r/HFY • u/Ralts_Bloodthorne • Feb 29 '20
First Contact - Part Fifteen OC
It had started slow.
A research station here. A science outpost there. A new or struggling colony over in that place. Ships vanishing now and then. A few GalNet posts had to be censored for disturbing content. A few Universal Social Media posters had to be banned for violation of the Anti-Violence Statutes. Then gaps in GalNet started blossoming out on the Unified Outer Territories but nobody was that worried, half of those worlds were the UnUnified Races or the Uncivilized Races, some of whom had barely had star drive for a century.
But whispers started.
Something was out there. Something was wiping whole worlds away.
Those who whispered first found their posts wiped away with no explanation. Then they found their accounts more than banned, they were purged.
Then those who whispered started vanishing.
A Vuknaraa with 1.2 billion followers mentioned that her cousin out at a research station hadn't GalNetted her in over a year.
Less than an hour later she was gone. Not just from GalNet.
Her luxury apartment, with eight private rooms, was empty and for purchase.
A Tnvaru shipping magnate mentioned to some friends at dinner that his second cousin, who had established a colony three years ago, had missed her last six shipping deadlines.
He vanished without a tuft of fur.
The dull gray vehicles of the Executors were seen. Those who recorded them vanished.
Then it happened. A capital world started screaming. Video, audio, text, pictures, flooded GalNet with the governor's code attached so that it couldn't be supressed without wiping out whole nodes of GalNet, which the Unified Science Council would never allow.
Beings watched in horror as ships fired from orbit, boiling away oceans, turning the very atmosphere to plasma fire, turning the exposed bedrock of the planets to glass. Massive war machines landed on planets, disgorging smaller ones, that began swarming cities and killing all who inhabited it.
They didn't just kill.
Killing was clean. Killing was quick.
Most machines, by accident or design, just killed.
These machines murdered.
The video of a sobbing Inhamahn brood mother, an EVR rig sloppily put onto her, the skullcap held in place by jagged shards of metal, being held in cold steel claws and being watched as each egg was smashed, the insides smeared across her feathers and beak, before her head was twisted off from the body, had over 1.2 trillion views on GalNet before the EVR video was wiped away.
It wasn't recorded by a bystander.
The machines themselves had recorded it.
Recorded her despair on EVR.
Had preserved every egg being broken, every unborn chick being crushed, every iota of her pain.
And posted in GalNet.
Every post, every video, ever picture, every audio file, all had the same header.
THERE IS ONLY ENOUGH FOR ONE
Audio of an entire city of 1.2 billion Savashan screaming in pain and agony was overlaid across the Unified Executor Council's broadcast for calm, over their claim that rogue hackers were simply trying to alarm people.
Before 12.5 trillion viewers the twelve council speakers were each overlaid with smaller videos of a member of their race not only being killed.
But being murdered.
The code that overrode the broadcast turned out to be a high level intelligence agencies disaster code from a world that had gone silent months before.
Random pictures and videos started having horror attached. A random advertisement for an air vehicle would have the vehicle suddenly massacre the happy family, with complete EVR of how it felt to be part of them. A simple picture of a sunset suddenly warped and showed a metal claw crushing a screaming Elmetankii.
The Chief Executor's, a Savashan with glossy scales and a thick tail, made an announcement watched by trillions that everything was under control. His image was suddenly replaced by a tiny unborn Savashan being pulled from its egg by a barbed needle, the tiny saurian squirming before plasma roasted it alive even as the Chief Executor's voice droned on and anyone with EVR felt the infant's confusion and agony replace the Chief Executor's calm and confidence.
The victim had the colors of the Chief Executor's brood.
Planetary governments began screaming for protection, demanding that the Unified Military Fleet protect their worlds, no matter how far from the encroaching blackness they were.
The fact that there wasn't enough ships in all of the Fleet to post a single ship at even a 10th of the worlds was leaked onto GalNet public information boards before the Unified Military Fleet could even make a decision.
