or anomalies. Be wary – if you find anything out of place or out of the ordinary, you will withdraw, contact central dispatch immediately, and let the response team handle whatever you find. If you are asked questions by the media, you will refer them to my office. We are announcing a security drill to the public today, so you should not get too many questions.”

The main lighting for the briefing room came back up as the mid-room holo vanished. “Pair up, and get to work. Dismissed.”

continued

Several hours later

“Nonono, rookie. We work out here. You two get to go in there.” The speaker was the senior section officer, an older Vz’ktk that had obviously had enough personal resources to replace the usual Dominion-issue standard security equipment with much higher grade stuff that fell just short of military-grade hardware. He hefted a pulsegun with both hands, gesturing with the business end towards the open, dark, passageway into the bowels of the station. The two junior officers traded a look, and then followed orders, accompanied by the snickering of the two senior.

Inside, their security harness lighting played around the tangled walls of conduits for the various station necessities, which lay exposed like some kind of grotesque metallic innards. The ambient moisture in the air was considerably higher in here, at times even coalescing into wisps of vapor that played tricks on the eye. As they went, both nervously activated their scanner suite and video recording devices, intent on seeing anything and everything. Both were on edge, and knew it.

“Did…did you hear about that alien a couple of years ago that beat Hunters to death with its bare hands?” asked one. Ptk’kk was the more senior by about a month, and assiduously watched news vids of anything unusual he could find.

“No. Probably Alliance propaganda,” returned Kptkt, his partner. “You shouldn’t believe most of that crap you find…that was probably all done in a studio or something, if there was even video. It’s all just for ratings anyway. Somebody’s making money off whatever it was you were reading about.”

“Seriously. I saw the secure-cam video footage of it. It ripped a leg off one of them and beat the others to death. What if something like that is, you know, here?” insisted Ptk’kk. In front of him, Kptkt paused, then swiveled his head on its long blue neck to regard him with one eye.

“If there is such a something, and it can beat a Hunter to death with one of its own legs, and it is loose on this station, it isn’t going to be lurking around in the utility sections of a trader station in the middle of nowhere for months on end, making lone citizens disappear. It would be doing whatever it wanted, and we couldn’t do a thing to stop it.” Kptkt said. “Let’s just clear this section and get out of here, okay? Besides, like I said, I doubt anything like that actually exists anyway.”

Something is going on, though. They wouldn’t have us out here doing this if there wasn’t anything at all, you know,” persisted Ptk’kk. He scanned around at the walls vaguely. “I don’t know whether I’m hoping for something to happen or not.” Kptkt continued in front of him, studiously looking at the scanner screen as he swept left and right.

“Hold on. There’s an anomaly just around this corner,” Kptkt said, pausing. He scanned upwards, then around in a circle. “It appears to be something on the ground that isn’t supposed to be there…but in here, that could be anything.” He put the scanner down, hanging by a strap, and raised his rifle. Behind him, Ptk’kk adjusted slightly, and they peeked around the corner. Approximately three meters further was a shadow illuminated slightly by one flickering light, lying still on the floor. Kptkt pulled a security light from his harness and trained it forward, the light playing across what appeared to be an unmoving mound of fabric.

“What…is that?” Ptk’kk asked after a moment. “From here, I can’t tell.”

“I’m not sure. The scanner is picking up organic material,” Kptkt said, engrossed in the display and tapping at it absently. He walked forward and prodded the pile with one blue hoof, and the top of it shifted, then slid aside to reveal the source of the reading. It was an arm…or, leg, actually…a sizeable one, and Kwmbwrw by the look of it. The fabric appeared to be a utility harness, sturdy woven fabric and straps ripped in much the same way that the proximal end of the…limb… had apparently been ripped from its owner. Ptk’kk stifled a gag, turning away and, unfortunately, played his light further down the corridor. A soft thud sound echoed from further down the corridor.

A short distance away, a scene of utter bloody mayhem greeted the sweeping light. Another limb lay by itself, approximately four meters further in, and beyond that was a bloody wreck that could only be another. Splashes of blood spattered the walls, the ceiling, and pooled on the floor. Beyond the end of his light, Ptk’kk realized he was hearing….something….massive moving, rolling around in a solidly thumping rhythm that he could feel faintly through his hooves as whatever it was hit walls and the floor. Both officers as one looked at one another and bolted back the way they had come, gallop-flailing and bleating in terror. Neither even thought to key their communicators until they were well within the lighted main corridor, panting, panicked, and wide-eyed.

