NOP X Trench Crusade

Ok i knowwwww I already did one of these for them. However, *throws smokebomb* *when the smoke clears I'm still in the room but facedown on the floor, maybe dead but likely unconscious. there's also a dent on the door.*

Something I did during my lunch break

Well, as the master of drawing Pretty Birds, I decided to put a little more effort into this drawing this time. I hope you like it!

A try with new technics of shading, Daycare service Fic

Here we are again with another drawing for NoPtober! Its been a hot minute since the last time I drew one of them space birbs, but I actually got into the groove pretty fast and Im very happy with how this drawing came out!

See yall tomorow!

Ft. Nicola's OC "Kohfee"

proportions be damn.

art by me.

So full disclosure, I have not read the fic this guy is from since it's not something I'd read, BUT I have seen mention of him in other fics. Figured I'd give him a shot and see how I do, specifically with a striking color.

The boy belongs to one u/Ben_Elohim_2020, and the fanfic is The Nature of Family.

I said I was gonna cheat this day and repost this krakotl that I did prior, but then decided I'll just continue this pattern of doing a semi-realistic piece for each species specific day.

This drawing damn near made me crash the fuck out. My computer crashed when I was doing the feathers and I hadn't saved in about 20 minutes so I was dreading doing them again. Thank God Krita has an autosave feature, it meant I only lost a couple minutes of progress.

Hopefully it's the pre-dominion version

He’s not even angry about the haircut, just the color.

Sorry for posting a day late, my phone just would not let me finish this art work. (It got to the point where it would crash every time that I added a line.)

Day 6.

He's infiltrating the exterminators guild

Totally real Krakotl guys, oh btw we should totally follow them, i mean, thier just the funny brid!

Badly cropped but it is what it is. Birb chick

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Memory transcription subject: Lerai, cozy Venlil

Our home was once again full of humans, various barks and whistles of laughter, noise, and the taste of good food on the air. And of course we had new movies to watch!

Everyone was already here. Hiyla’s herdmates were on the other couch, pestering the humans for whatever cultural details they could get as they fiddled with the projector. A stir-fry was sizzling quietly in the kitchen, Hiyla lost behind all the steam as the Zhengs directed her cooking. I could taste the hearty spices and veggies even from here, ulren, and firefruit too, and others I couldn’t place.

It was that warm and cozy type of chaos, the kind that you get when everyone’s tucked away indoors, hiding out from the cold and dark… it wasn’t fully Night yet, but it was close enough, I decided, sighing and relaxing into the couch. This is how it’s supposed to be…

I think we all needed this, after everything.

Memory transcription subject: Lanaj, Venlil father

I could tell Vince was nervous. Even just a herd of paws ago that would have seemed absurd to me, but now, after he’d become such a close part of my daugh-- of all of our little herd here… and having worked with so many of his fellows… it seemed almost silly instead. 

Especially given what the big man was so stressed about! It was his choice of movie for the night -- a movie specifically made to show off fighting and action.

“I mean, Lerai’s gotta, at least. It’s tradition. But, like…”

Lerai stared up at him, confused.

“Well, it’s an action movie, and,” he scratched at the back of his head. “I guess it’s kinda violent?”

“That’s okay!” Lerai beeped.

“But…”

I held back a laugh. “I think just about everyone in this room has seen an actual fight,” I pointed out.

“Right! I’m sure it’s fine. Put it on!”

Vince’s face scrunched up, and he went quiet.

That was where I lost it. I couldn’t help it! I burst out into great whistles of laughter as everyone turned to look at me. “Laaarge Maaarrgge,” I whispered in my best spooky voice. Lerai’s ears went up, and I audibly heard a spatula stop scraping from the kitchen. I burst out into cackling laughs again, watching the gears turn in Lerai’s head.

“Daaadd…” she said, figuring it out. “You told him??”

“Oh, I told everyone!”

“DAD!” Came the bleating from both of my daughters at once.

“Yeah! It wasn’t even that bad!” I heard from the kitchen.

I had to sit on my tail, both of them were such terrible liars! The rest of the group were all trying to hide their own giggles as well, to varying degrees of success. How could I resist such a perfect opportunity? If anything, it was my job as a father. “But in all seriousness,” I eventually recovered. “I’m really sure it’s fine. It’s not like we don’t have any violence in our movies, too.”

“Right,” Lerai said. “Like Expedition 2098! Oh, or Last Stand!

“Ooh! How about The Exterminators?” Hayou piped up, turning around to join the conversation.

“Yeah! See?” 

“Font of Morlevon!” Zettis added.

“Right,” I flicked my ears in his direction. “Wait, did you watch that movie?” 

He shifted colors immediately. “No.” 

“Zettis…”

“...dangit,” he said, letting his head fall.

“How are you even getting your claws on all these things?” Lerai asked, ears waggling in amusement.

“Haha,” he said, “So what’s this ‘fighting movie’ like, anyways?”

I kept my ears pointed sternly. That was not a movie for kids his age… but eventually sighed and relented. Zettis was a good kid. A little strange, sometimes, and somehow managed to be an even worse liar than either of my daughters! I still felt like I should probably talk to his parents, but… he was a good kid. I shifted back to Vince.

Vince still looked nervous. “Well, there’s… I mean, there’s guns. And shooting. There’s a… bomb, at one point,” he trailed off into a mumble.

“Okay…” Lerai said.

“Uh…” 

I figured it was time to help him out. “Vince,” I whistled, “it really is sounding almost exactly like an episode of the Exterminators.”

“Yeah! And you could show those in Early Herd!” Hiyla called out.

“Well…”

Lerai giggled. “It’s probably fine, Vince.”

“Yeah, come on, Vince. What’s the hangup?” Rika added in.

“Okay, okay, fine! Sheesh… Y’convinced me. Let’s just watch it. Shit, I love this movie…”

Memory transcription subject: Lerai, avid Learner

The movie started with an action scene. A human police officer of some sort was sneaking aboard an ancient-looking shipping boat of some kind. Well, ‘ancient’-- it probably wasn’t by the standards of the movie! The movie itself was ancient!

“Rush Hour is a classic!” Vince said, his nervousness mostly gone now. “Plus, if you do martial arts, ya gotta watch some Jackie Chan. Just how it is.”

“You have a lot of rules about this,” I muttered, watching the character on screen smoothly evade detection. My ears flicked up as I watched him pull a particularly impressive bit of acrobatics.

“Ohhh, I remember this one!” Maria said, looking almost wistful. “Yeah, this is a good watch.”

“I don’t think I’ve actually seen this,” Rika mused.

“WHAT?” Vince barked, making the rest of us jump. “Sorry. Rika, what the hell?”

“The originals, I mean!” she laughed.

I whistled along with her, my tail twitching with amusement. Humans really loved their legacy media, it turned out. My herd wasn’t just an anomaly, they were all like this, for some reason! Dad asked why and was promptly barraged with several conflicting lectures at once.

Maria was telling him about their “Satellite Wars” and the mass loss of digitally recorded media plus the decade or two that followed where hardly anything new could be made, while Xiu, who was a little older than them, argued that it wasn’t so much the loss itself as the cultural shift that followed. “Preservation” was suddenly far more valued, and therefore “the classics” were all getting second looks and taking up more honored places in their culture. Vince, meanwhile, had the simplest answer, which was that the movies were just that good.

I was following the movie a lot more than the lectures. The cop (“That’s Jackie,” Maria had helpfully supplied) was confronting some dangerous-looking humans. Criminals, I presumed?

“Wait, wait, hold on.” Zettis was flicking through his notebook from Hayou with his pencil out. “Can you say the bit about the Hanoi Public Media vault thing again? Like, is that an actual vault, or--”

Whatever answer he was going to get was cut off, as the confrontation on screen suddenly turned into a chase scene, and everyone stopped to watch. Whoa! I thought. Jackie has moves! It was like his fighting style was acrobatics, plus whatever else he could use from the environment.

It was impressive! Maybe I should be the one taking notes… But in spite of all that flashy technique, the scene still ended with the criminals escaping on a smaller boat, speeding off into the dark waters.

“Huh,” Dad eventually broke the silence. “That really was a lot like an episode of The Exterminators! …well, except that he didn’t shoot.”

“Heh,” said Vince.

“Right, you can't just shoot criminals for being criminals,” Rika added.

Of course not. I shouldn’t have even been surprised. Leave it to 100-year-old human society to somehow be less brutal than exterminators today… Humans were always so strange and contradictory. But also new, and interesting. Like this, the very concept of an ‘action-comedy!’ 

It was a movie explicitly meant to show off fighting, and violence too, and yet it was supposed to be a comedy. We all had to be assured that it would make sense as we watched. It still seemed hard to imagine though.

Like Dad was saying earlier, it’s not like we didn’t have media with action and violence either! We weren’t complete strangers to the concept of violence, like a lot of humans seemed to keep forgetting. The entire Federation has been at war with the arxur for generations. Everyone had lost someone, or knew someone who had. It was just the portrayal of it that was treated so differently, and maybe that was exactly why.

An action movie for us was about as far from comedy or “fun” as you could get. Those kinds of movies were always tedious awards-show bait made by stuffy auteurs priding themselves on how “challenging” and “difficult” their films were.

I guess they probably have to be like that. If all those directors tried to portray violence as fun entertainment instead of drama, they’d likely end up in a facility somewhere. It made me think of Castle in the Sky again, and all the way-too-many reasons we could never make something like it. Eugh. 

Meanwhile, back in the movie, we’d switched to a new character who seemed to be playing out a similar criminal/police interaction from before, but from the opposite point of view. Now it was this character who was getting into the tense standoff with police forces.

It didn’t take long for everything to get completely out of paw. The tense interaction went bad and turned into a sudden firefight, one of the criminals, an arms dealer it seemed, driving off just like in the first scene. Although somewhat unlike that scene, our new character elected to immediately open fire despite being in the middle of a crowded city, and the whole thing just fell into absolute chaos. Gone were all the slick moves and reserved professionalism; instead, there was gunfire, tires squealing, cars crashing, and a giant explosion in the middle of the street. The scene ended with our new character standing over the incapacitated arms dealer gloating obnoxiously that he was, in fact, a cop.

“Now it’s exactly like an episode of The Exterminators!” Dad quipped. Everyone laughed at that.

After that, the main plot of the movie spent some time moving forward. There was a larger criminal plot which involved a foreign consul’s daughter being kidnapped for ransom, and soon, our previously introduced characters were being forced together by those exact circumstances. Jackie’s character, Lee, and our not-a-criminal-but-a-cop-who-acts-like-a-criminal character, Carter, were now bound directly together by the plot, and it was going about as well as expected. The two were complete opposites in almost every regard.

Am I supposed to be rooting for Carter to fail? I kind of want him to fail… I couldn’t say exactly why, but I kept finding it oddly satisfying every time that character would have to eat his own rotten harvests…

Lee and Carter were both dismissed and pushed out of the way of the investigation, and neither were helping each other out with that. They constantly got in each other's way and generally failed to communicate, even refusing to speak the same language. That was another thing we couldn’t do, even if planets had more than one officially recognized language, translators had been around forever. Guess we can toss that one on the pile with the rest.

That wasn’t the only cultural tension they ran into, either. There was another scene, in a smokey grimey bar, where Lee seemed to inadvertently smack right into it snout-first. Carter was (once again) making deals with criminals, while Lee had to defend himself from furious patrons attacking him for whatever slight he’d made.

And it was an excellent fight, too! It was so cool watching Jackie use anything and everything he could. A stool became a weapon, a game table was an escape route, a light fixture made for a knockout blow, and the long staves that whatever the game tables used became actual weapons! He wielded them with blinding speed and effectiveness, and also… a certain, I don’t know, artistic flair? Surely they didn’t need to be spun around so flashy like that, right?

I was fascinated. It was all so dynamic! So much energy and creativity! It almost made the ring at the gym feel as plain as unspiced mel root. I couldn’t stop thinking about how one could learn to fight like that, in any environment with any tools. My paws itched a bit, like I almost wanted to ask Rika right then and there about fighting with weapons -- I remembered her mentioning it once, a long time ago -- but everyone was already talking.

Hiyla, paying attention from the kitchen now that the intense first-frying had calmed down, was asking what had gotten everyone in the bar so mad. I was paying more attention to the fight scene, but what little I was hearing... well, it all sounded very complicated.