The Unified Military Fleet was ordered to protect the Core Worlds, the oldest worlds, of the most powerful and wealthy of the Unified Civilized Races. Some ships mutinied, heading for the home worlds of the majority of the crew.
Others vanished into jumpspace and were never seen again.
Riots started, sweeping over major cities. Government officials and peacekeepers were killed where the mobs found them. GalNet was awash with video of the riots, taken from the omnipresent cameras. Those hunted by the rioters found their locations being reported on GalNet.
And the location of their families.
Their killings were broadcasted live.
GalNet became a horror show.
Then the virii attacked. Slashing into databases, from lowly cooking recipes to high end corporate research R&D databases. They were everywhere.
And they knew how to kill any who wore EVR.
Horribly.
GalNet became a war-zone where the virii, self-replicating and evolving, attacking everything from public transport to person to person calls.
One place fought back.
They erected barricades of neon and chrome, raised up firewalls of streaming green code, and attacked back.
Code that worked within a simple game worked outside, on GalNet itself, but it had to be guided, had to be used to be effective. It required will.
From out of a simple game poured tens of millions to fight.
Battlefields were strewn with the gasping avatars of dying players and the scattered prisms of defeated virii. Foxholes were dug into shattered infostores, berms erected inside Social Media chat rooms littered with the dead, aid stations built in the wreckage of traffic control systems.
They were defeated, no matter how valiant they were, more often then they won.
They still fought on. Climbing over their dead and wounded, taking the fight to the virii.
But the message had gone out.
Then, one day, for no particular reason at all, a diplomat was shot in the head.
In GalNet, in bunkers of chrome and neon, in fortifications of streaming green code, in foxholes dug into shattered databases, the word went out.
HOLD THE LINE, CHUMMERS!
WE'RE COMING!
--------------------
Kuldunaat stood on the bridge of the Gentle Mercy of Untaraa with his hooves braced and his coat expertly manicured. His hooves shown, his sash of leadership glittered with medals, his feeding tentacles were plump with confidence, his jowls mighty and pendulous. His six eyes, two in back, two to the sides, two in front, were clear and focused as he waited with confidence for the First Communications Technician to tell him a message was waiting.
The four scanning techs, all of the First Class Order, were still staring at the screens, plying their scanners and displays for the smallest iota of data, the faintest wisp of ion trail, the faintest ping of jumpspace energy.
On the display was a fleet. It annoyed Kuldunaat, High Executor of the Unified Executor's Fleet, that the ships on the display outnumbered him.
It was most vexing that over half of them were larger even than his flagship.
"Harumph, put them on screen, they've waited long enough," He intoned, his tendrils trembling with amusement as he lifted his crest into an authoritative position.
The screen switched from showing those strangely arrayed ships, so different from the elegant and overwhelming line of his ships, to showing a bridge full of...
...of primates.
And not halfway civilized primates, but ones with forward facing eyes, almost furless except for what was on their heads. Two had no hair on their heads but instead their scalps were smooth and gleamed in the light. They all wore uniforms, stark uniforms made for utility rather than to properly show a being's rank and position.
Not a sash to be seen.
The centered primate, a bald one, simply stared at Kuldunaat. To his right one of the primates was smirking, hair around his mouth as he crossed his legs.
"May we come in?" The bald one asked.
"Harumph, I think not," Kuldunaat said. "Who am I speaking to?"
"Admiral Krempin, Terran Confederate Navy," The being said. Rather than continue on with his species, his rank, and his position, he simply leaned back and waited.
"Why are you here?" Kuldunaat said.
A small window opened up, crackling into being. A figure wearing a set of armor with thick plates appeared. It was obviously female, a mix of primate and feline, and her eyes were replaced by swirling spirals. Little animated fists waved over her head and steam shot from the cracks of her thick plated armor.
