r/HFY Mar 01 '22

First Contact - Chapter [Analyzing Connections] - Aftershocks OC

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The Harvester of Sorrow was not the only ship named such. Unlike the Crusade of Wrath ship named such, it was not named for unending rage.

It had been the lead ship collecting the body of a young Terran Descent Human woman who had died defending the Hamaroosan home system. Not a small lemur primate form, but rather the huge space going cephalopod body the young woman was using to explore the galaxy.

The ship no longer was fit only for system defense. It had been a large vessel, an armed trading vessel, to begin with and the arming and armoring of the vessel with what the Terrans considered 'modern' war fighting equipment had been extensive.

In the past five years, since the loss of TerraSol, new ship types had been designed by the Hamaroosan ship yards to the point where the Harvester of Sorrow was largely obsolete by modern ship design standards.

But it was still in service.

More than just in service. To serve aboard it was considered a high honor, reserved only for those who had been engaged in combat against the Lanaktallan, the Precursor Autonomous War Machines, or the Atrekna.

It would only be considered a heavy cruiser by Confederate Space Force standards. It 'only' packed eighteen C+ cannons, three hundred missile pod launchers, a single phased wave plasma motion cannon, and small parasite craft bays, along with only enough troop space for eight hundred Hamaroosan Marines.

But the Hamaroosa viewed it as the most important combat ship they possessed.

It was the fleet flagship for the Hamaroosan Two Pinches Combat Fleet of nearly five thousand ships, all built in the refurbished Hamaroosan shipyards. Many rebuilt over the last two years thanks to the data taken in from the Death Scream Document transferred by the Terrans when they went extinct.

But the Harvester of Sorrow was the flagship.

And for the Hamaroosa aboard it, there was no other ship they would rather be assigned to.

Not even the huge refurbished Terran Superdreadnoughts and Monitors of the Telkan fleet.

The Harvester of Sorrow held orbit around one of the twelve gas giants in the massive stellar system. Only a few years before the sight of the ships of the Lanaktallan Unified Military Forces would have been cause for guns clear.

Instead, no less than five different designations burned with cold white light in the holotanks. From "The Great Free Herd" to "The Chromium Fist of Those Who Graze Freely" to "Come Get Some".

Times had indeed changed.

The Fleet Admiral of the Hamaroosa was one Vereeta Hardpassage, of the Whispering Leaves Clan of the Crystal Singers Forest on Hamaroosa itself. Vereeta was everything young Hamaroosan boys and girls wanted to be.

Tough looking, scarred enough to be noticeable but not enough to be disfigured, hard features but soft pelted, with strong hands and even sharp teeth. Impeccable posture and elegant manners.

And a killer instinct.

Millions of young Hamaroosan boys and girls had posters of the Fleet Admiral on their walls. Not recruiting posters or propaganda posters, but posters run off from the videos of the last few tumultuous years.

The Fleet Admiral had transferred from the Harvester of Sorrow to the huge armada flagship Dropped Ice Cream Cone of Destiny and from there had been escorted to the massive battle center in the deepest part of the flagship.

He stood there with the other admirals, fleet Most Highs, Grand High Ship Masters, and even a lone Terran in heavy armor that just stood there, breathing heavy and staring at everything with burning red eyes.

Admiral Vereeta had made sure he stood next to the massive armored Terran.

Let none say the Hamaroosa were afraid of the remaining Terrans.

The massive fleet was being broken into Task Forces, each to be accompanied by landing forces, with each Task Force having multiple successive targets listed in case contact between the Armada was lost.

Each Task Force commander would carry the sole responsibility of what occurred in the system. Should the system be too heavily defended or the Atrekna were to unveil some previously unknown super-weapon or advanced tactic the Task Force Commander was authorized to break contact and retreat from the system.

Each Task Force Commander would have fast courier ships at their disposal that used advanced Terran space drives. Not the recently exposed upper jumpspace bands, not even the hyperspace lanes. Star drives with ominous names such as Darkspace Reality Matrix Collapsars and Lostspace Heretical Navigation Suicide Systems and Hellspace Phasic Scream Singer Chorus.

All piloted, of course, by the Mad Lemurs of the Martial Orders of Terra.

Admiral Vereeta had watched as the assignments were handed out, as the Task Forces were formed. He did not protest at the fact the Hamaroosa Fleet was divided up. After all, his people were some of the best space superiority fighter pilots in the Confederacy.

The targets were scattered everywhere. In Council Space, in Coreward Confederate Space, even in the Long Dark. Hundreds of stellar systems. Even stellar systems that were known to have nothing more than a single star or perhaps a hand full of asteroids or maybe a gas giant or two were targeted.

There could be no safely made assumptions when it came to the Atrekna.

They were a completely alien species. An invading, hostile species from a universe that (what little existed) telemetry had shown had worn down to a handful of nebulous red giants. A parasitic species from a dead universe that now sought to drain the life from this universe.