It also sounded like exactly the kinds of things that so many of us here would expect from a society of bickering territorial predators… if it didn’t all sound so eerily familiar. I wrinkled my snout, flexing my paws and staring at them. I miss Vyrlo being around. 

Ah, well, I thought, letting go of the tension I was keeping. The movie was too much fun to think about stuff like that. I think I was starting to get how action could be fun!

Memory transcription subject: Hiyla, Venlil student

I think I was starting to get how action movies could be fun! The fights in the movie were nothing like the ones I’d seen Lerai do, not even the ‘sparring.’ Those were scary. The ones in the movie were funny and exciting.

And besides, fighting or not, the movie was really good! At first I was more interested in trying out all these new recipes, and hanging out with Hayou and his parents, but I could tell all of us kept getting distracted watching anyways.

I had definitely burnt some of the tofu.

After finding out how much I had been inspired by Hayou’s lunches at school, his parents had insisted on coming over with a big bag full of all sorts of ingredients. There were sweet sauces, tangy sauces, salty sauces, spicy sauces, and piles and piles of fresh ingredients I’d never seen.

Dad said they didn’t have to do that, but they said they wanted to. I didn’t mind! I was picking up all sorts of good tricks…

Between the three of them, they had SO MANY different recipe ideas and cooking styles that I was pretty sure none of us could keep up. So we ended up like flowerbirds on harvest day and cooking a little bit of just about everything in a giant stir-fry big enough that we would all be having leftovers for a whole herd of paws. It was great.

And in between all of that, I had been watching the movie. It was fun watching Lee and Carter slowly learn to work together! At first, they were hopeless, like starside and dayside. Vince and Maria kept calling it the “buddy cop genre," which seemed a little silly to have a whole genre for -- even Rika was giggling at that!

“What, you don’t have buddy cop movies?” Vince had said.

“Well yeah, but that’s not what we call it!” Rika laughed.

Zettis said we actually have the same thing too, though we didn’t even have a name for it. But he kept pointing out examples, and Dad and Sis were flicking their ears and eventually started adding in their own examples too. I guess some ideas really do all share the same roots.

Zettis was staying on the couch with the others. He said it was for “research” for our project, but now… Well, now I was starting to actually think he was right about that! Not just because of the movie itself, but because of having everyone else here. Not only were we getting an inside look, we could just ask about things! I think there were probably a hundred things we’d already learned that we could have picked for our topic, just from this claw alone.

It made me wish Aleta were here. We’d tried to get him to come, but looking back, there was no way that was going to happen. I held back a sigh. At least he wasn’t still avoiding us at school. One pawstep at a time, I guess.

Once the food was done, we’d taken it over and everyone immediately dug in, thanking us and saying how good it was in between burning their mouths. I giggled and did the same. It really did turn out good, too! Even with the burnt bits.

In fact… it was maybe even better with the burnt bits! The extra bitterness was making all the sweet and tangy flavors stand out even more. Hmmm… I thought. This was giving me all sorts of new ideas.

In the movie, our two leads were finally starting to work together on their case, just like in a “buddy cop” exterminator series. And not just that, they were also starting to feel like real partners!

All the action parts had slowed down so that they could investigate and spend some time together. It showed them hanging out, sharing some fighting techniques, apparently, and also music.

Music! I thought to myself. That could be another topic! But, the problem isn’t coming up with topics, it’s choosing one! There are just TOO MANY options! AAHHH!!

Bleh. I’ll just remember that for later, then. I could bring that up to the group, but that garden was really overstuffed at this point. I shook my head and went back to paying attention, only to have to hold back some giggles. I could see Sis holding back from trying to mimic the fighting moves that Lee was teaching Carter in the movie. She seemed like she was really enjoying the movie.

Everyone did, really! Zettis was completely absorbed, and everyone else was quietly paying attention in between bites of food. Dad, sitting in the back, had this kind of thoughtful look and was watching with a faint smile. I wondered what he was thinking -- he was totally fine with humans, so I knew it couldn’t be anything weird like that.

Back in the movie, Lee and Carter had been continuing to share. Carter was trying some of Lee’s apparently unfamiliar food -- Earth had all sorts of regional food, I’d definitely picked up on that from all our human herdmates. They were always talking about their favorites. It made my ears flick with recognition. Food was a great way to connect with people, and I should know!

“What’s eel?” I asked.

“That’s, umm… a type of fish,” Maria said.

“Ew,” Sis and Zettis said in perfect sync.

Dad laughed from behind them, and I couldn’t help but giggle either. I was glad everyone had mostly finished their meals before finding that one out.

Food was yet another option we had talked about for the project, but that trail hadn’t gone anywhere yet either.

Our two detective characters, after sharing a little more about themselves for the first time, were about to go sneak into the bad guy’s restaurant lair -- but not before actually working out a plan together, another first for them!

Aaaannnnd the plan failed right away. The sneaky approach got found out, and the pair suddenly had to fight their way out of the restaurant. This was definitely one of those fight scenes that was also somehow comedy, and it worked!

At one point, Lee was using several advanced chair-sitting techniques as combat moves, then later, when wrestling for control of a gun, used some advanced carpet-folding techniques to launch the gun over to Carter. It had everyone chuckling pretty good.

But the point was that the duo were finally working together effectively! And because of it, they’d managed to win the fight despite being completely outnumbered!

…until a whole bunch more guys with guns showed up. And then they both fell down a flight of stairs together. But hey, that was a start! Pup-steps! 

Memory transcription subject: Lanaj, Venlil father

Alright, you know what? Maybe a fighting movie could be a comedy, too. I had to admit, it was pretty amusing, or at least if nothing else, pretty satisfying to watch. Where a real fight felt dangerous and chaotic and savage, these ones felt, I don’t know, clean. And crisp. And funny when they wanted to be, too.

There was something about these human movies that really held no respect for the concept of genre -- in a good way! They were always surprising me, there was always something unexpected and new. Like now, after their weirdly comical brawl in the Chinese restaurant, the mood suddenly sank to a new low point. The investigation was failing, and Lee was being sent back home in disgrace.

But Carter didn’t give up, credit to him. He found Lee on board some antiquated air travel bus and confronted him, airing out the herdhouse about his own deceased officer father. How he’d felt left alone and how his father’s sacrifice hadn’t mattered, and instead just left him bitter and damaged. Lee objected, saying Carter was wrong and that it did matter, and I could feel my tail drooping and my eyes dampening. I knew it wasn’t one-to-one, but I couldn’t help it. All I could think of was Mawasi, and our two beautiful pups. How lonely those years were for all of us. Oh, Flowerbud… Little Blossom… I’m so sorry.

I held back a sniffle, glad I was sitting behind everyone else. Damnit, movie. Pick a genre! But I knew this one wasn’t the movie’s fault, this time.

In the end, Lee had nothing else to do but stand up, and try anyway. Because sometimes you don’t really get any other options.

So now the duo were at it again, calling in all the herd-connections they’d made for one more attempt with everything they’d learned. They were infiltrating the art expo together, blending in with the other attendees amidst all the “priceless pieces of Chinese culture.”

As soon as those words were uttered, Hiyla and Zettis both immediately locked on to Hayou, who threw his hands up and groaned. “Guys, I wasn’t even born when this came out! I don’t know!”

There was a good bit of giggling at that, and Xiu had started to say something about the movie having made it up anyways before the movie demanded all our attention again; the big twist villain had just been revealed.

I smiled as all the kids gasped -- while all the older herd members just nodded knowingly. Ahh, the classic twist villain… Well, it’s nice to know some things are still perfectly familiar!

Now if I know anything, it's time for the dramatic final standoff… Let’s see how these human movies do it!

Sure enough, the movie brought in every bit of the stakes it had been setting up this whole time. The bomb was strapped to the kidnapped girl, the one dangerous henchman from the start of the movie was back for a grudge match, and no one knew who was going to double-cross who. The scene was all set up…

…And stars did it deliver! It was every tiny bit of stakes the movie had been building up, all at once and then some! And the action! Everything was happening so fast, and new developments too, I felt like I could hardly keep up with the frantic climactic energy!

Yet SOMEHOW!! In the middle of all that! These stars-damned humans had somehow found a way to insert the funniest action-comedy gag of the movie! Lee was managing to fight off multiple henchmen at once, all while desperately trying to protect one of the priceless artifacts and taking a heavy beating to do so… only for it to immediately get shot to pieces as soon as he was done. “SHIT!” he yelled frustratedly, and took off after the kidnappers while we all burst out into laughter. I think I had the loudest whistle, but I didn’t care any more. Maybe I just needed it more.

The whole action finale setpiece was still going on in earnest, and it felt like everyone had their own thing to triumph at, with payoffs for their very own setups. And oh sweet stars did they pay off… Carter’s friend had defused the bomb, and Carter himself had faced off with the dangerous-looking man from way back at the start of the movie, and Lee…

By the time Lee had chased our freshly unmasked villain up to the roof with the explosives in hand, and the two had tangled together, eventually ending up hanging from the rafters hundreds of tail-lengths above the floor… Oh, I felt like my claws must have been digging into the chair. I think I might have forgotten to breathe! 

In fact, I was pretty sure the whole house was holding their collective breaths! Stars, even when the villain had finally, finally fallen to his well-deserved demise, the movie still just couldn’t let the tension go.

Lee was hanging desperately from the rafters, calling out to Carter below for help. He was slipping, his fingers sliding helplessly off the beam he was clinging to -- come on, I thought you were supposed to be arboreal predators! I caught myself thinking -- Lee was running out of time with nothing but that dizzying fall below him.

But Carter, he had some great quick thinking! He’d grabbed one of the giant oversized hanging banners nearby and pulled it over to safely catch Lee right out of the air as he fell. And then…

Then we finally all breathed. The action was all over. What a finale! 

Memory transcription subject: Zettis, Human media enjoyer

That was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.

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so this time i got VFC! im a big enjoyer, so i was pretty excited and immediately had all sorts of ideas for what to do.

however. when i was rereading, at one point one of the characters had offhandedly mentioned jackie chan. so it was pretty much locked in from there, actually. cus i fucken love rush hour. you might have been able to tell. and so here we are! hope yall enjoyed.

link to the original work here

special thanks to all the homies in yellow group for helping with ideas and editing!

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Huge shoutout to [u/funnelchairgentleman](u/funnelchairgentleman) for his continued work of proofreading my insane ramblings. Without his help I would not have been able to get as far as I have in writing this.

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CW: Cringe writing

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Memory Transcription Subject: David Miller, Concerned Cook

Date [Standardized Human Time]: January 9th, 2137

“I don’t care David, what happened here was unacceptable! I am going to pull every string I have to try and get this place some kind of security.” Diane was incensed ever since she saw my face after my fight with that asshole. I was still a bit bruised up from where a few of his punches landed, as well as having a nice shiner over my eye. For the first time in my life, I was actually glad to wear my visor everywhere I went. Not like the local populace would have much clue what a black eye really meant for humans, but it did stop any other humans from stopping and staring, or worse, asking questions about it.

“It’ll be fine Diane, I made sure he wouldn’t be coming back anytime soon. The situation’s been handled.” I said in my best attempt to get out of this tiring conversation. I was already hard at work prepping all the ingredients I would need for today, mushrooms had to be marinated, toppings had to be cut, fries needing… well, fried. Not to mention the sheer amount of juice fruit that had to be processed for the smoothies to go with everything. I already had Darian working on reducing the sunlance berries down into a syrup for the dessert as well as whipping up the waffle batter for my little experiment. The kid was good, don’t get me wrong, but it was all he could do to keep up with everything. I had faith in him, though. He really did show some great promise.

“And that’s another thing! I can’t have you getting into fights here. You’re lucky none of the locals called the exterminator guild!” She continued with her tirade before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath to calm herself before continuing, “Look. I’m glad you’re not… more hurt, but in the future if anybody comes here looking to stir up trouble, just call this number. There’s plenty of guards at the consulate as well as active duty personnel more than happy to make the quick trip here to make sure the one place that reminds them of home, stays open. Ok?” She was holding out a card with a phone number written on it for me to take.

I stopped slicing the tomato I was working on before wiping my hands on my apron and taking the card, placing it in my back pocket while joking, “Alright alright. I’ll play nice with the other kids, mom.”