The reaction force was swift and immediate. Heavily armed security drones followed by four Vzk’tk officers in layers of shielding, with heavy security harnesses powering nigh-military grade kinetic pulse weapons, descended on the corridor, sweeping through with the best precision they could muster against an unknown and untested potential assailant. They quickly reached the point that Ptk’kk and Kptkt had turned around and fled from, finding the same remnants and bloody disembodied pieces. As they pressed on, several noted that their auditory sensors and their own hearing found nothing resembling the thumping sound reported. To their credit, they pressed on despite every sense in their basic, evolutionary impulses screaming at them to run, run the other way.

Finding what was left of the Kwmbwrw nearly broke even the bravest of them. Utterly crushed, the only recognizable part was the fur; the usual thick, barrel-shaped body, even separated from most of its legs, should have been much…bigger. Rounder. Instead, what they found was a torso that had been smashed, seemingly squeezed simultaneously from every direction, as though it had been put into a waste compactor somehow, and then dumped unceremoniously into this maintenance hallway for some undefinable reason. An unholy stench of blood, excrement, and viscerae, heavily overlaid with an odd musky odor, permeated everything.

“Whatever is responsible for this must be somewhere nearby,” ventured one, sweeping his lights around the corridor and into the maze of piping forming the ceiling. “The body hasn’t cooled yet, and from the report, however this happened, it was happening when we were summoned.” There were murmurs of agreement from the other three.

“You two, continue down the corridor and look for anything else, and be wary,” the squad leader ordered, pointing out two and indicating the direction with a wave of one blue hand. He transferred controls of two of the security drones to accompany them. “We will secure the scene here.” The two remaining drones spread to either side of the scene, deploying brilliant bluish-white lights to the walls and ceiling that banished shadows in every direction except for the knife-sharp shadows behind the two officers. Coherent energy beams lanced out, cataloguing everything about the scene in high definition imaging down to the screws holding the flooring together. Nothing, however, picked up the horror hiding above them, deep in the station’s bowels, as it silently moved away in a different direction, giving up on its intended meal in search of easier prey.

Outside, unfortunately, neither Ptk’kk or Kptkt had had the forethought to follow directives and keep what they had seen to themselves. The sight of them coming back out, panicked and breathing hard, followed by a heavily armed security team going back in, had drawn interest from passersby, some of whom knew the two officers and were naturally curious. A hastily told version of events was quickly relayed; Vzk’tk being a herd species, the news that the security force was chasing something that could rip citizens apart was told, retold, embellished, retold again, and exaggerated. In an unbelievably short amount of time, the station’s media picked it up – a human observer from the United States would have likened it to gossip tabloids and papparrazzi, only more so. Within less than a standard hour, there was an exclusive story on the main news channel about it, sensationalized with the more lurid theories bandied about by the public and leavened with what facts were being admitted to by the station’s security force.

Writer:
slice_of_pi
Series:
Ophidian
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For it is He who delivers you from the snare of the trapper and of the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his pinions, and under His wings you may seek refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and a bulwark. —Psalm 93: 3-4 Date Point: 14Y 3M AV Office of Rabbi Uwriy Walden New

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Causal Results – Chapter 6: Squeaking By

Bellona 9 Years, 7 Months, 28 Days After Eridani Landing “We can do it!” Bemusement. Tinner cocked his head from his potion on the foot of her bunk. “We failed during the simulation, and that was with the entire class. How will the two of us complete the simulation alone?” Mary rolled her two eyes

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Waters of Babylon – Tzedakah Part 4

Date Point: 14Y 2M 1W 5D AV The Thing, Folctha, Cimbrean Sister Naydra It was with some trepidation that Naydra attended a Meeting of Mothers. By all accounts, this was a continuation of a previous Meeting, which wasn’t so unusual—such Meetings were rare and never called for simple reasons that could be easily resolved. What

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Good Training – Survival Part 10

Date point: 14y 9m 2w 1d AV Trail hiking, Lakebeds National Park, west of Foltcha, Cimbrean Hayley Tisdale Julian had been quite firm that he wouldn’t do a sweat lodge or anything like that. She understood, there was some controversy about cultural appropriation and all that nonsense, and Julian seemed like he’d rather not be

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Waters of Babylon – Tzedakah Part 3

Date Point: 14Y 1M 3W AV HMS Sharman, Folctha, Cimbrean Toran and Tybal “Shhh…” “You shhh…. I’m already ssssh’ing.” The two cubs, having crept past the outer fence surrounding the base, slinked in behind a short hedge and remained motionless. It was late enough that the nightly rain had, overall, stopped, but early enough that