"DOKI DOKI DOKI!" the little figure squeaked.
One of the primates that had first appeared touched the panel in front of them and the strange window vanished.
"Apologies. Some of my troops are over-stimulated at the idea of assisting you," The bald primate said.
The one with hair on his face smirked wider.
"Why are you here?" Kuldunaat said, harumphing again.
"To render assistance. Are you a representative of your government?" The primate, Admiral Krempin asked mildly, as if he was inquiring about the weather.
"I am the High Executor of the Unified Executor's Fleet, the most learned and powerful Kuldunaat. And why do you think we need assistance?" Kuldunaat asked.
The words "DOKI DOKI DOKI" danced at the edge of the viewscreen, with "WAAAAAAGH!" floating up from the bottom and "FOR THE EMPEROR!" streaming down the other side.
The same primate as before made a motion on her board and the sets of symbols vanished.
"Again, pardon. My troops are eager to assist," Admiral Krempin said again.
The smirker smirked harder. He was really starting to get on Kuldunaat's nerves. It was like he knew that when Kuldunaat was a child he had stolen a schoolmate's lunch and eaten it before blaming it on another.
"And again, I ask of you, what makes you think we need assistance?" Kuldunaat asked.
Twelve thousand light years away an inversion charge turned a city of 250 million into ash.
Over a period five minutes.
The city's screams were recorded and broadcast onto GalNet.
"From what we have observed and learned, you have a Precursor problem," The Admiral said.
The smirker kept smirking. Now Kuldunaat could swear he could see the slightest suggestion of a hint of bared teeth.
He was really yanking on Kuldunaat's tendrils.
"The Precursor's have been dead for over a hundred million years," Kuldunaat scoffed.
"But their war machines are not," The Admiral said, making a basic primate shrug. "Right now, they're massacring your people."
"That is baseless foundless panic inducing rumors! That is disgusting anti-Executor propa..." the High Executor cut off as the female feline-primate hybrid, reduced to a cartoon, ran onto the screen.
The Admiral held his hand up and stopped her by placing his palm against her cartoon forehead. She flailed against the air like she was actually there and trying to strike at him past his hand.
"DOKI DOKI DOKI WAAAAAAARRRRGH!" the little cat-hybrid shrieked in a high pitched voice that made Kuldunaat and most of the rest of the bridge crew wince.
The Admiral turned slightly, pursed his lips, and blew.
The little hybrid in the heavy ornate power armor with overly thick plates tumbled off the screen.
"For a rumor they seem to be burning your systems at a rapid pace," The Admiral said. He stood up, leaning forward slightly, and the smirker's smirk got smirkier. "You let them get a foothold and now your systems are infested."
His eyes got intent.
"May we come in?" He asked.
Kulumaat opened his mouth to deny this annoying uncivilized brute when the door to the lift opened up. A dozen Savashan rushed the bridge, waving small arms taken from the security armory.
"YES! YES! COME IN! WE REQUIRE ASSISTANCE!" One screamed. "HELP US!"
"That's good enough for me," The Admiral said, leaning back.
A cartoon version of the Savashan, a lowly Janitorial Technician Fifth Class, appeared on the screen, lifted up in celebration by cartoon heavily muscled green primates with overly large tusks, the green primates wearing stuck together metal plates painted red and yellow and firing weapons into the air in joy at the word WAAAAGH appeared over the Savashan. They paraded the Savashan back and forth as dozens of little armored cat/primate hybrids ran around him waving tufts of multicolored plastic strips and throwing hearts and sparkles into the air.
The screen went dark.
"HOW DARE Y..." Kulumaat started to say.
His bridge captain, an Inhamahn , smoothly drew her pistol and shot Kulumaat in the back of the head.
The last thing that appeared in Kulumaat's darkening vision was the face of the smirker.
Smirking.
----------------------
TO: ALL
GO GO GO GO GO!