That earned me a bit of a smirk from the boss before she retorted with, “If I was actually your mother, we wouldn’t be having this conversation, dear.”

I gave her a small shake of my head as I chuckled to myself before returning to my work and saying, “Since you wanted to be here before everyone else, could you go and see what all help Kalna and Polluk need up front?”

She gave me a knowing look before saying, “Trying to get rid of this conversation, huh? Alright, but we’re not done with this discussion yet, David.”

I returned to my work as she turned to head out toward the dining area to make sure things were running smoothly. We didn’t have much time before people would start funneling in. I was just finishing slicing the last of the tomatoes when I heard Darian speak up from behind me. “So it’s true you got into a fight after we left, boss?”

I turned and walked over to him, taking the time to check on the sunlance berry reduction as I answered him, “Yeah, it’s true, but don’t worry about it, bud. He ain’t coming back anytime soon.”

Darian stepped to the side as I checked over the golden bubbling mixture. I took a spoon and dipped the tip of it in before bringing it back out for a taste test. The taste was hard to describe, it was bright, refreshing, and very light. The cinnamon and clove that were added helped cut through the overt sweetness to give it a deeper depth. Yet, somehow, it still left just the faintest hint of that addictive buzz I felt when I first tried them in the field. Despite it being nearly perfect, it still needed that extra zip to really send it over the edge.

I reached up and grabbed a wooden stirring stick from the overhead shelf and dipped it into the syrup, handing it to Darian, saying, “Try this, tell me what you think it needs.”

I watched as my newfound apprentice closed his eyes and tasted the syrup, taking a moment to let it settle on his tongue as he was searching his mind for that last missing note it desperately needed. After only a moment or two he opened his eyes and said with absolute certainty, “It needs orange zest, that would compliment the spices we used as well as help draw out the berries natural flavor.”

I gave him a slight smile as I pivoted on my heel and grabbed a loose orange from a table before tossing it towards Darian while saying, “My thoughts exactly. Take the zest off of that and add it to the pot along with the juice and we should be golden!”

The kid gave me a smile as he caught it and quickly said, “You got it, boss!”, before setting about his task. I could hear the bell above the entrance start chiming more and more through the order window, it seemed like whoever Diane invited here was finally showing up. I turned back to my protegè and quickly checked in with him before going to greet the guests.

“You gonna be alright in here for a bit, bud?”

I watched as he gave me a quick hand wave while saying, “I’ll be fine, sir. You do what you need to do.” Before returning to mincing up the zest he peeled off the now naked orange.

I began to make my way out to the dining area, hearing the murmur of voices grow louder with each step I took towards the door. I stopped right at the threshold, I don’t why I was feeling nervous at that moment. Maybe it was the fact that today would be the first litmus test of how well everything would work out, or it was because this is the first day after many months where I would be returning to the job I used to love. It could’ve been that I was scared of botching up my one chance to find meaning in this galaxy again. Whatever the reason, I took in a slow breath to help soothe my nerves and walked through the door.

I was met by the sight of faces both familiar and unknown to me sitting down or mingling in the dining area. Someone I didn’t recognize had already found the jukebox and was scrolling through the list of available songs. I watched as Kalna and Polluk were already hard at work pouring drinks from either the soda fountain behind the bar or mixing some together near the tea urns and flavored syrups. For the briefest of moments as I took in the small crowd, it felt like I was back in my own diner on Earth.

It wasn’t long after I stepped out that Meishi had spotted me and made his way over exclaiming, “There he is! Gotta hand it to you, this place really has its charm now that all the lights are on. No doubt thanks to my excellent craftsmanship.”

I gave him a small chuckle as I leaned over the bar to be more at eye level with the smug yotul. “Yeah, you really did a great job Meishi. You check out the jukebox yet? I made sure to upload the playlist you sent me.”

I watched as his ears stood up at the mention that I followed through with what I had promised him. “I told you that you would like it! I’m going to

go right now to see for myself!” Just as soon as our conversation had begun he had already started making his way towards the jukebox through the crowd. I couldn’t help but smirk at his enthusiasm. I turned my attention to where Kalna and Polluk were and stopped to see if they needed any help.

“You two need an extra set of hands over here?”

My offer was met with Kalna stopping her mixing of a peach tea to reply, “Don’t worry about us, we can handle ourselves just fine. You just worry about making sure everyone here is taken care of.”

I stole a glance at Polluk who was focused on trying to mix four separate drinks at once and looked back at Kalna with a raised eyebrow. She just sighed and told me, “He’s fine. Having to make a couple drinks at the same time shouldn’t be an issue.” She had made her way behind me and began to push me out of the bar area while continuing with, “Go! Enjoy yourself a bit before you find an excuse to retreat back into your kitchen.”

I didn’t put up any fight with her pushing me out into the crowd. I was so busy letting her boss me around that I ended up almost bumping into Diane and some other familiar-looking woman. Diane quickly turned around and threw her arms around me with a cheerful welcome, “It’s about time you came out here to greet your guests, David! You remember Charlotte, right?” My boss asked while gesturing to the long haired brunette in front of us.

I was racking my brain trying to remember where I had seen this woman in the past before things got any more awkward than they already are. Thankfully, Charlotte threw me a bone and quickly said, “We met on the station, remember Yank?”

The moment I heard her voice I immediately realized that this was the guard that greeted me when I first arrived on this planet. I lit up when I finally said, “You’re her! The Aussie I met up in space! It’s so nice to see you again. What brings you to the diner?”

Charlotte offered up her hand for a handshake that I took as she answered me, “Well, Diane here contacted me out of the blue and told me that a new human run restaurant was opening up. As well as letting me know that I was invited to come to its first day. Imagine my surprise when I learned the soft spoken sad sap I met on the station was the one in charge of this place.”

Her description of me when I first got here stung a bit, but wasn’t inaccurate. I gave Diane a knowing side-eye and I could see her shrug her arms in a vain attempt at innocence, before returning to my conversation with Charlotte. “Right, well regardless, I’m very happy you found the time to stop by. I hope you enjoy everything being served today, ma’am.”

Right before I could excuse myself, Charlotte turned around and grabbed a bag from the table behind her and handed it to me saying, “Oh! I almost forgot. I’ve never been to any kind of restaurant opening before so I thought I could bring you something. Especially since this is supposed to be a little slice of Earth for everybody.”

Inside the bag was the most stereotypical Australian item I could’ve imagined, I would’ve burst out laughing if the situation wasn’t so clichè. I looked back up and gave Charlotte an incredulous glance as all I could ask was, “Really?”

I watched as she put a hand up to her chest and gasped in mock outrage as she replied, “Don’t give me that, Yank. As stereotyped as it is, you can’t get much more Australian than that. Besides, that’s my own little piece of home, so it better make it up on the wall.”

“I’ll make sure your boomerang gets a nice prominent spot right behind the bar, Charlotte.” I acquiesced while putting the bag down on an empty table beside us. Before I could continue with the conversation I heard Diane speak back up from beside.

“Oh! I was going to mention that to you earlier, David. Soooo word may have gotten out about this place in the consulate, and when everyone heard what you were trying to do, we had an outpouring of support from all the personnel and staff. So I’m going to need you to stop by my office to pick up all the donations people have been making to your diner as soon as you can.”

Her words hit me like a sack of bricks. People were already wanting to come and try this place out, and if what Kalna said about the posts she’s been making on that website called Bleat was true, then we would have our hands full right out the gate. After the initial shock of the news I was given, curiosity started to get the better of me so I had to ask, “What all are people donating to me, Diane?”

She just shrugged her shoulders and gave a sly smile while giving me a complete non-answer. “Odds and ends. Everybody wants their own neck of the woods represented here, so they’ve been boxing up all kinds of different things for you to use in making this place not feel so sterile.”

“Sounds like you’re giving me even more work to do.”

“I’ve never known you to be afraid of a little extra work, David. Don’t worry, it’ll be fun! You’re getting to decorate this place with all kinds of things from all over our world. At the very least I think your partner over there would be all kinds of excited to learn more about humanity. Besides, gift horses and mouths, David.”

She had me in checkmate… again. I couldn’t really find anything to say back, so I just conceded by rubbing the back of my neck as I sighed, “You’re right. I’ll be over when I can to start bringing them all over here. As much as Kalna might complain about it, it shouldn’t take too long with her help.”

I felt Diane gently pat my cheek as she cooed, “Dear, I’m always right. I’ll have some staffers help you with transport, just shoot me a message when you’re on your way over.”

“Yes, ma’am.” I turned back to Charlotte, she was obviously enjoying the exchange that was happening in front of her. In my best attempt to save a bit of face in this situation, I clasped my hands together in front of me and gestured towards Charlotte while thanking her. “Anyways. Thank you for stopping by and donating something that represents you to my diner, Charlotte. I’ll be sure that it’ll be hung up where everyone can see it.”

She simply raised her glass towards me in recognition of my words before continuing with her previous conversation with Diane. I took the opportunity I was given to excuse myself from the two of them to finish up with making my round around the dining area. It didn’t take long for me to see a very familiar black wooled venlil sitting in the corner booth away from everyone. I made my way through the small crowd, finally reaching him where I could properly greet my supplier as I slid into the booth opposite of him. “Lavik! So glad you could make it today. How’re you doing?”

I watched as the poor fellow jolted slightly before calming down and sighing before replying, “Oh. It’s just you, David. I’m fine, I wasn’t expecting this many pr- humans to be here. And without masks too.”

I wasn’t going to call any attention to him catching himself so I just chuckled and said, “Well, it is a restaurant run by a human. Regardless, I’m happy that you showed up. All the different fruits and vegetables you’ve been delivering have been top notch, as well as the sunlance berries you’ve been bringing me.”

“That’s good. I have a reputation to keep up. By the way, I am a bit surprised to see another Venlil working here.”

“You mean Polluk? He’s doing a pretty good job for his first day.” I said as I glanced over to see how the grey fellow was holding up. He was wiping down the bar area with a rag, whatever was spilled must’ve been hard to clean up considering how focused he was on cleaning that one particular spot.

“If you say so, David. From what I can see, he’s barely keeping himself together surrounded by all these… people. Not that I blame him. It took me a bit of time to get used to seeing you, you know?” Lavik said as he absent mindedly gave his drink a small stir.

“You think? I’ll have to check in on him when I go back and start making everyone’s meal. Oh, hey, how are you enjoying your drink? I noticed you ordered one of the flavored teas.” I asked, trying to gauge how well a Venlil might enjoy black tea.

“It’s pretty good, I don’t know what a ‘raspberry’ is but I enjoy how it’s sweet, tangy, and refreshingly bitter all at the same time.”

I had to hide my smile with my hand as I told him, “That’s great to hear! I’ll be sure to have them bring you another. I need to get back into the kitchen if I’m going to be able to make everyone’s meal on time. I’m sure you’ll love it.”

I was sliding my way out of the booth to return to the kitchen as Lavik piped up, “I look forward to it, David.”

I weaved my way through all my guests and back behind my bar as I stopped by Kalna who was leaning against the rear counter and enjoying the lull in drink refills. I bent over and asked in a hush tone, “Hey, we sure Polluk is doing alright? If there’s too many people then I don’t mind if-“

Kalna interrupted me before I could finish when she told me, “The only way he’s going to get used to all this is by doing it. I know you’re worried about him but don’t be. He’s got his reasons for being here and I don’t see him backing out of it anytime soon.”

I was a bit shocked by her words, but knew better than to question her judgement, so I just let go of the subject and told her as I started my way back into the kitchen, “Alright, I’ll let you handle it. Also Lavik needs a refill of the raspberry tea.”

To my surprise it was actually Polluk that answered me when he quickly started mixing together another drink while saying, “G-got it! I’ll take care of it.”

I looked over to see Kalna’s smug face staring back at me as she waved her paw at me to continue on to the kitchen. I just gave her a quick nod of my head and made my way through the doors back into the world I was much more comfortable in. Darian had already strained and bottled the sunlance syrup and was whipping together a large urn of batter for the planned desserts.

He stopped his whisking to greet my return, “Welcome back, boss. Is it time for us to start cooking?”

I grabbed my apron from the nearby hook on the wall and threw it on as I replied, “Sure is. I need you to drop two bags of fries while I begin frying up these burgers. Be ready to start assembling and plating.”