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Causal Results – Chapter 5

Ruck, Willinkree Year 3042 Day 35 “No! Let go of me!” shouted [Sil] as she struggled to break the brute’s hold. The class C stared dumbly back at her, glaring at him [Sil] pulled at her bonds and sat down on the ground unable to make them even budge in the large alien’s hands. On

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Waters of Babylon – Tzedakah Part 2

Date Point: 14Y 1M AV The Thing, Folctha, Cimbrean A Meeting of Mothers was much like a Conclave of Champions, and it was only coincidence that both terms alliterated nicely in English. Neither was terribly common, and both were typically invoked by their various constituencies to deal with an issue bigger than any one constituent

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Waters of Babylon – Tzedakah Part 1

For He will instruct His angels in your behalf, to guard you in all your ways. They will carry you in their hands, lest you hurt your foot on a rock. You will tread upon the lion and the viper; you will trample upon the young lion and the serpent —Psalm 91 Date Point: 14Y

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Good Training – Survival Part 9

Date point: 14y 9m 1d AV Planet Akyawentuo, The Ten’Gewek Protectorate, Near 3Kpc Arm Meeting of Given-Men Yan Given-Man “When will Jooyun return and take the Rite of Manhood?” Yan mopped some of the sweat from his crest and loosened up his crushing grip on his challengers. “Soon,” he said confidently. “Soon.” Fall was almost

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Causal Results – Chapter 4

Species C543 System 4 Years 2 months 23 days Before C1764 FTL Jump “Ma’am.” [Sil] tried to turn away from the noise and tried to remain in the blissful realm of unconsciousness. “Ma’am!” [Sil] forced her eyes open and let out a low groan of pain. [Fred] was next to her on the ground, her

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Good Training – Survival Part 8

Date point: 14y 9m 1d AV Total Combat Fitness, southwest Folctha, Cimbrean Mid-morning Dr. Marc Tisdale Marc was, at heart, a gentle man. He had love for most everyone he met and refused to hold anger for anyone or anything unless they had truly, irrevocably earned it. That said, he was still a man and

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Causal Results – Chapter 3

Species C543 System 4 Years 2 months 27 days Before C1764 FTL Jump [Sil] looked at the controls for the pod and slowly shook her head, “This is not good.” [Fred] only able to operate because of the minimal effort needed to move around in zero-g drifted forwards, “I would agree, but what is the

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 56: Dataquake Part 5

Date Point: 16y3m1w Memorial Concourse, Old Commune of the Clan of Females, City of Wi Kao, Planet Gao Mother Shoua There were days when Shoua missed the old commune, at the other end of the city. The new commune was larger, more modern and much more secure of course but… …But the old one had

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 56: Dataquake Part 4

Date Point: 16y3m1w Folctha, Cimbrean, the Far Reaches Ramsey Buehler Ramsey didn’t think he’d ever get used to being one of the cool kids at school. Actually, just going to school was kinda weird after all the home schooling he and Tristan had had back on Earth, but whenever he and his brother had got

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Henosis – Chapter 4

“Hey, that’s my suit!” A naked Gaoian fell on the Hunter from the tree above, landing on the sextupedal predator’s back. The impact was enough to stagger the creature, and Keegi was nearly thrown off. The claws of one paw extended, sinking into the Hunter’s glossy flesh as he held on as hard as he

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 56: Dataquake Part 3

Date Point: 16y3m6d HMS Sharman (HMNB Folctha), Cimbrean, the Far Reaches Technical Sergeant Adam “Warhorse” Arés “Firth, I gotta ask ‘ya something.” Per Colonel Powell’s standing orders, they had the rest of the day off for individual training time after a mission. Adam always took maximum advantage, but some of the other operators might use

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Causal Results – Chapter 2

First Landing Earth, Florida, Launch pad 39A April 12, 2033 “Ignition Sequence start, five, four, three, two, one, lift off!” The crowds several miles away from the historic launch pad watched as the craft slowly began to move up into the atmosphere. Almost an homage to the craft that had taken Humans to the moon

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Good Training – Survival Part 7

Date point: 14y 8m 2w 2d AV The Dog House, Folctha, Cimbrean Late afternoon Julian Etsicitty Agony. If Adam had a singular talent that stood out, it would have to be his supernatural ability to give his training victims some very dramatic results by inflicting insane amounts of pain. Julian both dreaded and eagerly anticipated

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Henosis – Chapter 3

Virtrew had been relaxing in the starboard docking array. He’d been feeling inspired and creative for the past ten-day… it was too late to alter the structure of the current station, but he had ideas for the next. He was off-shift, so he’d picked up his data tablet, a bowl full of Vzk’tk salad, and