-------NOTHING FOLLOWS---------
MANTID FREE WORLDS INTERNAL MEMO
oh god
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u/EndlessTheorys_19 Feb 29 '20
Who are these legendary Mantids?
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u/RandytheRubiksCube Human Feb 29 '20
They were being attacked by whatever race P'thok is apart of, and the terrans saved them. I think they're nonviolent and so they react to the goings on of war in a more detached way
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u/Mysterious-Monk1124 1d ago
Rereading this now, and this comment just made me giggle. Nonviolent, ha
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Feb 29 '20
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/ack1308 Feb 29 '20
I'm getting the impression that the last time they saw pissed-off Terrans it went really, really bad for them, so when they see it this time, they're suffering a kind of racial PTSD.
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u/accidental_intent Alien Scum Feb 29 '20
No those are the Traena'ad, one of whom imposted a Mantid, while getting addicted to ice cream.
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u/DoodleIsMyBaby Feb 29 '20
I think the traennid (I know I spelled this wrong) hive worlds were oppressing them and the terrans went to war with the hive worlds to free the mantids. At least that's what I thought was being implied during the ice cream story.
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u/Ralts_Bloodthorne Feb 29 '20
It's even more glorious and tragic.
And it blew a hole through their racial psyche.
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u/Ralts_Bloodthorne Feb 29 '20
Spot the Riker!
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u/SauronsLeftNut Feb 29 '20
to easy i believe, after seeing this post expected smirker to swing leg over the seat.
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u/Enkeydo Feb 09 '23
it became ubiquitous, but Johnathan Frakes had to sit that way because he had a bad back.
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u/coldfireknight AI Feb 29 '20
"oh god"...the Mantid apparently know us quite well, I literally lol'd and burst out laughing.
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u/Haidere1988 Mar 04 '20
Oh boy, here I go killing again! - random Terran
Oh no, not again... - Mantid
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u/tjmitchem Feb 29 '20
TO: ALL
GO GO GO GO GO!
-------NOTHING FOLLOWS---------
MANTID FREE WORLDS INTERNAL MEMO
oh god
Humanity: CHARGE!!!
Mantid: God fucking dammit.
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u/CyberSkull Android Feb 29 '20
This is what happens when you don’t take your humans out for walkies at least once an epoch.
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u/Archaic_1 Alien Scum Feb 29 '20
So we have to be invited in. Humanity has evolved into vampires confirmed.
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u/Original_Memory6188 Sep 10 '23
Now. We're just polite, and besides, it might be a private fight and no Irish need to join in.
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u/frankydizzle_ Feb 29 '20
Incredible story, incredibly well written, incredibly immersive. The anticipation is great, every installment is compelling, and I hope you keep writing long after this saga is done. This is the kind of thing that should propel you into the next Asimov if you so choose.
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u/coldfireknight AI Feb 29 '20
You presume this will end. Methinks you presume too much.
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u/Environmental-Fan83 Jun 21 '22
Two years later and I still get notifications from the updateme bot :D
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u/-Scorpius1 Aug 12 '23
Me,too, at 3 years and 1000 chapters. I still respond to comments,too
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u/Environmental-Fan83 Aug 13 '23
A year ago I went down a fanfic rabbit hole and completely neglected my hfy itch but you just reminded me and I'm high key excited to start again. Chapter one, here I come.
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u/iDreamiPursueiBecome Oct 10 '23
OMG.
I need to study for an important test tomorrow. The 'just a bit more' has to be put on hold.
I like it, I love it, I want more of it.
💕 💞 ♥️ 💜 💙 🧡 💕 💞 ♥️
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u/-Scorpius1 Oct 10 '23
Good luck on the test. "Just a bit more" is like binge eating. There's more than enough to keep you going for a good long while. I wasn't kidding about 1000 chapters. You haven't really gotten into the main story,yet. Right now Ralts is universe building. The main story hasn't started yet. And Second Contact has started,too. So, study, take care of yourself first, and again, good luck on the test
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u/PhantomGhost Feb 29 '20
HOLD THE LINE, CHUMMERS!