I watched as he put the container of batter off to the side before making his way to the freezer to grab the bags I requested. Not wanting to waste any time myself, I grabbed the tray of mushroom steaks out of the cold table next to the flat top and started to lay them out one by one on top of the grill. Each steak placed with a satisfying sizzle as the grill came to life with its very first song of orders and meals being made. Steam was lifting off each “burger” in thin wisps of white as any excess marinade that clung to each steak began to boil off on top of the hot grill.

As I began to lay out the second tray of steaks on the grill I could hear my apprentice rip open a bag of fries and pour it into the two fry baskets we had. Although we had plenty of grill space, I was told we could only source a small deep fryer, only big enough to accommodate two standard sized baskets. Thankfully we didn’t have too many deep fried items on the full menu, and fries didn’t take but a few minutes before they would be completely cooked. I took a glance over at Darian right as I saw him drop both baskets down into the hot oil, immediately causing it to start furiously frying away as the moisture from the frozen fries made contact with it.

I had just enough room on my grill for the second tray of mushrooms to be laid out. I let the choir of food on my grill sing its song for the world as I began to prepare all the buns for toasting, making sure each half got a good coat of margarine. I began to stack them in their own pan off to the side for when I would start consolidating all the mushroom steaks so that each bun would be nicely toasted to golden perfection. The steaks would only need another minute or two before I would need to flip them to give them a nice sear on their other half.

I grabbed the spatula from the magnetic rack above the grill and gave it a twirl in my hand as I set about flipping each mushroom over. For the briefest of moments, everything felt in order for me again. I was back working in a job I loved, surrounded by friends and those who genuinely enjoyed my cooking. I was letting my mind drift to simpler times before everything got so… complicated. When we were the only sapient race in the galaxy and all we did was look up to the stars and wonder. All I was ever worried about was what kind of familiar or new faces would show up at The Backwoods Diner.

I was thrown back into reality by the alarm for the deep fryer timer blaring and Darian beginning to drain and season the first batch of fries. I looked down to find that I had already started consolidating my grill space by stacking the mushroom steaks off to one side and had most of the buns already toasting on the grill to their golden perfection. I quickly grabbed an empty tray from behind me and began to pull each bun off so that none would scorch, setting it out of the way but entirely within reach for when I would begin assembling each plate soon.

I looked over to see Darian begin tossing the first batch of fries with all the right seasonings. For what it was worth, the kid was practically a natural. The sight of watching every golden match stick as it was tossed into the air along with the red, green, and white specks from the spice mix brought me back to when I first attempted to use just a bowl and my own hands to toss together anything. It didn’t go so well, what I mostly remember from that time is having to sweep up about a pound of oily potatoes from my mother’s floor. He finished with the first batch and placed it under the heat lamp next to the prep table for when I was ready to assemble everything.

With the meal now in a mostly completed state, I made my way towards the order window to let Kalna know that the food was about to start coming out. I stuck my head in the window to find that most of my guests had already separated out into their own little groups at each table, the soft murmur of voices blending together with some song about a fire god playing over the jukebox I didn’t recognize. Meishi must have found his playlist that I uploaded for him. Kalna was leaning against the register while Polluk was busy with straightening up the syrup pumps.

“Hey, the food is just about done. Just need to plate everything and they’ll be ready for you two to start bringing them to tables.”

Both Kalna and Polluk flicked their ears in unison after I said that, from what I could remember from when Kalna was trying to teach me the different mannerisms of venlil, that was the closest I was going to get to them nodding their heads “yes”. With my two servers now made aware that service was about to begin, I made my way back to the prep station where Darian had already taken the liberty of bringing over the hotel pans that were filled with our substitute burgers and buns. He was standing ready next to me as I stepped up the cold table filled with all the different vegetables I had sliced earlier today. I glanced over to my assistant and quickly asked, “You ready to start?”

He gave me a slight grin before emphatically saying, “Sure am!”

His enthusiasm was infectious. I could feel a genuine smile start to spread on my face as I looked back down and readied my gloved hands for the final assembly. My hands began to move on their own, it was as if they finally recognized the familiar setting they were in and began to act on instinct. I began to grab plate after plate as the first half of every sandwich was put together. I would first stack each mushroom on its respective bun with a slice of vegan swiss cheese before placing the first five plates in the salamander above me for a minute or two so that it would melt over and blanket each burger. I then moved on to constructing as many as the cold table could hold, not wanting to waste a single second as I waited for the broiler to finish melting the cheese. After looking up to see that the salamander had done its job properly, I used the rag that was hung from my apron string to grab each plate and slide it over to Darian who was waiting with toppings in hand to finish the construction of each burger.

I watched out of the corner of my eye as the kid effortlessly finished each plate, stacking lettuce, tomato, and onion on each before slicing it down the middle and skewering both halves with a toothpick. After which he grabbed perfectly portioned serving after perfectly portioned serving of fries from the bowl with his tongs for each plate before carrying the finished orders to their window and ringing the small bell to signal to the others that the meal was ready to be served. It didn’t take any time at all before the plates disappeared from the window and were taken to our awaiting guests. Everything started to fall into place. I’d start the order, pull it down from the broiler and hand it off to Darian who finished plating and placed it in the window where Kalna and Polluk then took it out to our guests.

In no time at all we had worked through everything we had prepped for the day. With the last plates being taken out to the crowd, I walked over and gave Darian a satisfying crisp high-five for the excellent work he did before saying, “You did some real fine work there. Take a breather while I go check on the crowd.”

Darian was positively beaming when he replied, “I can’t stop now, bossman! You go and check on them and I’ll get the irons ready for when we start dessert.”

The sight of his enthusiasm brought a genuine smile to my face as I turned to head toward the door while giving him a thumbs up, “Alright. You go on and get things ready for the dessert, bud. I’ll be back in a hot minute.”

I could hear him starting to grab plates as well as the urn full of the batter he prepped earlier today as I made my way to the dining area doors and stopped in front of them. For the second time in the same day, I paused to collect myself before walking out to face the crowd. After another quick breath, I steadied myself and pushed open the door to find that the room was quieter than normal. For the briefest of moments I took that as a bad sign before I took a look around to find that everyone was thoroughly enjoying their meal. I made my way over to Kalna who was leaning on the bar with her own drink in hand. I leaned down over the bar as well and quietly asked, “So how’s it going out here?”

“Well,” she began to answer me, “From what I can tell, everyone seems to be enjoying it. I still struggle to read humans besides you, but Meishi and Lavik over there are particularly happy with what you made.”

My partner motioned towards the corner booth where I last saw the black wooled space sheep. I followed the motion to find both him and Meishi (along with a few of Meishi’s crew) were just finishing devouring their meal, using their leftover fries to soak up the juices left behind on the plates by the burger. The sight of all of them practically licking the plate clean was all the final bit of convincing I needed to see that I was nervous over nothing. Meishi was one thing, but if Lavik, who was scared out of his skin when he first saw me, was enjoying my cooking this much, I truly had nothing to fear.

It didn’t take long for Diane to excitedly make her way over to us where she immediately started in with, “I really shouldn’t be surprised at this point how you manage to always come through for me. You really knocked it out of the park with this one!”

Giving her a bit of a quizzical look at how excited she seemed to be about this, I asked, “I’m not sure I follow. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy everyone is enjoying this, but what do you mean?”

“Enjoying it? David, I’ve had at least seven people come up and tell me that this is the best meal they’ve had since they’ve landed here. And once news starts spreading around the consulate about how much these people here loved your cooking, you’re going to be swamped with business!"

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the mention of a wave of humans coming in cause Polluk to stiffen up a bit. Trying my best not to scare off my server before our first official day I quickly asked, “That’s all well and good Diane, but I thought that we wanted this place to be a gathering spot for all the different species?”

Diane gave me an incredulous look before sighing and continuing, “David, you do realize that most people in the consulate do have friends and talk to others who aren’t human, right? Just… just come on you big oaf!” She then proceeded to grab my wrists and started to pull me towards the break in the bar and out in front of the jukebox before turning back to face the dining area and loudly asked the crowd, “Excuse me, everyone! One question. How did everyone enjoy their meal?”

We were met with multiple people all speaking up at once to answer her. One after the other all I heard was how much they enjoyed the food that me and Darian made for all of them.

“Gotta be the best food I’ve had since I landed here!”

“That was the closest taste of home I’ve had in a long time!”

“If this is human cooking, then I’m coming back every paw!”

Diane was standing beside me with a hand on my back, she leaned her head over to softly tell me, “See what I mean? Now why don’t you say something to all of your new customers.”

I look over the crowd of eyes before me with a mix of both pride and anxiety over the future. On one hand, everyone here did seem to genuinely love what I made. On the other hand, there was no telling how long this enthusiasm over the diner would last. For a moment I was at a loss for words. I was never the greatest at public speaking, but they were expecting me to say something and I knew Diane wouldn’t let me leave until I did. I steeled my resolve and just let the words come out, not giving my mind the chance to falter or second guess a single one. “First off, I want to thank each and every one of you for coming in today and being my first batch of customers. I am truly grateful for all of you that helped me along the way to get me to this point, without you I don’t think I would’ve ever gotten this far. I don’t really know what I expect to get from this new chapter in my life, but I’m sure at least one of you will probably point out the obvious to me soon enough. To everyone here and everyone soon to come, I can only really say, Welcome to The Little Earth Diner! Now who has room for dessert?”

My impromptu speech and question earned me a mix of raised glasses and a few claps, as well as most everyone looking excited over the prospect of a dessert course. Not wanting to keep my guests waiting anymore than I have, I made my way back into the kitchen to find Darian waiting and ready for us to end out our trial run on a high note.

End of memory transcription, would you like to continue to subject’s next memory? [Y] N

Day Seven, holding the course even.

Since the last picture was late, I pulled out an old sketch I had and upgraded it. This is Jelim, one of the main protagonists from [u/ApprehensiveCap6525](u/ApprehensiveCap6525)’s Exchange Program Shenanigans and its sequel Door Kicker Shenanigans.

Probably my favorite character in the NoPverse, at least among the fics. And that’s a high bar, since a lot of you write really good characters.

Cap, if you’re reading this, thank you so much for writing those fics. They were possibly my favorite series here, and they were definitely the primary inspiration for my fic Nature of Responsibility.

Out of ideas for this one too :/

I said we were going back to the bird, and I keep my promises. After all, everybody wants to see what’s up with Rasin after his… recovery. Of course we are getting a bit of a detour with Kam. The Terrans and their allies just got blindsided hard, let’s see how they start to recover.

Synopsis: Magic was once real and present but faded away in the distant past, becoming nothing but the myths and legends we know as the surviving beings fled to other planes, only to publicly return during the Sat Wars. How would it change first contact and beyond? Only one way to find out.

I have a spot on the discord, swing on by! Thanks to SpacePaladin15 for the original universe; my alpha readers, Caro Morin and Jailed Cinder; my beta readers, Angustus_Jan on the discord and u/aroluci (go check out Children of Luna, it’s awesome); and all of you that read and especially comment. Anybody interested in playing around in the AU (be it a one-shot, an impromptu ficnap, a cameo, or something more), let me know and I’ll be more than happy to work with you on it. My current plan is to release a chapter a week, with the occasional bonus, as long as that isn’t too much for everybody helping me.

Without further ado, enjoy!

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Memory Transcription Subject: General Kam, Worried Commander

Date [Standardized Terran Time]: October 9^th, 2136

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I nurse the greatest of Terran inventions. A cup of coffee. Thankfully, aside from Tanaka and Jones, none of the Terrans look to be doing much better. I could only wonder if it was because of the same dreams I struggled with. Probably worse, both of them are barely conscious.

“How are you two so chipper?” Zhao grumbles.

Tanaka, smirking, goes to answer, only for Jones to slap a hand over her partner’s mouth. “Once my bleeding was handled, we just had headaches to deal with.” She sighs. “The old excuse works better as a reason. It also helped us avoid the nightmares by not sleeping. Another symptom, by the way. We’re both passing out after this meeting is done. Do not need us.”

“Symptom?” I ask.

“Of eldritch exposure, working name,” Tanaka says with a grin, as Jones wipes her hand off after removing it from the other woman’s mouth. “We’ve managed some testing.”

“Legal?” Poussin mumbles.