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 56: Dataquake Part 2

Date Point: 16y3m6d η Ithacae, 94.9° 12-GERBER-UNARY G2V III, “Heafield” Technical Sergeant Adam “Warhorse” Arés Every now and then, Adam had a day where every little thing went so well and he found himself firing on all cylinders so perfectly, he could feel right in his big ol’ slab of a chest that exact same

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 56: Dataquake Part 1

Date Point: 16y3m5d AV Hierarchy/Cabal Joint Communications session #1772 ++0010++: Proximal’s continued absence is a source of concern, and investigating has been forced to take a low priority by other operations. His last known activity was in an Irujzen-1-adjacent sub-lucid volume. ++0004++: Irujzen? Why was he all the way out there? That’s a backwater! ++0022++:

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Henosis – Chapter 2

The mess hall on the station was a cavernous space on one of the mid-decks in the core, overlooking the long central shaft. It was a temporary arrangement… once the station was near-complete, a merchant or restaurateur would be enticed into setting up a proper dining area, whereupon the space would be converted in whatever

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 55: Reinvention Part 5

Date Point: 16y3m5d AV Planet Rauwryhr, The Rauwryhr Republic, Perseus Arm Ambassador Sir Patrick Knight Rauwran Great Trees were… They were quite a thing to behold. Each one was as thick around at the base as a cricket ground, and soared up and up and up until their canopy was an invisible dark haze high

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Henosis – Chapter 1

[2yr 1m AV] Trrkitzzkt L’tr’brtrk’tr quietly filed away the video files of the interviews he’d completed, queuing a copy to be sent via the station’s normal data exchange to his personal archive, in addition to the backup copy he kept on his personal data tablet. Both were encrypted with the strongest algorithms the investigator had

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Causal Results – Chapter 1

Dorvakian Home World 4 Years 3 months 8 days Before C1764 FTL Jump Looking across the grounds for several moment’s Silnersalkara tapped the table in front of her. The data controls embedded in the device quickly shut off and the hologram above its surface died. “Kermarcus, I’m aware of the situation. The opposition’s been attempting

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 55: Reinvention Part 4

Date Point: 16y3m AV Planet Akyawentuo, Ten’Gewek Protectorate, Near 3Kpc Arm Yan Given-Man “I like these Core-tie.” “You do? Why the change of heart?” When the ‘del-a-gay-shun’ had returned, there was of course much eagerness to learn the news. Yan was very happy to tell everyone they would be getting vack-seens from the Core-tie as

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Good Training – Survival Part 6

Date point: 14y 8m AV Residence of the Great Father of the Gao, Folctha, Cimbrean Sister Naydra The months on Cimbrean had been…therapeutic. She found herse lf greatly appreciating the Female presence on the Human’s first colony world, and everything it stood for: stability, acceptance. Survival. The Humans had done so much to support the

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 55: Reinvention Part 3

Date Point: 16y3m AV USS Robert A. Heinlein, Akyawentuo Orbit, the Ten’Gewek Protectorate, Near 3Kpc Arm Third Director Tran Some of the other Directors had expressed reservations when Tran had informed them he was taking Nofl along to the meeting with the Ten’Gewek. He’d invested some of their trust and patience by reassuring them that

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 55: Reinvention Part 2

Date Point: 16y2m3w AV Hierarchy/Cabal Joint Communications session #1722 ++0008++: In summary, the infiltration of Sol means the operation was a success, though not an unqualified one. We have four Injunctors on Earth, and a further two in the outer system, but the new Arutech biodrones appear to be an abject failure. The Cimbrean infiltration

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Rising Titans – Chapter 51 (End)

9 Years, 7 Months, 2 Days After Eridani Landing Chront Leaning down and putting her head to the table Stagg yawned. “Try the tea,” repeated Derrick sounding just as exhausted as she felt. The Captain turned to look at the engineer and then at the small pot on the table. “I did. Taste’s like mold.”

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 55: Reinvention Part 1

Date Point: 16y2m3w AV Folctha, Cimbrean, the Far Reaches Daar, Great Father of the Gao “Hey, this ain’t a bad little house at all!!” Daar followed in behind Gorku, who was carrying a completely exhausted Leemu on his back and had to mind his steps. “Humans know how to build houses arright,” he agreed. “Maybe

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 54: Here Be Dragons Part 6

Date Point: 16y2m2w1d AV Planet Akyawentuo, Ten’Gewek Protectorate, Near 3Kpc Arm Vemik Sky-Thinker One of the Human archaeologists was a metallurgist. Tilly was a strange and delicate name that didn’t suit her at all, Vemik thought. She had a sharp face full of metal piercings, skin full of bright pictures, and a half-shaven crest of

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Good Training – Survival Part 5