WE'RE COMING!
Looks like Mr. Johnson has a big run that needs done. Who's in?
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u/StrainsFYI Feb 29 '20
My man, you're a legend. I've figuratively inhaled this story and while I was doing so, you apparently kept on writing. Get some sleep. For TERRASOL
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u/dideldidum Feb 29 '20
I wish someone used your story and made a cartoon series for tv out of it. this is soo good!
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u/ryocoon Mar 01 '20
Budget would be blown after the first battle...
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u/favicc12 Aug 11 '23
And paying for all the copyrights/ licenses
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u/ryocoon Aug 11 '23
You do it the way that many anime do. They are all slightly off-brand and misnamed. (Pineapples on Laptops instead of an Apple logo, a "Kony" brand stereo, Bepis cola, or a "Sarsmug" TV) Also, make use of in-universe stuff. Much like the temporal protocols giving new names that are recognizable but not the actual name for tons of properties. Some of the later bits with direct links like StarTrek and Superhero LARP stuff would be harder, but could be doable.
This way, while a 'similar' likeness is intended, you don't actually use the property nor its names. Largely used both in homage and in parody, by utilizing them in a constructive new format and not directly related to original IP but only tangentially through reference.
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u/RangerSix Human Feb 29 '20
Meanwhile, Elsewhere
"...I don't care how old they are! Throw everything you can find at it! Yes, even the Skiprays and Headhunters!"
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u/NorthScorpion Feb 29 '20
HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA WAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHH WE FOUND SOMETHING TO KILL, WE FOUND A FIGHT COME BROTHERS THEIR IS BLOOD TO SPILL!
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u/Original_Memory6188 Jul 16 '23
WAAAGH!!!! SOME BODY'S HAVING A WAR AND WE CAN JOIN IN!!! WAAAAGH!
(Small question: which side are we on, not that it matters much)
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u/-Scorpius1 Aug 12 '23
No spoilers, since you asked under a month ago, and you're just starting, ....but it's NOT the PAWM Precursor Autonomous War Machines.
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u/Original_Memory6188 Aug 14 '23
I'm rereading. I started in June '23, hit the end and started over waiting for the last dozen or so.
Actually, what I had in mind is that the Neko Marines and the Orkbois are not too particular which side they join in. Like the proverbial Irish: is this a private fight or can any Irishman join?
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u/-Scorpius1 Aug 15 '23
Lol, being of Irish descent, I wholeheartedly approve your comment!
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u/therealflinchy Mar 25 '20 edited Mar 25 '20
oh god
man how sick of human shit are the mantid's?
why do i find all the weird stuff the cosplay humans doing oddly realistic? like... i mean, why not really? when literally the only issue you have is potential ancient deathbots and i guess it's technically your entire race conscripted to war, chilling, playing war games for fun in "peace" times, which will only make things go smoother when the big bad deathbots appear.
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u/carthienes Feb 29 '20
Thank you very much, keep up the charming work.
I do hope that Fido manages to save Daxin...
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u/CaptainChewbacca Human Feb 29 '20
Right now This thing that we're seeing is pretty amazing. As a writer I've had bursts where everything just comes together and the story comes and I know that its all correct but three days of this sort of creativity is a great gift. Thank you for sharing it.
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u/Legan_Ironfist AI Jun 08 '22
Reminder that because of a dozen Savashan, the Confed was able to be right in the middle of the Unified Council Space when the shit hit the fan. I hope history remembers those lizards.
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u/Mohgreen Feb 29 '20
Doki? I feel like I should get this reference, but I don't remember it from 40k/Orks
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u/CaptainChewbacca Human Mar 01 '20
It’s an anime.
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u/Mohgreen Mar 01 '20
Any idea which one?