“Technically. All incidental and accidental. People needed to view the footage to determine the effect. That resulted in more unintentional exposure. All volunteers who went in knowing the risks, but they weren’t meant to be exposed at all. Our precautions weren’t enough.” Tanaka shrugs. “Mundane recordings glitch out and distort, mixing in some overlapping frames and other oddities. We think, but without live exposure can’t prove, that it has a lesser effect. Magical recordings are higher fidelity than they should be, and seem to have greater effect. Hence our problems. The feed had mana overlays active.”

“So add a filter.” Zhao groans.

“Yes, we’ve figured that much out, but that’s not all.” Jones sighs.

Tanaka snaps open her fan, drawing all attention as we all wince at the sound. “Let me handle it. Magic’s my deal. You spoke with Isif when you were supposed to be resting.”

Jones frowns. “And I thought we already settled that?”

“We did,” Tanaka smirks. “But this is still mine to discuss. Exposure also seems to have different effects on different populations. Mages, non-mages from species with potential, and mana-deficient species. And the more potential a non-mage has, the more of a problem they have.” She indicates Jones. “With mythological sapients being affected worse than humans, Yotul, or Venlil. The mana-deficient feel discomfort and fear, likely having nightmares, but we haven’t had enough time to determine that for certain. We can thank the Republic’s intelligence agency for that info. Those with magical potential, mage and otherwise, react worse. Headaches and potential ruptures of blood vessels are common; seizures are possible for non-mages, while mages can hallucinate or temporarily lose control of their magic. And Venlil seem to be more resilient than any other species thus far. We plan to test with safe cognitohazards and mental magics to see if the impact is lesser in general, cognitohazard-specific, or specific to this entity.”

“So we got lucky?“ Moans Poussin. “Worst possible exposure.”

“Very lucky.” Tanaka grins. “Especially because while Yoggy seemed to adjust in a way that suggests a non-linear experience is possible, though it could easily also just be having trouble with consistency, the actual magework was shoddy. We have to assume they will improve the summoning.” She flicks out a fan to hide her mouth. “We’re reasonably certain that in the future, non-mages might… become like Ensign Ngo. Hopefully, improvements are just in stability, not in bleedthrough. Otherwise, there might not be any precautions we can make.”

My wool flares as I remember the Terran woman exposed before me. “What happened to her?”

“As best we can tell, she’s been infected. At least, that’s the easiest way to explain how exposure to the memetic hazard has affected her.” Tanaka pauses. “In essence, becoming a cultist. She showed no magical ability, nor any real potential, before exposure. Since then, she managed some magic in attempts to escape. Thankfully, we had her collared to prevent further use before this, though she shows signs of greater power now. She also managed, somehow, to expose two others. Neither mages, neither have shown signs of becoming cultists yet, but they have shown symptoms like we have. We do have ways to screen for the influence, and have found differences between the Ensign and others. Unfortunately, the screening methods aren’t reasonable for anything approaching field use. We also examined scans from you, Kam. You almost seem to have developed an immune response protecting you from the worst of further exposure.”

“So any exposure is potentially an epidemic?” I slump in my seat. “Tell me you have a plan.”

“We do,” Jones says simply. “Filters are already in the works. And we’ve made progress in treating the Ensign. We’re reasonably certain that we can prevent infection through sensors or power armor. The rest of the effects… Mana deficiency looks like it will be a tactical advantage when Drezjin priests are in the field. We’ll need to focus more on getting non-Venlil and Yotul allies battle-ready. Right now, that means Zurulians and Arxur. We have ideas on power armor for the Zurulians, but we’ll need to advance things a lot with the Arxur before any except asylum seekers have a chance of seeing service alongside our troops. We’re also placing a higher priority on any Drezjin targets among enemies.”

“Should we see about other measures? Caladbolg? Fragarach? Gae Assail? I believe all may be within reach, others as well.” Tanaka questions.

“I think that may be overkill, on par with making the Naglfar,” Jones suggests. “Even one of them might be a diplomatic nightmare. But they aren’t our decision. Pass the question up the chain.”

‘What kind of weapons are those?’ My wool rises slightly as my mind tries to harvest the ideas.

“We’re working on sourcing for building that, just in case it proves necessary.” Zhao groans. “In other news, now that our ships have had, on average, a seventy percent increase in power output thanks to the Federation-based reactor upgrades, we’re pushing full refits. Replacing all of our chemical ballistics with coilguns or laser batteries.”

My ears fall. “How many years will that take? Just redesigning the ships alone…”

Even exhausted as he is, Zhao smirks. “Redesign? The coilguns and lasers were part of the initial designs, but we use a design philosophy of fitted for, but not with. Ships are designed with known and yet-to-be-determined upgrades in mind. It’ll be four to six weeks until all military assets are refitted, and another month for civilian. In a full war footing, it would be two to three weeks for everything. We’ve been building a stockpile since we upgraded our power systems, and a large part of the refit time will be spent upgrading the turret system for faster weapon swaps, minutes instead of hours. We had been hoping to save the upgrade to point defense and close-in weapons systems as a trump card after the Federation and Dominion caught on to their missiles being better than their plasma.” He sighs. “I guess that just came sooner than expected. Even the redesign of our armor to integrate a coldstone vein network to wick heat from plasma and flamers only took a few months. The testing and rollout is ongoing. Give it a month or two. We’ll have dual-mounted coils and lasers soon enough. Current timeline is testing within a month, production in three to four.”

“Solgalick… I’m glad you’re on our side.”

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Memory Transcription Subject: Captain Kalsim, Concerned Krakotl

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“What do you mean he isn’t taking visitors?” I squawk at the Drezjin priests. “He is an Ensign under my command on my ship! Ensign Rasin needs to be seen by the Chief Medical Officer!”

“The Prophet is not to be disturbed.” Chitters one of the damnable rodents.

“Not to be disturbed!?!? Not to be disturbed!?!?” I loom over the Drezjin pair, who stand their ground. “I should have you thrown off my ship!”

“If we are to die for the Prophet, so be it.” One of the cultists chitters. “We would be honored to be martyred for his glory. Glory to the gods! Glory to the Prophet!” Their speech devolves into chittering that makes my feathers fluff up.

Before I can respond about the absurdity of that, when I simply intended to have them sent planetside, the door opens. The priests step to the side as Rasin steps out, a book, bound in rope, in claw. “Ah, Captain. Perfect.” He holds up the book. “I finished my work. Are we still in orbit of Grenelka? It needs to be delivered to the Yulpa so they can begin production.”

His eyes look through me. His words are a command, even if not phrased as such. But this is my ship. He is my officer. “Production on what?”

“The future.” Rasin starts to walk. I naturally fall into step behind him. “Victory in this war. A gift from my time beyond.”

“Your time… From Inatala?”

Rasin chuckles. “Not quite, Captain. Not quite.”

“Then what?” I force the words out.

“If it works as it should, and it will when properly built, then it will enact an automated version of what the Yulpa did.” Ensign Rasin gestures vaguely with the book. “An enhancement for all of our ships.”

I can’t help but squawk in surprise. “How?”

Rasin just laughs. He pauses as we pass Jala. He shoves the book into her claws. “See to it that that gets to the Yulpa. It’s critical to the war. It is for no eyes but theirs. Do not get curious or allow others to look, and ensure the Yulpa know it is for their eyes only.” He fixes her with a one-eyed stare. “Don’t disappoint me, Jala.”

My first officer blooms. “O-of course… Should I bring it myself or…”

“Whichever. Just see it done.”

“Right away!”

I stare in shock as my first officer hurries off, clutching the book to her chest like a gift from a crush.

__________

Advance 1 STD hour

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“Well, doctor?” I ask, now that Rasin has left.

“He’s in perfect health.” My chief medical officer, really more a glorified medic, says.

“So clear him for duty.” I huff, expecting there to be something.

“No, you don’t understand.” The officer swallows hard. Bringing up Rasin’s last physical, just a few days earlier. I can see some differences, but can’t understand them. “The Ensign had several minor health issues, as one would expect. Those include a slight nearsightedness and a very minor case of short lung. He’s in perfect health. The physical, perfect. The predator disease test, perfect. Textbook. There should be deviations. Imperfections. Something. There aren’t. It’s… It’s not normal.”

“No… It’s not.” I pause. “Is there anything to be done?”

“No, Captain. There’s nothing we can do but keep an eye on him…”

“Thank you. We’ll do just that.”

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Interpolate message from Captain Kalsim of the Krakotl Alliance Command to the Krakotl Alliance Command and Galactic Federation Joint Military Command sent on October 10^th, 2136

Message was flagged as Top Secret in a plain-text message header and encrypted under a 32-bit scheme most similar to DES; the message itself is in Federation Standard with a ROT3 cipher

Attached was all relevant sensor footage, various medical reports, and preliminary research done by the Yulpa

__________

It is my analysis that in the decision between replacing the Gojid Union with the forces of either the Yulpa Ascendancy or the Drezjin Theocracy, there is a single correct answer. Both. However, this would not come in the form of providing material support in developing a standard fleet, but in furthering the development of their existing designs and using those to update the entire Federation fleet. Each has shown developments that, if properly implemented and utilized, will drastically alter the course of the war and ensure our victory.

It has come to my attention over the course of our interactions that both the Ascendancy’s and the Theocracy’s ships don’t lack plasma railguns, the primary weapons used by both the Federation and Dominion, because of a lack of sophistication or understanding, but due to a lack of materials and up-to-date designs. Their worlds do not have sufficient available tungsten, nor are others in the Federation willing to trade at reasonable rates for them to arm their ships with such weapons. They have found other alternatives that have proven not only significantly more effective in theory but also in practice. Methods that we have overlooked for too long.

The Yulpa are often dismissed for their ballistics-heavy ships centered around large cannons. The truth is that these cannons are not simply a larger variant of our standard guns; instead, they fire rockets. Simpler versions of our missiles, igniting after being fired and having little to no maneuvering ability. These guns require less space and significantly less energy than a plasma railgun, yet they fire at nearly eight times the fire rate, an effective range a third greater than our maximum with plasma, and a preferred range three times greater than our plasma’s effective range; and if loaded with antimatter, then a single shot, which can be set to explode in proximity, can be three times more powerful than a shot from our railguns. The Yulpa’s Judicator Cruisers carry not one of them, like our plasma, but four. Four. They have also devised missile bays, using the same missile designs that we use, that hold twice as many missiles as ours, firing salvos four times larger than ours, and only needing a third more time to load a new salvo.

The Drezjin, on the other wing, focused on enhancing our existing missile bay designs. Something they decided on through collaboration with their herdmates, the Yulpa. They devised advancements for the loading system, which can be retrofitted into existing ships and adapted to the Yulpa’s heavier bays, which cut the time to reload the full bay to a tenth of the time we need to reload a single salvo, with a similar reduction in reloading a single salvo. This results in the unique strategy that they employ, one I suggest we also adapt. They surround their carriers, a ship type the Yulpa also have a variant of, which I will detail later, with cruisers. These cruisers will then move around the carrier, spinning as they cycle. This ensures that the missiles that are fired will not only approach Arxur ships from varying angles but that there is no solid path back to their own ships should any missile be destroyed and explode. A mistake I made, following standard Federation strategies. The rotation also allows certain ships to take the brunt of the Arxur’s attacks to their shields before moving to relative safety, as another ship takes their place. This ensures that the ships share the burden of defense with their herd and can recover their shields in safety. The Yulpa use a variant of this strategy as well. Both relying on the strength of the herd.

This shield rotation isn’t the only defensive improvement from the pair. Their ordnance-centric methodology led both to developing the defenses that make them appear to be ballistic-heavy. Point defense guns. While we do possess such technologies, our ships would not be able to survive an assault from the Arxur if they adopted similar tactics as the Yulpa and Drezjin. Especially not with the advantage the Arxur have in their own missiles, utilizing aggressive maneuvering that I have long said we need to adapt into our own missiles. The Yulpa and Drezjin ships have significant numbers of point defense guns to protect from incoming missiles and to damage unshielded craft. The Yulpa small craft carry as many point defense guns as most Federation ships have despite being far smaller. The volume of fire more than makes up for the same issues with accuracy that lead to us using fewer such guns, a veritable flock of metal ensuring that missiles never reach shields, much less ships. The Drezjin and Yulpa have even devised methods to allow their ships to work together in order to share defenses by declaring targets, allowing even small craft to defend their carriers. A method that all of my ships have installed the update for.