Date point: 14y 2m 3w 4d AV SOR barracks, HMS Sharman, Folctha, Cimbrean, The Far Reaches Meanwhile… Brother Faarek (Southpaw) of Clan Whitecrest–SOR “Are you sure you want to do this, Brother?” “Yes,” Thurrsto said with absolute conviction. “She’s the most beautiful Female I’ve ever seen and she’s hurting. I can’t bear doing nothing.” Faarek

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 54: Here Be Dragons Part 5

ESNN Magazine article: “Prisons In Their Head- an interview at Camp Tebbutt” Author and photographer: Ava Magdalena Ríos [Cover image: two men seated on a bench in front of a chain-link fence, with a stunning Alaskan vista behind them. On the left is a scruffy bearded white man with shaggy salt-and-pepper hair, and next to

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Rising Titans – Chapter 50

+15 Minutes The Canada “Can this thing fly?” Shouted Pankin as a rattling howl began to echo through the ship, the crew members on what was now the ceiling tightening their straps as objects that had been floating began to rattle on the floor as the ship dove deeper into the atmosphere of the planet.

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 54: Here Be Dragons Part 4

Date Point: 16y2m2w AV Weaver dropship, Rich Plains contact volume, Kwmbwrw Great Houses TSgt Timothy “Tiny” Walsh All throughout the ordeal of becoming HEAT and finally earning the Mass, the one thing running through Walsh’s head was that one day, he too would serve at their level. Do the mission like none other. Walk through

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 54: Here Be Dragons Part 3

Date Point: 16y2m1w5d AV Camp Tebbutt Biodrone Internment Facility, Yukon-Koyukuk, Alaska, USA, Earth Ava Ríos “You ever rode a helicopter before, Ava?” Ava jumped, and looked away from the window. She’d been enjoying the view. It was her first trip to Alaska, and the thing that struck her as she’d watched the landscape rolling by

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 54: Here Be Dragons Part 2

Date Point: 16y2m1w2d AV Gaoian embassy, Alien Quarter, Folctha, Cimbrean, the Far Reaches Daar, Great Father of the Gao There was shit to catch up with. Stuff to read, stuff to make decisions on, stuff to be briefed on in case he had to make a decision later… At first Daar did his best to

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Good Training – Survival Part 4

Date point: 14y 2m 1w AV Planet Akyawentuo, The Ten’Gewek Protectorate, Near 3Kpc Arm Singer “So, if we salt the roots in boiling water with some herbs, and use a very tight…what was the word?” [“Jar,”] Julian said encouragingly. “—And then we boil the whole jar with the lid on loose, so the bad spirits

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Rising Titans – Chapter 49

+10 Minutes The Singer [Vann] stood in the center of the bridge the three-dimensional hologram showing the entirety of his fleet as well as the surrounding space. The cubic formation was going to be tested now, up to this point the only gauge of effectiveness was how [Charles] had reacted to it in simulations. He

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 54: Here Be Dragons Part 1

Date Point: 16y2m5d AV Planet Akyawentuo, Ten’Gewek Protectorate, Near 3Kpc Arm Xiù Chang Yan was having to explain himself. It wasn’t that the men who’d come out to hunt the Brown One were disappointed, exactly. None of them had been looking forward to the battle at all. They all knew the stories of how many

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 53: The Wild Hunt Part 6

Date Point: 16y2m4d AV Planet Akyawentuo, the Ten’gewek Protectorate, Near 3Kpc Arm Julian Etsicitty Daar caught up with them about an hour after Xiù called ahead to let them know he was coming. A lot had happened in that hour. Yan had laid out his bibtaws in a kind of scent lure, some distance out

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 53: The Wild Hunt Part 5

Date Point: 16y2m3d AV Gaoian embassy, Alien Quarter, Folctha, Cimbrean, the Far Reaches Daar, Great Father of the Gao People who didn’t know Daar all that well thought he had a pathological aversion to Civilized pursuits. Not true at all! Daar had always enjoyed history, writing, and the more subtle arts of courtship, and he

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 53: The Wild Hunt Part 4

Date point: 16y2m3d AV Planet Akyawentuo, the Ten’Gewek Protectorate, Near 3Kpc Arm Daniel “Chimp” Hoeff Julian had a habit of singing in the woods. Not loud, exactly, and Hoeff wasn’t even sure he was totally conscious he was doing it, but loud enough to hear. Apparently it kept critters from blundering into them that might

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Rising Titans – Chapter 48

+ 7 Minutes 38 Seconds The Canada “Captain, your message?” asked Arik as her Avatar superimposed itself over the main monitor. “Surrender now, call off the fighters and we’ll let you live. Then we can begin to negotiate for an end to this pointless violence.” “That’s it?” asked Arik after a moment. “Unless anyone else