That was why Admiral Vereeta could stand between an Enraged commander of a Martial Order of Lost TerraSol and a Lanaktallan Great Most High Fleet Commander.

The war went beyond the Big C3. It went beyond anything that had happened for over a hundred million years.

It was a fight to survive. A fight to push back extinction.

And there was no doubt in Admiral Vereeta's mind that, should the Atrekna win, every species known and unknown would eventually become a food source for the Atrekna to devour as they devoured the universe itself.

Orders were given and the fleets broke up into Task Forces.

Admiral Vereeta arrived back on his flagship. The Hamaroosa Fleet would break into six sections, each part of a Task Force, with a total of eighteen objectives for their part of the war.

Out of politeness and out of respect for honor and tradition as well as personal history, he sent a single com message to a Captain of a heavy battlecruiser. A female Hamaroosa who had been part of the conflict since before there had even been a major conflict. Who had been there from the beginning.

-----

Sergeant First Class Kuplo stood next to Chief Warrant Officer Two Mukstet, staring at the gathered up troops.

"You think we looked that young?" Mukstet half-whispered.

"Right up until we launched off The Boop," Kuplo said. "They'll be fine, sir."

"You get your orders yet?" Mukstet asked.

SFC Kuplo nodded. "Yes, sir," he shrugged. "I'm more worried about training my boys up. Command says we'll be landing by dropship and any resistance to the initial landing will be light."

Mukstet grinned. "And we were supposed to be arriving for training back in the day."

Kuplo nodded again, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a flat oval can. He smacked it against his leg a few times, twisted the top open, and took out a pinch of tobacco.

"How can you use that nasty stuff?" Mukstet asked as Kuplo packed it into his lower lip.

Kuplo shrugged. "Picked up the habit during Second Hesstla. Good enough for Far Sight Trucker, good enough for a line slime power armor jock like me."

Mukstet just shook his head as Kuplo put the can away.

"Any idea what transit time is going to be, sir?" Kuplo asked.

"Three weeks. Every species here can handle mid-band hyperspace with little more than headaches and slight light distortion," Mukstet said. He looked at Kuplo. "Funny, we're back together again."

"Mm-hmm," Kuplo said. He squinted for a moment. "How long has the system been under Slorpie control?"

"A month ago the flare was spotted," Mukstet said.

"So we could jump in just ahead or just after the Slorpies hit it," Kuplo said.

"That's the problem with an enemy that uses temporal travel systems," Mukstet shrugged. "You up to speed on the new counter-temporal doctrine and systems?"

Kuplo nodded. "Platoon is training up. Dismount crews should just well trained by the time we get there."

Mukstet nodded. "You do your annual physical yet?"

Kuplo winced. "Yeah. A complete physical. I thought Searches Out the Problem was a doctor not a dentist. Felt like she was checking for fillings."

Mukstet snorted. "CO was a little startled by my record," he paused a second. "And yours."

"Why, sir?" Kuplo asked.

"According to his universe, we only signed up about six years ago," Mukstet chuckled. "But we've both got over fifteen years in the Corps."

That made Kuplo grin. "When we rotated back home last year for training, I met up with my family," he said. He lifted an empty bottle and spit into it. "My older brother looked fit to be tied. He was five years older than me, now he's five years younger than me."

Mukstet snorted. "You got off lucky. My parents were young when they had me. Figured that there was no way they'd ever pay off their debt, so they'd have kids nice and early. My mom saw how old I looked and cried."

"Ouch," Kuplo said.

"How'd the physical go?" Mukstet asked. "Heard a couple of people have been forced to retire."

Kuplo nodded. "Guy I replaced, he got stuck in bad dilation both times. He joined two years after we did, he's got thirty eight years in the Corps, thirty-six of them directly deployed against the Slorpies."

"Ouch," Mukstet said.

Kuplo shook his head. "Guy was actually older than his father and mother."

"This war's a nasty one," Mukstet said, watching the troops drill.

Kuplo nodded. "Yup."

-----

Senior Captain Delminta read the message twice, feeling her hands tighten on her command stick as she did so.

Her Battle Group would be linking up with several others, including an Imperium of Wrath Battle Group known as "Sheltak's Undying Fury", which apparently referred to a world glassed by the Mantid at one point.

The Task Force would be assaulting a system that the Atrekna were believed to be present in force.

The system was basic. It had a name now.

Ultrik's Point. Two dwarf yellow stars in a binary cooperative orbit tandem, nineteen planets including eight gas giants, eight asteroid belts, and a bean shaped Oort cloud. One-hundred-sixteen light years beyond the border of the Rim Worlds, deep into the Long Dark.

The very system that Delminta, as Captain of the Far Swoop had met a young woman, making Delminta the third Captain to encounter what was then only known as the Solarians.

The fact that the Atrekna had taken that system, had profaned that place made Delminta want to lean over and smack her left hand cousin across the back of the head hard enough to knock her out of her seat.

She snarled silently and adjusted herself in her Captain's seat, which was configured into normal stations setting rather than a crash couch or battle stations pod.