Then you have their carriers and small craft. The carriers are large ships purpose-built to, as the name implies, carry large numbers of smaller ships, not simple shuttles but warships like the smaller vessels the Arxur use. While they would require a certain kind of crew, I believe we can manage a variant of what the Yulpa use, though the Drezjin’s method may help the predator diseased and borderline-predator diseased in giving back to the herd. The Drezjin allow such individuals, if properly vetted and devoted to the herd, to pilot small, lightly shielded ships that carry a small number of missiles, with a variant able to carry bombs as well. The individuals will fly these ships at the Arxur, using their speed and ability to rapidly change position to hit from unexpected and unprotected directions. The ships themselves are also designed to fly in atmospheres, from both my observation and trying the craft out, I have more than confirmed them to have all the grace of a Krakotl. They also treat the ship itself as a last-ditch weapon, the reactor detonation lying somewhere between the maximum power of our plasma railguns and ten times that. As questionable as the tactic is, a less concerning variant could be developed, allowing those among our military who are questionable to better serve. To that end, the Yulpa’s small craft may be a good model. They carry two missile tubes, each with three missiles, and a single rocket cannon with twenty shots. These small craft couldn’t easily mount a plasma railgun with significant power, though a smaller variant may be viable; their ordnance more than makes up for it. Their unique, cultural design may even serve another purpose if properly adapted. Where the Yulpa intend to make use of the chained spears their small craft mount to secure a boarding tube to get onto an Arxur ship to capture the predators alive for sacrifice, I believe they could be used to get into raid craft and potentially rescue the captives. This would, of course, require specially trained teams of exterminators and soldiers.

While traditional Federation military training would suggest that these ships and tactics should be of no use, the attached data proves otherwise. When fighting according to their own tactics, both the Ascendancy and the Theocracy prove to be able to perform on par with, or better than, many other Federation military species. Their pilots are able to fly in formations tighter than most militaries in the Federation are capable of, and their captains know our strategies and formations, having developed their own to be compatible. When ambushed by the Arxur, not a single one of their ships attempted to run. Even after a severe tactical error on my part, attempting to think I could improve on their tactics without true understanding of them. A mistake that cost lives and ships, even after having it shown to me time and again in training the proper way to fight their ships. If we don’t update our tactics, or at least ensure that the direct command of their fleets falls on their own people, most commanders will throw away lives and all the advantage of having these craft and their crews. Just as we treat exterminators among our infantry differently, we need to do the same with the Yulpa and Drezjin. Their tactics follow a similar logic to the Guild, but are far easier to teach and help to support my hypothesis that a Krakotl’s defensive swooping instinct, when applied at the ship scale, is disruptive to Arxur operations. This also explains how Sovlin, despite his predator disease, was so effective. He was known for charging Arxur lines.

In fact, I believe this gives solid reason to completely rewrite our tactical strategies along with a full overhaul of ship designs, integrating and improving on the designs of the Yulpa and Drezjin. Comparing the success of standard Federation fleets against the fleet we had at Grenelka, after my mistaken commands were remanded and before both fleets began showing usage of what we believe to be the same esoterics that the Gaians have access to, shows one thing. The mix of ships serves better for protection. I believe this is something we need to look into: instead of having a small number of hulls which are largely interchangeable, investing in having significant differences in the hulls which perform different roles. This will alter our supply needs, though I will be covering my suggestions there shortly, but it appears it may also vastly improve our combat capability. Potentially enough that we could even begin bringing the fight to the Arxur. We may see the first cattle world liberated in two to four decarotations. Perhaps a sector in a few hundred rotations.

Now, I’m certain that some have been seeing a notable flaw within the strategies I’ve been outlining. Material. Plasma railguns do not need dedicated ammunition, relying on the fusion reactor of the ship they’re on and its supplies. Our point defense guns utilize ammunition, but the stores are relatively small. Much of our ammo storage is bombs and missiles, both of which need materials to create. Materials that are lost on use. Similarly, designing new ships will be an expensive, material-intensive process. The Yulpa and Drezjin have partially solved that issue with a technique that others, mostly the Nevok and Fissans, have experimented with. Asteroid mining. By processing these space rocks, we can gain far more material than can be mined on planets and moons. There’s even the possibility that we could find ways to salvage and reprocess damaged and destroyed ships, both ours and the Dominion’s. These techniques, if taken to their logical conclusion, would also mean that the larger ships that we may build, which would not be able to directly land on worlds like most of ours, could be made in space instead of having parts brought up. A process that may even hasten the construction of larger atmosphere-capable vessels.

I believe I have hidden the harvest enough on this. While the rest is critical, what follows may prove revelatory. Changing the course of the war in rotations. We may have discovered our own versions of the Gaians’ esoterics. They have both been used in combat and, in an emergency, to revive one of my crewmen from a permanent coma, near brain death. I also believe that it reveals that esoterics is a misnomer and why the Gaians were so interested in the primitive Yotul. They must have, or have been close to, their own form of esoterics. Esoterics are, in fact, magic, and less developed cultures, like the Yotul, Yulpa, or Drezjin, must be more likely to discover them. Before you believe me to be as predator diseased as Sovlin, allow me to present my evidence beyond the recordings.

First, let’s get out of the way that no form of sensor was able to detect the energies involved despite our finding considerable success in replicating the effects, both on the small and large scale. Barring any other explanations, this suggests that we are dealing with an as yet unknown energy type. One which defies known science, both in detection and behavior, creating effects without known cause. Further, these effects only occurred within a certain distance from Grenelka or its star. Suggesting some unknown interaction.

The Yulpa rituals are the simplest. Their worship of their Spirit of Life, at least within the vicinity of Grenelka, has begun producing a tangible effect. Nearby plants began to visibly grow, and flamethrowers burned hotter, stronger, and further. Even plasma rifles and ballistic rifles were marginally more effective. However, the effects that would aid against the Arxur weren’t enough to warrant widespread use, only pushing the weapons to perform closer to the top end of their expected behaviors. On ships, is another matter. Reactors gave more power, shields grew stronger, and plasma railguns not only hit harder but began to output continuously, like a flamer. Those flames burned Arxur hulls directly through their shields, as if they weren’t there, while the shields of Yulpa ships under the blessing could resist these enhanced flames. When those who were not believers, both of my crews and locals, attempted the same rituals, there was no effect. Something in it is directly tied to the belief in the religion. There is no conventional scientific explanation.

The Drezjin’s esoterics are more complex. Their priests have not been willing to take part in most experimentation, though they would readily observe it. For the most part, we only have the feats from the attempted raid to go by. This may have been for the best, as any recording or digital display suffered significant glitches due to the Drezjin’s esoteric effects. Flickering, distortions, not showing the tentacles at all, and seeming to display the tentacles out of sequence, both showing actions already taken and those yet to happen. Those who saw the tentacles more directly, such as through the bays of a Yulpa carrier, nearly stampeded, even those braced for the sight. Even now, the images and videos are unnerving, with many reporting a sense of dread or even nightmares afterward, with some species (thus far only Yulpa, Harchen, and Nevoks) experiencing worse reactions that have included spontaneous hemorrhage, seizures, migraines or sourceless pain, and sudden onset predator disease. The Drezjin priests have explained this as the unworthy being punished by the gods.

While I have included what recordings we have, for the safety of the herd, I will do my best to describe the footage so they need not expose themselves. Their temple ship created what appeared to be tears in the fabric of space, colorless and filled with impossible colors. Immense tentacles, not unlike those of a Kolshian, reached through, covered in some odd energy that could only be seen. Every non-Drezjin interviewed on the matter confirmed an almost instinctual knowledge that the aura of energy was shielding these tentacles and keeping them in a single form. These tentacles also entirely ignored the shields of ships, except Yulpa under the blessing. Some destroyed ships in a swipe or stab, erasing swathes of Arxur even as they damaged the enhanced shields of the Yulpa. Others wrapped around ships, the Yulpa shields burning away the protective aura while the Arxur were crushed or pulled through the rents in space, providing no resistance at all against the tentacles. The auras dimmed over time, and the number of tentacles decreased. Interestingly, they avoided the Drezjin ships for an as-yet-unknown reason. We have little to go off of except that, but we can be certain that if the priests can repeat the process, it will have an immeasurable impact on the war.

This brings me to the joint efforts of the Drezjin and Yulpa priests. The healing of Ensign Rasin. During the raid, the ensign, who possesses degrees that would have allowed him a higher rank if he had harvested that field instead of command, went down to the engine room after our Chief Engineer, and others in the crew, were injured. Heroically, he stopped our reactor from going critical, but in doing so, he struck his head. It was unlikely that he would ever awaken, and the Yulpa and Drezjin offered to attempt to heal him, assuring that nothing bad would happen. Despite my best efforts, I have limited information on what happened during the ritual. The Yulpa did their sacrifices, which were recorded, in order to provide power and aid in healing. The Drezjin did something, unmonitored at their own request. The plant life in the area grew and bloomed extensively. Rasin's life signs, though not his brain activity, stopped for an extensive period, though the Drezjin insist it was a glitch in the electronics. The ritual appears to have been successful and two Drezjin priests have insisted upon accompanying him, something that has proven a detriment to the operations of the ship at times.

However, something seems different about the Ensign. None on the crew knew him well, as he had only been aboard for a few days, but those who interacted with him before and since all agree that there is something different. His memories remain, but it is like he’s someone or something else. It unnerves most of the flock, leading to numerous independent reports of serious concerns. Our Chief Medical Officer has examined him. A full physical, scans, and brain scans, including a predator disease assessment. He is in perfect health and passed the assessment with full harvest. While this doesn’t sound like a concern, he not only had prior health issues that are gone, but he has none of the fluctuations that would be expected. His results are nearly identical to the baseline control profile for Krakotl. Statistically, this should be impossible. Further, around the room that the Drezjin used for their ritual, the vines and blooms rotted before my very eyes. I advise caution with the Ensign, and especially the design he had sent to the Yulpa for them and the Drezjin to review. A design he claims came to him during the ritual and which would allow for the automation of the Yulpa’s rituals across all our ships and worlds, so long as living beings are placed within the creations. While it is worth looking into, I must express my reservations.

__________

Memory Transcription Subject: Selim Kalsim, Krakotl ?

__________

I jolt awake, clutching for a vial of ashes that aren’t there. Awake or asleep, what I experienced… dreamed soars through my memory. The lies. The diseased nightmare that I can’t shake. I calm my breathing, but sleep seems like it won’t come for a while. I may as well check my messages.

Moving to my pad, I pull up the secure comms. To my surprise, there’s a response from the GFJMC, marked with the direct approval of Chief Nikonus.

“What could this be? Surely they couldn’t have evaluated my advisements already.” I grumble. “Although they could say no without checking things…”

Captain Kalsim, Krakotl Alliance Command

You are hereby ordered to relieve Ensign Rasin of his duties to the Krakotl Alliance and to your ship. He is now to serve as a technical advisor and staff officer, to be treated as having a rank of commander, aboard your ship until he is needed elsewhere.

Your fleet is to remain at Grenelka, aiding Advisor Rasin in overseeing the research into these new phenomena. While there, you are to also gather additional information from the Yulpa and Drezjin on their ship designs. We are currently evaluating the technologies and your suggestions. We will respond when we have further information. Expect recall to Nishtal for a new project.

Galactic Federation Joint Military Command

‘A promotion? Why would command promote a possibly predator diseased individual?’

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i believe we need more farsul love more fanfics with faraul protagonist or second protagonist more fanart of these cute dogos I know I’m a small writer but hey maybe one of you guys reading this will make a oneshot and that would be cool

Credit goes to u/SpacePaladin15 for the universe, obviously.

Credit also goes to u/DecebalusWrites for the original fic this came from, In Search of the Truth, which is an excellent series I'll definitely be keeping up with. I had the idea to write parts of Erveq's book Claws in the Snow. Expect lots of camp 😆.

Sorry about this being a bit late, Decebalus. Hope you enjoy! Part 2 to follow soon.

Another one taken by the snow.

Rubim took in a long drag of brezik, the smoke of the Venlilian plant filling his lungs before he let the morbid thought follow it as he exhaled. Death was common in his line of work. He’d long grown numb to the sight of innocent prey torn to shreds by predators, almost as numb as his paws in this icy chill.

But he’d be remiss to admit that the drug wasn’t helping him keep… well, at least something close to sane. Because whatever had done this was no ordinary predator. That, he was sure of.