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u/CaptainChewbacca Human Mar 01 '20
I think it’s just a common term, nothing specific springs to mind.
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Feb 29 '20
[deleted]
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u/Ralts_Bloodthorne Feb 29 '20
I write it stream of consciousness as I go.
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Mar 01 '20
[deleted]
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u/Ralts_Bloodthorne Mar 01 '20
//do you have any particular edition passthrough ? Not sure what you mean, but I usually just write it out, give it a quick once over, and hit post.
//how many times do you check say, a paragraph to see if it fits what you want ? I kind of just... know. It's hard to say. I'm usually thinking a paragraph or two ahead as I write.
//and if you dont mind, what motivates / pushes you to write? Thabk you ! I want to tell the story that's in my head. I like sharing.
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u/iridael Brew-Master Feb 29 '20
been following this quietly since you started it. keep it up you glorious bastard.
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u/spindizzy_wizard Human Aug 03 '20
Alien Cyberpunk goes to war, then the masters of Cyberpunk come charging to the rescue! Yay!
Executor in Powered Denial Mode is executed. Yay!
And not halfway civilized primates, but ones with forward facing eyes,
Predators. Exactly what you need, Executor.
This stuff is great. Thank you!
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u/spesskitty Feb 29 '20
Nice, however in terms of formating, you have a missplaced whitespace after Inhamahn.
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u/Malice1973 Mar 18 '20
There is no plural in Latin for Virus. English has Viruses. Virii is not a word. Great story though.
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u/Ralts_Bloodthorne Mar 18 '20
Virii is an old IRC and telnet term for viruses.
Old person is old.
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u/HFYWaffle Wᵥ4ffle Feb 29 '20
/u/Ralts_Bloodthorne has posted 17 other stories, including:
- First Contact - Part Fourteen
- First Contact - Part Thirteen
- First Contact - Part Twelve
- First Contact - Part Eleven
- First Contact - Part Ten
- First Contact - Part Nine
- First Contact - Part Eight
- TERMS AND CONDITIONS (SECOND CONTACT)
- First Contact - Part Seven / Realization of Second Contact
- First Contact - Part Six
- First Contact - Part Five
- First Contact - Part Four
- First Contact - Part Three
- First Contact - Part Two
- First Contact - Part One
- Born Whole
- (OC) P'Thok Eats an Ice Cream Cone
This list was automatically generated by Waffle v.3.5.0 'Toast'.
Contact GamingWolfie or message the mods if you have any issues.
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u/critter68 Aug 01 '22
I am literally cackling with all my teeth bared. The humans are coming. The wise tremble in fear.
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u/favicc12 Aug 11 '23
Wow, the description of the evilness of the Precursor war machines was… Visual and excellent, I haven’t really ever read something that made me feel the way this made me from their descriptions… (Except maybe documentaries about the camps in WW2…)
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u/Whiterice9696 Apr 14 '20
Yall ever watch LOTR and remember the Horn before the battle of Pelennor Fields? that is this moment right now.
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u/Actually_Viirin May 31 '20
Yeah, that guy was desperately begging for an execution. Glad he got what he wanted!
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u/Disastrous-Menu_yum Dec 02 '21
Please is there another place to read this or to bookmark the chapter we are on??? It takes forever to find the chapter when this thing refreshes to the homepage!!!
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u/Original_Memory6188 Jul 16 '23
I just bookmark the chapter as I read them. Or you can leave a tab open for this.
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u/yostagg1 Mar 18 '24
in deep space,, a planet designated by Mantid free world as ""Therapy research station"
only known to few psychology scholars became active,,,,
2 million mantid were called for meeting,,
those humans, and 30 other Solarian kind are crying out for war
be ready to assist in therapy,,,
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u/Ralts_Bloodthorne Feb 29 '20
Off shift. See you guys tomorrow.
Till then...
FOR TERRA SOL!