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Good Training – Survival Part 3

Date point: 14y 1m 2w AV “Clan Young Glory,” western unincorporated territories, Gao Sister Naydra Naydra and her fellow Sisters were slowly dying. The “Clan” that had “liberated” them from the clutches of what they now knew were biodrones had decided their honored guests needed “protection.” Their so-called protection consisted of imprisonment. Their “protection fees”

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 53: The Wild Hunt Part 3

Date point: 16y2m3d AV Planet Akyawentuo, the Ten’Gewek Protectorate, Near 3Kpc Arm Professor Daniel Hurt “What exactly did he say he’s fetching, anyway?” “An M107.” Daniel frowned. Although he’d learned more about firearms in general over the past few years than he’d ever imagined he would, there were times that the people who really “got”

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 53: The Wild Hunt Part 2

Date Point: 16y2m1d AV Chiune Station, Folctha, Cimbrean, the Far Reaches Allison Buehler Allison hadn’t slept well in a couple of nights. It wasn’t that she begrudged Julian and Xiù going offworld, not at all, but it did disrupt the sense of familiarity that made home, well… Home. If she didn’t have her brothers to

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Rising Titans – Chapter 47

+ 30 Seconds The Canada “The Empire ships are now in range of the ACE field!” reported Arik. Stagg grimaced as the ship shook “Activate,” “New contact!” shouted Arik interrupting. “What?” “IFF is identifying the vessel as the HSB Russia, they just exited a spatial rupture directly between us and the Empire fleet!” “Open communications!”

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 53: The Wild Hunt Part 1

Date Point: 16y2m1d AV personal sanctum, Dataspace. Cynosure/Six Data sophonts did not sleep, and thus did not dream. Nevertheless, Cynosure had a recurring nightmare of sorts. When his attention wandered, he found that it almost inevitably alighted on a handful of disturbing subjects. The details varied, as he worried at different aspects of the problems

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Good Training – Survival Part 2

Date point: 14y 7d AV Planet Akyawentuo, The Ten’Gewek Protectorate, Near 3Kpc Arm Later that day Julian Etsicitty It was approaching mid-day and the day’s morning work had been taken care of. The scouts had come back and reported that the nearby werne had just calved and would need to be left alone for a

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 52: Autoimmune Part 6

Date Point: 16y2m AV Folctha, Cimbrean, the Far Reaches Daar, Great Father of the Gao “Poor bugger hardly knew which way is up…” Powell grunted, once Wagner was gone. “Who can blame him? His whole crew going violently psychotic on him with no warning, only to be stasis-hopped right into a Corti’s lab being sniffed

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Rising Titans – Chapter 46

9 Years, 6 Months, 14 Days After Eridani Landing Jikse Diana blinked in surprise as the jungle was suddenly lit up by a fantastic reddish glow, glancing behind her towards the city Diana watched as another blast of energy, identical in color to the flash fell from the sky. Unable to see from her vantage

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 52: Autoimmune Part 5

Date Point: 16y2m AV Folctha, Cimbrean, The Far Reaches Julian Etsicitty The house was a mess when Julian got back, which was rare. Nobody in their household was naturally untidy—living on Misfit had driven Allison, Xiù and himself into an ingrained habit of orderliness, and the boys had lived in fear of their father’s belt

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 52: Autoimmune Part 4

Date Point: 16y2m AV Hierarchy/Cabal Joint Communications session #1536 ++Asymptote++: I have bad news. It would seem our new drones are detectable. ++0004++: <Dismay> you’re certain? ++Asymptote++: The force I sent to Cimbrean was captured immediately upon arrival. ++0007++: How? ++Asymptote++: Unclear. The Arutech drones don’t report as concisely as conventional biodrones. The connection is…

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 52: Autoimmune Part 3

Date Point: 16y2m AV The Thinghall, Folctha, Cimbrean, the Far Reaches Gabriel Arés Every civilization needed its icon of executive power. The UK had the black door of Number Ten Downing Street and, somewhere behind it, the Cabinet Room; the USA had the White House, and the Oval Office; Folctha had the Alien Palace. The

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Good Training – Survival Part 1

You may also want to read Pyrophytes in The Deathworlders series. Same story, different angles. Date point: 14y 7d AV Planet Akyawentuo, The Ten’Gewek Protectorate, Near 3Kpc Arm Professor Daniel Hurt “You want me to read it by next week?” Julian mopped the sweat from his face and bounced loosely in place. “What was it