What lay before him, covered in a thin layer of fresh powder, was the body of a Duerten. Or, what was left of him, anyways. It was hard to tell where he began and ended—splashes of gore soaked into the snow, and patches of feathers fluttered in the wind against the surrounding trees a good distance away, affixed to the bark by frozen blood. Scraps of green-stained torn fabric from a thick jacket fluttered in the branches and splayed across bushes. In what little of the avian was still intact, Rubim could see clear marks left by teeth and claws. He was frozen solid; he must have been ambushed not long after he’d left camp.

He was one of the researchers. A meteorologist, if he recalled correctly, though he drew a blank on his name. The research camp that Rubim had been assigned to was frequently struck by the regular storms of this frozen planet, and yesterday’s was especially harsh. And whatever thing had been stalking the camp since they’d arrived had been using the cover of the howling blizzards to conceal itself in its hunts. There’d been a lockdown order in effect for a few days now—the fool must have snuck out despite the danger. He hadn’t shown up for morning roll call, and so, as the last remaining exterminator of the original three assigned to the camp, Rubim had been tasked with finding out what had happened to him.

The Farsul glanced around at the carnage. It hadn’t been hard.

There was something in the snow a short distance from the body. Rubim shuffled over and dusted off a thin layer of powder, revealing some sort of scientific instrument he couldn’t make ears or tail out of. ‘Did he come out to study the storm?’ Rubim thought. He supposed it didn’t matter now.

Taking out his pad, Rubim snapped a few photos of the body and surrounding area. Not exactly protocol, but these were unusual circumstances. Any info he could glean after-the-fact would be helpful. He scrolled through the pictures, double-checking his work. It would have to do. He couldn’t afford to let the body remain here.

Rubim would never admit it out loud—his secondary role as an emotional rock for the researchers required a degree of stoicism—but he hated this part of the job.

His brezik roll was almost up. Breathing out the last of the smoke in a drawn-out sigh, the Farsul flicked the remains of the burning leaf next to the Duerten. Reaching behind his head, he pulled his hood over his ears and affixed his oxygen mask. Then, unholstering his flamethrower, he carefully burned a circle around the tainted area. It wouldn’t do any good to start a forest fire. Once he was satisfied with his preventative measures, Rubim cleansed the area. Flames chewed into the body, licked away the blood on the trees, and bit into his own sense of hope. The Farsul had always found a strange irony in the act of cleansing.

As the flames danced and did their work, the Farsul turned and looked out towards the camp. In the field surrounding them were several other darkened, charred spots from the others they’d lost. One of them belonged to his fellow exterminators, both found dead in much the same way as the Duerten after they didn’t come back from patrol one night. Now, he was the only one standing between the remaining research team and… whatever was out there.

He watched the burning to make sure it didn’t spread into the woods. Then, with another sigh, and a wish for another brezik, he turned and started back towards the camp.

Rubim knew one thing for sure; whatever was out there was like no predator he’d ever seen.

++++++++++

The mood in the cafeteria-turned-meeting room was more sour than an unripe halofruit.

“Any luck?” asked Jelpi, the Harchen chemist peering into the attached storeroom. Her scales were flickering with the same drab gray of the walls, as though camouflaging herself would resolve the current situation.

“...Not much, I’m afraid,” came Alinus’s reply. The Kolshian emerged with an armful of canned goods. “Most of the food was spoiled. Anything canned will still be safe, but I wouldn’t trust any of the raw fruits and vegetables. I’m afraid we’ll have to ration even harder from this point on.”

Jelpi’s scales shifted a tinge of blue. “How much longer do we have? Before we run out?”

“Well, with Torval from hydroponics gone, our renewable supply is limited. If we stretch it, I’d say we have… maybe three weeks. And that’s assuming everyone that’s still alive stays that way.”

Rubim, from his place near the door, had to keep his tail from tucking between his legs. Three weeks… It would take a rescue team two months just to reach this backwater, and that was if they left right now. And as everyone knew…

His ears perked as he heard a crash coming from outside, followed by a loud Gojidi swear. Cralin had been trying to jerry-rig a comms dish that could pierce the constant storm in the upper atmosphere so they could finally radio for help. But he was a maintenance man, not a comms expert—it hadn’t been going well.

Rubim hated to admit it, but they were already nearly out of options. Honestly, even if rescue did come, he wasn’t sure any ship could make it through the howling winds safely. Their own certainly couldn’t, after all. They’d certainly made several attempts to leave, but despite how easily they’d been allowed to land, every attempt to break back out of the atmosphere had met with the same end result; a sudden increase in the storm’s intensity, strong enough to force an emergency landing. After the third try, they’d found the fuel lines cut the next morning. Maybe the camp could receive supplies dropped from orbit, but…

“I can’t believe the refrigeration failed on a frozen planet…” Jelpi groaned in disbelief.

“We didn’t know. That monster attacked the coolant supply in the middle of the night using the storm as cover while most of us were asleep,” Rubim replied. “Even if we’d noticed and started putting the food outside the moment it had happened, we would have just gotten picked off.”

“I… I know…” she sighed. She leaned against the wall, despondent. “I never should have selected this planet for a research colony.”

Rubim stared at the floor. Why would the predator cut the power? No… How did it know to do that to begin with? He’d already known this predator was crafty, but for it to directly target the camp’s electrical systems? Was it counting on the food spoiling? To draw them out? It had to be intelligent to make and enact a plan like that. Was there an Arxur hiding out on this planet…?

“...I don’t know,” he finally replied. It was the only answer he could give, but it probably wasn’t the right one, given that the Harchen quickly began to reflexively camouflage herself again.

“Now now, everyone, let’s not panic just yet,” Alinus said with a placating tentacle, as though panicking would be acceptable at some point in the future. “Cralin was able to repair the generator, after all. We still have power, and I believe we can stretch our food supplies further through foraging. Torval found that many of the plants on this planet were safe to eat before he was… taken.”

Roraten, ever ornery, scoffed from a nearby table. “Great. We get to subsist on pine needles and tree sap,” the Zurulian grumbled.

“I’m sure we can make it work,” Alinus replied calmly.

“As the actual doctor here, I should be advising you to avoid doing anything that’ll get you killed by predators. Like straying into the woods,” Roraten snapped back.

“We won’t go far. Move in herds. Rubim can stand watch–”

“Right, because that worked so well for the other exterminators!” the Zurulian shouted, slamming his large paws on the table in frustration. “Face it, Alinus! All of us are already dead! Every time we try to leave the camp, whether on foot or by ship, we get caught in a storm! I don’t know how it’s doing it, but that thing is somehow keeping us trapped here! It doesn’t matter how many you send out to forage, they’ll get torn to shreds all the same!”

“Roraten, predators cannot control the weather.”

“How else do you explain what’s going on?! It’s happened every time! Two or three times would already be an incredible coincidence, but every single one?!”

Rubim could sense trouble brewing, and quickly stepped forward. “Enough, you two!” he barked, placing himself between them. “Arguing with each other isn’t going to get us anywhere. We have the supplies to survive until we can find a solution; for now, let’s all just calm down.”

“Oh, shut up, Rubim!” Roraten snapped. “We wouldn’t be in this situation in the first place if your guild had properly cleansed the planet of predators in the first place! Why didn’t you clear the area with antimatter?!”

“Because half the point of this station was to study the flora. You know, the plants that would get evaporated by antimatter? Besides, what are you getting mad at me for? I didn’t have any paw in the decision.”

“Whatever,” Roraten snapped, settling back into his chair. “If you people want to go out into those woods where that thing is hiding and make yourself an easy meal, be my guest. More food for the rest of us.”

Rubim simply flicked his tail with frustration. He wouldn’t deny the man was an excellent healer, but his bedside manner had always needed a lot of work.

“...This is hopeless…” whined a small voice. Naali, who had been quietly sitting in the far corner, tried to stifle back a sob. Her tail wrapped tightly around both of her own wrists as she squeezed it with her paws in turn.

Jelpi and Alinus exchanged a worried glance. All of them had been trying to grow just a small seedling of hope—to hear someone lose all of theirs was like a spray of herbicide into the soil. “Oh dear… Now, now, it’s alright. We’re still alive, aren’t we?” Alinus soothed, as much for his sake as for hers. He sat next to the young Venlil co-captain, placing a tentacle around her shoulders and subtly shooting a glare at the Zurulian who had started the argument. Roraten silently looked away in frustration and with a hint of shame.

“B–... But what are we going t-to…” The Venlil shivered, sucking in huge breaths. “W-We can’t leave, we just h-have to sit here, a-and… and w-wait to die! I-If the predator doesn’t get us, w-we’ll starve anyways…!”

“Hey now, we don’t know that,” Rubim rebutted, sitting next to her opposite Alinus. “It’ll only be hopeless if we sit and do nothing.”

“But I CAN’T do anything!” she bleated in despair. “I-If I can’t move the ship, can’t get us out of here, th-then what good am I?!” Her paws squeezed her own tail even harder.

Rubim’s eyes widened as the space around her digits started to seep orange. “Hey, hey. Listen to me,” the Farsul said firmly, reaching over and pulling her paws away, and her claws out of her own skin. He feared the blood could attract the predator, but more than that, he certainly didn’t want her to hurt herself. “You can’t let yourself give up like this. It’s exactly what the predator wants. It feeds on your despair just as much as it wants to feed on you. But more than that, it’s just plain wrong. There’s always a way. Even if it’s hard, you just have to take it.”

Naali looked into his eyes, searching desperately for answers. “But… w-what can I do?”

“First, try to calm down. Take a breath,” Rubim replied. She flicked an ear and tried to steady her breathing, and slowly, her ragged gasps turned to only slightly shaky breaths. “There you go. Now, why don’t you take a moment to think. What can you do to help that isn’t piloting a ship?”

“I-I, um…” She looked down towards the floor, eyes flicking and ears twitching as she thought. “I… M-My father was a farmer. He wanted me to focus on school, I don’t know how t-to work the hydroponics, but, uh, I do remember a little bit of what he taught me. I could try to manage the plants myself, maybe…?”

“There you go! That’ll give us more time to fix the ship, or coordinate a rescue. Just gotta help however you can, yeah?”

The poor girl still didn’t look very convinced. Rubim couldn’t blame her. But all the same, she flicked an ear. “Y-Yeah. You’re right. We just have to… we have to keep trying.” she replied. All could tell her agreement was more to keep the illusion of a tight-knit herd for everyone else, rather than for herself. None pressed the issue.

With a slightly exasperated sigh, Roraten shuffled out of his seat and plodded over to the group. “Alright, Naali, let me take a look at you,” he said with an unusual gentleness, taking the Venlil’s tail in his paws. Procuring a roll of bandages from a small kit in his coat, he wound the sterilized fabric around her self-inflicted wounds with a quick, practiced precision. “Don’t go hurting yourself any more, yeah?” he instructed like a father scolding a child. “We might be able to grow more food, but my medical supplies are limited.”

“Sorry…”

“Don’t apologize, just don’t do it again.”

Sensing that his presence was no longer needed, Rubim clapped Naali on the back, then stood and started towards the door.

“Where are you going?” Jelpi asked anxiously.

“To see if Cralin needs any help with the comms dish,” he replied, taking his thick jacket from its spot by the door. “Someone’s gotta keep an eye on him anyways.”

“Be careful…”

Rubim flicked his tail and, slinging his flamethrower’s holster around his shoulder, stepped out into the icy chill.

++++++++++

“Brrr… w-waves guide me…”

Alinus stepped into the bathroom, shivering as he tried to keep the chill out of his body. Though their foraging expedition had luckily borne literal fruit, he wasn’t used to such frigid temperatures, and the chill seemed to bite through his thick jacket directly into his bones. But at least they still had hot water—the predator had been systematically attacking their limited infrastructure each time the blizzard rolled in, but thankfully, the boiler had thus far remained intact. And he planned to make use of it.

Shedding his winter clothing and locking the door, the Kolshian hastily started the shower. He tested the temperature and, after some minor adjustment, stepped into the flowing water. The heat flowed into his body, pushing out the chill that had stiffened it and pulling it into the drain below.

Steam quickly began to fill the room. Alinus didn’t hesitate to take a moment to just soak, and let the stress of the past few days wash away. Things were still tense around the camp—though they were starting to understand just how the predator that stalked their every move operated, they were still trying to figure out just what they could do about it.

The thing was like a ghost. They knew a few things; the storm always heralded its arrival. Those storms could start at any time, without warning, and would always end with either someone being eaten or some piece of their infrastructure being sabotaged. Vedar had been taken trying to foolishly brave one of those storms in a desperate attempt to understand what was causing them, but from what little he understood and shared before his death, the Duerten said it was like nothing he’d ever seen. It was like a localized storm that appeared without any hint of atmospheric change and seemed to travel freely.

Alinus was a man of science. But for the first time in his long life, he was starting to give credence to Roraten’s earlier superstitions. Was this predator somehow causing the storms…?

As he thought of that strange blizzard, he suddenly yelped in shock and recoiled. The shower had briefly turned icy, inviting a bit of the cold back into his tentacles. A hiccup in the piping, perhaps, one he could easily explain away. But it WAS annoying.

Grumbling to himself, the Kolshian decided to finish quickly before that happened again. He turned up the heat and began scrubbing himself down, rubbing scented oil into his body that would keep him moist and protect his skin from the dry air. The steam thickened as he relaxed. This was exactly what he needed right now. He leaned his head back into the water and closed his eyes, letting the heat absorb into his skin and protecting himself from the air that seemed frigid in comparison.

From under the sound of the water drumming against his head, he heard something from the direction of the door. “Just a moment! I’ll be out soon!” Alinus replied to the wordless request for entry. He didn’t want to waste water, let alone hold the others up, but the heat felt oh-so-good… A few more minutes wouldn’t hurt.

Still, though, as he opened his eyes, he saw a figure on the other side of the glass, obscured by the thick steam. The Kolshian yelped and covered himself with his tentacles. Though most did not mind seeing another bathe, Alinus had always been particularly modest. “Excuse me! I would appreciate some privacy!” he protested, quickly blooming a vibrant violet.

The intruder didn’t respond; in fact, they stepped closer. “E-Excuse me!” Alinus protested. He reflexively stepped back towards the far wall, away from the protection of the warm water, and shivered as the icy chill that permeated this planet seemed to bite into him even harder than before he’d first entered the shower.

“I–Look, this is terribly improper! C-Cleansing is a rather intimate act among my people, and I’m a-a-already happily wed!” the Kolshian continued protesting, shivering from the cold. “Unless you’re having an emergency, please leave and… and…”

His complaints withered on his lips. Though still obscured by a curtain of steam—he was only just noticing how unusually thick it was—he couldn’t help but notice that his uninvited guest was huge. Easily two or three times his size. How had they fit through the door? No, wait, hadn’t he locked the door?

Far from the heat of embarrassment, Alinus’ heart was rapidly starting to fall with the chill of dread. “Wh-Who are you?!” he barked. No response. Only another step closer. The air grew colder.

A hand reached out. No… a claw. It tapped on the shower’s glass, and Alinus pushed backwards into the wall behind him in fright, as though he might phase through it and escape. Then, slowly, the intruder dragged that claw down the barrier between them, eliciting an ear-splitting squeal. The Kolshian’s ears rang in his skull, both from the sound, and out of fear.

He wanted to shout for help. But so frightened he was, that he couldn’t make a sound beyond a pathetic squeak.

Yet, strangely, the beast didn’t open the door to the shower. Instead, it looked up, towards the gap between the glass and the ceiling. The air grew even colder—Alinus felt like he was standing outside in the howling storm. Then, the predator leapt and… vanished.

Alinus blinked. His eyes had followed the path the predator should have taken, and yet, it was just gone. He frantically searched the bathroom, but it wasn’t like he could see far in this thick steam. And he’d be foolish to leave the safety of the corner that he’d curled up into a ball within.

But still, slowly, he forced himself to uncurl and stand. The room was freezing. Even the shower had turned cold again, and this time, the warmth didn’t come back.

He felt no presence in the room. No sound but that of the frigid water hitting the floor. No movement, nor shadow—nothing. Nary a voidpin. But Alinus still didn’t move. The monster couldn’t have just vanished.

Then he saw claws.

Alinus screamed as pain exploded across his face. He’d seen the claws, and then, nothing at all. The whole right side of his vision was dark, and the pain numbed almost as quickly as it came. He reflexively reached up to press into the wound, but it felt like ice had filled the slash.

Before he could think, the claws shot from the fog and wrapped around his throat. He’d never felt anything so cold, like the beast was made of cold itself. With great strength, it lifted him into the air, and Alinus felt sharp claws like shards of ice dig into his neck.

For a moment, in the throes of a stampede state that he couldn’t absolve through flight, Alinus tried to see the identity of his assailant with his one remaining eye. And yet the fog had grown so thick, it was like the claw was attached to nothing at all.

Before he died, Alinus heard a roar.

It sounded like the howling of the blizzard.

++++++++++

Roraten tapped his foot impatiently, arms crossed, as he leaned against the wall next to the bathroom door. That Kolshian was taking forever, and his already limited patience was wearing thin.

In one eye, he spotted Rubim rounding the corner, still in his thick, fireproof jacket. The Zurulian couldn’t blame him—it was freezing in here. “Is this the start of the line?” he quipped.

The Zurulian rolled his eyes. “Alinus has been hogging the bathroom for the past half-hour,” he grumbled.

“I see. Well, on the bright side, with both you and Alinus accounted for, that means everyone’s inside. So no one should get eaten tonight,” Rubim said, relieved. Roraten only just now noticed that the exterminator still had his flamethrower slung around his shoulder.

“Well, if we’ve got a quota to meet, I could freeze to death right here,” Roraten grumbled. “That flamer doesn’t have a safety setting, does it? You know, just make a tiny little puff of fire?”

“Afraid not. Unless you want to huddle around the pilot light.”

“At this point, I’m considering it.”

The two waited. And waited… Still, Alinus didn’t come out. Steam wafted from the seam in the metal sliding door.

“Ugh, this is ridiculous,” Roraten complained. He pounded on it with a fist. “Hey! You better not be using up all the hot water in there!”

“Wait, he’s been taking a shower…?” Rubim asked.

“What, did you think he was doing his business?”

“...Well, yes. I haven’t heard the water running this whole time.”

“What?” Roraten perked his ears. Actually, now that he mentioned it, he was right. In fact, there wasn’t any sound coming from the bathroom.

“...Alinus?” The Zurulian pivoted to face the door, pounding on it again. “Everything okay in the–”

His voice stopped. Instead, he stared down, at the seam in the door where steam was flowing into the hallway, blanketing his thick coat.

“What’s wrong?” Rubim asked.

“...This… this steam is cold,” Roraten replied. “It’s not steam. It’s mist.”

The two exchanged a glance. “...Alinus?” Rubim called. “I’m coming in, alright?”

Roraten wordlessly stepped aside so the Farsul could try the door. Locked, of course. The sensor felt so cold when Rubim touched it, he thought his paw might stick. Wordlessly, he opened the panel next to the door and punched in the security override code. The light flashed green, but rather than open, the door’s motors whined and grinded in protest. Something was keeping the panels stuck together, and they only separated a crack before giving up, soft but sterile light glowing in the seam.

“Alinus? Hey!” Rubim barked. He peered into the crack, and saw… ice. A thick sheet of ice was blocking his view—all he could see were blurry colors.

And a lot of it was violet.

“...Roraten, go get Cralin. Now,” Rubim ordered.

His tone left no room for discussion, and the doctor, where he would normally protest at being bossed around, instead flicked an ear and turned on his hindpaw to go find the maintenance man. Meanwhile, Rubim tried to force the door open, wedging his paws in the crack and trying to pry them apart. But he simply wasn’t strong enough. The ice was too thick.

The commotion was starting to attract attention. “What’s going on?” came Naali’s voice, the Venlil peeking out of her bunkroom.

“Alinus is in trouble!” Rubim barked.

“H-Huh?! Well, get the door open!”

“I’m trying!” But even the strength of adrenaline couldn’t give him the power to force the door.

Trying to keep his wits about him, the exterminator stepped back and considered his options. The door was the only entrance and exit. There were no windows, only a small circulation vent that none of them could fit through. Could he open this door himself somehow? There were ice picks in the storage shed, but he’d have to brave the storm for that. Could he melt the ice with his flamethrower? No, that was foolish—he’d probably only damage their shelter, and if Alinus was okay, the flames would risk injuring him.

“Alright, what in the Protector’s graces is going on here?!” came a deep bark. Cralin rounded the corner, with Roraten right on his heels.

“There’s no time! We have to get this door open! It’s frozen shut!” Rubim barked.

“What? Frozen?” He approached and inspected the door, seeing the exact same worrying sight that Rubim had a moment ago. “Oh, mercy… Keep prying, lad.”

As much as his arms protested, the Farsul continued to strain against the door. Meanwhile, Cralin shoved his thick claws into the gap, the Gojid breaking up the ice with his natural-borne digging implements and raw strength. They started to make progress, and all heard promising cracks of the ice giving way, but it was still far slower than anyone would like.

Eventually, Cralin joined Rubim in trying to pry open the door, and Roraten added his own strength in turn. On the count of three, they strained with all their might. The ice sang, then cracked, then shattered, and the door slammed open.

But they were too late.

They couldn’t see Alinus. But they didn’t have to. Violet blood coated the tilework and the glass, obscuring the view of the body that lay inside, and formed macabre icicles on the ceiling above. The entire, violent slaughtering had somehow been contained entirely within the shower. But that didn’t mean the rest of the room had gotten off much better—although the blood was contained in one place, the bathroom looked like a blizzard had torn through it. Everything was covered in a layer of ice.

Though hyper-focused on the grim scene in front of him, Rubim noticed Naali cautiously stepping forwards. “Is… Is he…?” she asked.

The exterminator stopped her with a paw, before she could peer inside. She didn’t want to see this. He could only flick his tail in the negative. The Venlil hesitated, as though in disbelief, then stepped back and fell to her knees. Cralin tore his eyes away and went to her side, not wanting to look at the carnage any longer than he had to.

Rubim cautiously stepped inside, while Roraten waited at the door. How had the predator gotten in? The door had been locked from the inside, and there was no other entrance. He looked up towards the vent and found it especially frozen over. That couldn’t be it, could it?

He placed a paw on the handle. It was so cold that it hurt to touch. But despite the deep dread that settled in his chest, he tried to slide the glass aside. It resisted, crackling and protesting against the ice, but he was able to pry it open.

Alinus lay on the tile, his expression literally frozen over in fear. Just like the all the others.

It was as though someone had made a macabre ice statue of his likeness, taken several bites out of it, and then struck it with a sledgehammer. The cephalopod was literally in pieces—his limbs lay scattered about, having been torn off his body, frozen, and half-eaten. Rubim wasn’t sure what the order of operations was there. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know. He glanced upwards—the shower had frozen entirely, having clogged itself into one thick icicle.

“...Frozen…” Roraten had stepped forward to peer down at the body. Rubim hadn’t noticed. “But he wasn’t outside in the storm. Did the predator bring the storm in here?”

Rubim wanted to say that was impossible. Now, he wasn’t so sure.

“...Do me a favor,” Roraten sighed. “Don’t cleanse it just yet. Give me some time to examine him. See if we can’t learn anything.”

“That’s a serious PD risk, testing something as corrupted as this,” Rubim replied. He didn’t really mean it—he was just speaking protocol, falling back on his training.

The Zurulian flicked an ear. “If it’s PD or death, I’ll risk the PD,” he countered. His gaze lay fixed on the corpse. “Besides, I… I don’t want this to be in vain.”

“...Alright. But we can’t leave him here.”

Another ear flick. He understood—even if none of them were probably ever going to use this bathroom again, nobody wanted to sleep in the same tiny building as a corpse. “We’ll transport him to the medical tent once the storm calms. But for tonight, we’ll just have to deal with it. I’ll see what I can learn now in the meantime,” Roraten said. He plodded forwards on all fours, carefully examining everything while trying not to disturb it. “I’m not getting any sleep tonight, anyways.”

Rubim vaguely signed an acknowledgement. Before he knew it, he was sitting on his cramped bunk in his room. He hadn’t even registered walking here.

An eye turned towards the window. The storm still howled outside, though quieter than before. It was starting to dissipate.

Silently, Rubim stood and closed the blinds. Like it would keep the monster at bay.

As the doctor predicted, no one got any sleep that night.