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Rising Titans – Chapter 45

-7 Hours CHRONT THE CANADA “More contacts!” said Arik as she flashed every monitor on the bridge a bright red. Stagg glanced up at the monitor, “How many more?” “I’m counting!” “You’re counting!?” A grainy image of the approaching Empire patrol vessel was quickly displayed, a small box around it. Additional boxes quickly filled the

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 52: Autoimmune Part 2

Date Point: 16y2m AV Alien Quarter, Folctha, Cimbrean, the Far Reaches Nofl Leemu had become unresponsive. Nofl’s quarantine facility had alerted him after the patient had been anomalously still for twenty minutes, and the reason why became obvious upon a quick inspection of the cell: Leemu was sprawled on his back, staring blissfully up at

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Good Training – April Fool’s

13y 3m 29d AV One-Fang workhouse, Alien Quarter, Folctha, Cimbrean, the Far Reaches Sergeant Regaari (Dexter) of Clan SOR One of the best things about the humans was that they had a springtime holiday dedicated to mischief. Before them, only the Gao could claim to celebrate such a thing and it was one of the

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 52: Autoimmune Part 1

Date Point: 16y2m AV Alien Quarter, Folctha, Cimbrean, the Far Reaches Nofl Nofl’s lab was spacious, but inevitably finite. When it contained an alarming number of alarmed Humans, not to mention one particularly sculpted canine and a Gaoian brownie who was doing his best not to loom at everyone… well, there were times when Nofl

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 51: Anticlimax Part 5

Date Point: 16y2m AV Folctha, Cimbrean, the Far Reaches Allison Buehler After a lifetime of helicopter parenting, Tristan and Ramsey seemed addicted to every opportunity they could find to do something their mother would have scooted them away from. And who could blame them? Amanda had never managed to get her head around the idea

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Rising Titans – Chapter 44

9 Years, 6 Months, 28 Days After Eridani Landing Deep Space The Russia shuddered again as the engines slowly powered down and the ship slid out of the red blue haze that was the tachyon FTL corridor. James blinked several times trying to clear the haze from his eyes as the regular black background of

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 51: Anticlimax Part 4

Date Point: 16y1m AV Dataspace adjacent to Mrwrki Station Entity The Entity understood the concept of boredom in an academic, abstract way. It could even vaguely summon up Ava’s memories of being bored. But understanding the idea and actually feeling the emotion were two different things. The closest it could get was the sensation of

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 51: Anticlimax Part 3

Date Point: 16y2w AV Air Force One, somewhere over Asia, Earth President Arthur Sartori “…You want to give us a Farthrow generator.” Daar’s image was janky and low-resolution thanks to the vagaries of current wormhole comms, but the audio was a lot clearer now. Technology marched onwards. “It’s loaded up on a train and ready

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Good Training – Pecking Order

13y, 8m AV Operator’s Barracks, HMS Sharman, Folctha, Cimbrean Officer Regaari (Dexter) of Clan Whitecrest “I got an idea, Regaari.” Regaari flicked his ears forward in annoyance. “This again?” “Well, yeah. I gotta win that bet, Cousin!” Regaari duck-nodded wearily. Not long after Daar had received the SACRED STRANGER briefing, he’d sulked off to think

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Good Training – The Champions – Tidying Up

Messier 24 Mission day: 3 Sergeant Daar (Tigger) The third day was always when things settled into routine. Daar didn’t really know why, ‘cuz that was prol’ly some complicated psychology stuff (maybe he should read up?) but he did know how it worked, practically speaking. Daar always pondered morning thoughts like that when he was

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 51: Anticlimax Part 2

Date Point: 16y2w AV Weaver dropship, Gaoian space Sergeant Ian “Hillfoot” Wilde “So in all the excitement, we clean forgot about these things. That’s what you’re telling me.” Champion Meereo made a sound that was half a sigh and half a chitter. “…That’s more-or-less exactly right, yes. We had… well, bigger priorities.” Wilde had to

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Rising Titans – Chapter 43

9 Years, 6 Months, 28 Days After Eridani Landing Bellona “Ready?” asked Alpha from where he sat on top of the Captain’s chair. “I’m good!” said Red from where he sat at the controls for the ship. It hadn’t taken much to convince him to pilot the vessel. James glanced down at his own console

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 51: Anticlimax Part 1

Date Point: 16y AV Yukon–Koyukuk, Alaska, USA, Earth Zane Reid The cold didn’t hurt anymore. At first, it had been like forcing his way through a wall made of knives that cut through his clothes. Zane’s every breath had blinded him as it billowed and steamed in the air, and when he’d experimentally licked his

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 50: Counterattack – Trigger Part 5

Date Point: 16y AV Camp Tebbutt Biodrone Internment Facility, Yukon–Koyukuk, Alaska, USA, Earth Hugh Johnson Snow. Of course, snow in January in Alaska was hardly surprising, and this one threatened to be heavy. At first, Hugh had thought it was probably just an seasonable dusting that’d add a couple of inches to the foot or

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Fight!

I had made my way through the tournament, but most of my matches had been won by the skin of my teeth, and I had only the advantage of being evolved from a pursuit predator to thank for it. Our great endurance had been the one boon that had kept me going, and I was

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 50: Counterattack – Trigger Part 4

Date Point: 15y 10m 1w AV HMS Violent, Rvzrk System, Domain Space The ground battle churned on for days. That was the problem with Hunters. There was no surrender involved, it was a kill-or-be-killed fight where smashing their will to engage in war simply didn’t achieve enough. Any Hunter left alive would just keep murdering

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Good Training – The Champions – Doom and Gloom Part 4

He awoke to a pleasant smell. “…Eggs?” Hoeff detangled himself from Natalie and the sheets and stumbled towards the kitchen. Daar was busy in front of the comparatively little stove and fridge, humming some terrible Gaoian tune to himself. Seriously, their music was like Chinese opera with extra pain. Some Humans liked it, though…but “atonal”

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Rising Titans – Chapter 42

9 Years, 6 Months, 15 Days After Eridani Landing The [Singer] The explosion hit and [Vann] watched at the lights on the main hologram and different panels flashed a blinding white light, before dying and plunging the entire bridge of the [Singer] into darkness. “What were we supposed to do?” asked someone near the weapons

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Infestation

Day 1. I’ve made it on board the human trading vessel! They didn’t detect my presence, and I’ve managed to smuggle myself into their engineering bay, and disguised myself within a cluster of cables! My small, serpentine body makes me indistinguishable from a thin, grayish cable, and the Humans won’t notice my existence until it

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 50: Counterattack – Trigger Part 1

Date Point: 15y 10m AV Camp Tebbutt Biodrone Internment Facility, Yukon–Koyukuk, Alaska, USA, Earth Hugh Johnson Camp Tebbutt wasn’t actually a bad place to live, if you didn’t count the fact that it was essentially a prison for innocent victims. Hugh understood why he was there, and why he couldn’t leave… but after eleven years,

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Good Training – The Champions – Doom and Gloom Part 3

Firth Regaari chittered, “It is difficult to imagine you ‘humbled,’ Righteous.” “Heh,” Firth chuckled. “You do know most of my attitude is straight fuckin’ bullshit, right? Adam and John know why.” Regaari looked over at John, who shrugged massively. “He’s a scary dude. Being ridiculous kinda takes the edge off, y’know?” Regaari duck-nodded. He was

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Rising Titans – Chapter 41

9 Years, 6 Months, 13 Days After Eridani Landing Jikse Moving down the hallway Diana paused at the double doors, carefully she moved forwards into it’s threshold and they slid open. A woman in an orange smock looked up from her Comm for a moment, and then going back to look at it did a

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The Good Samaritan

I felt a white-hot pain in my back as I was stabbed. Once, twice and then three times. I fell to the ground clutching my new openings, and for a moment I couldn’t grasp what had just happened. I had walked through an alley as a shortcut back home, and then suddenly someone had grabbed

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 50: Counterattack – Homefront Part 6

Date Point: 15y9m3w AV Mrwrki Station, Erebor System, Unexplored Space Darcy “Does it seem… different to you lately?” “What?” “The Entity. It’s actin’ different, dude, I swear it is.” Darcy sighed and set aside her work as Lewis sat down. She was sitting drinking a Moroccan Mint tea in the station’s rec lounge, with its

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Rising Titans – Chapter 40

9 Years, 6 Months, 13 Days After Eridani Landing Jikse Popping the restraints off of her legs Diana swung herself off of the table, the two class A’s still in their isolation suits were pounding at the door of the room the three of them were in. “It’s out! Open the door!” shouted the man

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Good Training – The Champions – Doom and Gloom Part 2

Master Sergeant Christian (Righteous) Firth The end of the movie came and the ladies were fast asleep and prolly too tired to head home with any comfort. The other bros were asleep, too, and Firth was tangled up with them pretty good. Oh well, both ‘Base and ‘Horse were heavy-ass sleepers and only danger or

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Hell

Hell. It’s a completely Human concept. The concept of a realm of eternal torture, to which you are sent depending on the whims of one deity or another, is something only found in Human fiction. And it’s not an isolated occurrence. Almost every human culture since the dawn of humanity itself has had it in

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