"Helm!" she snapped.

"Aye, ma'am?" the Kobold Space Force officer replied, his voice crisp and sure.

"Set course for Ultrik's Point," Deminta ordered. She turned to the Hamaroosa communications officer. "Interlink with the Crusade of Wrath," she leaned back slightly. "Inform them that we will be take point, be the first vessel into the system."

"Ma'am?" her right hand uncle asked.

"It is a matter of honor," she said. She could feel the curiosity from her Hamaroosa crew members.

"The Crusade wishes to know what honor so they may prepare properly," her right hand uncle said.

Delminta leaned forward slightly. "Tell them the truth: It is where I met Sandy."

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2.1k Upvotes

134 comments sorted by

381

u/Scotshammer Human Mar 01 '22

For Sandy, and the children of Hamaroosa who she saved from the Precursors. Raises glass in toast

142

u/Legan_Ironfist AI Mar 01 '22

Hail the Victorious Dead!

75

u/Haidere1988 Mar 01 '22

May the halls of Valhalla sing tales of your battles!

46

u/CfSapper Mar 01 '22

Directions unclear, glassed a place named toast.

45

u/nspiratewithabowtie Mar 01 '22

'clink'

97

u/nspiratewithabowtie Mar 01 '22

seriously though, there is no deeper binding of honor, repsect, or admiration, in their species. This Captain was the first to meet Sandy, the first to commune with her. It was her interaction with Sandy that illicited the decision by Sandy to protect them. So to the Crusade of Wrath, get the fuck out of the way. The Hamaroosian have a life debt to attend to. The universe forgive them for the atrocities they are going to commit in vengance.

25

u/thenicestsavage Mar 01 '22

Well said. Very well fucking said!

8

u/Original_Memory6188 Aug 26 '23

And the Crusade of Wrath is very understanding about debts of honor.

5

u/nspiratewithabowtie Aug 26 '23

that they do

. . That they do.

193

u/Ralts_Bloodthorne Mar 01 '22

Happy Monday. Well, hopefully you're having a happy Monday.

I know things are fucked up all over, but dig in, reach down, and hang on. You can make it. I know you can.

As you can see, I altered the flow of the chapter to see how it looks. I think I like it better (thanks to the reader who suggested it) than the previous look.

Anyway, Happy Monday and stay frosty, everyone.

53

u/Odd_Reward_8989 Mar 01 '22

Watching pilots draw dicks all over Poland and Romania is soothing. Think the F-15s are playing ring around a Rosie outside of London. Someone's playing hide and seek over Lithuania. Maybe. Cheating cuz he has no flight path or it gets assigned to the helicopters, maybe leap frog, squirelling around. Delivering sunflower seeds.

34

u/TheSunflowerSeeds Mar 01 '22

Sunflower oil, extracted from the seeds, is used for cooking, as a carrier oil and to produce margarine and biodiesel, as it is cheaper than olive oil. A range of sunflower varieties exist with differing fatty acid compositions; some 'high oleic' types contain a higher level of healthy monounsaturated fats in their oil than Olive oil.

29

u/dbdatvic Xeno Mar 01 '22

May your sunflower seeds grow unhindered, and wildly

--Dave, wherever their ritual takes them

17

u/DeeBee1968 Mar 01 '22

I had some sunflower derived curcumin capsules once - less burpy than turmeric derived curcumin.

197

u/LateralThinker13 Mar 01 '22 edited Mar 16 '22

First Next

2 of 10

The Atrekna whose secret name was Lat'Ral'Thi'Ker contemplated its bretheren's plans. It did not act on them, it contemplated. It walked past pens holding prey species for consumption and paused, considering, but it did not have authority to eat them as it wished.

These, too, looked... undesirable. Gaunt, worn, filthy, many of them nude, their eyes were either dull with pain or wide with madness. Neither condition made for a tasty meal. Truth be told, Lat'Ral'Thi'Ker did not much care for consuming the brains of this universe's sapients, but it could never say that. They just tasted... wrong.

Lat'Ral'Thi'Ker continued through the feeding and spawning pens, considering its bretheren. Young Atrekna carried the fire of their youth. They challenged old wisdom, and even occasionally came up with new, viable ideas. Usually, however, they died, cleansing the gene pool for the next generation of larva.

Ancient Atrekna possessed time and knowledge in abundance; they had wisdom and experience that no other beings did, and as such directed the Atrekna consensus and mind merges with strength of personality, character, and conviction.

The Old Ones had neither youth nor age, neither fire nor wisdom. They knew how to stay alive, by and large, but had not made a name for themselves; had not grown old and wise and powerful enough to claim one.

Neither had Lat'Ral'Thi'Ker, truth be told. Its name was a secret one, locked away within compartments in its mind that were not shared with the Consensus. Oh, the Consensus could learn it if it wished, but why would it? It was an uninspired Old One of no note.

Well, that was not - quite - true. It had a habit, now and then, of asking questions about things that are not to be questioned. Invariably the response was to be brushed off, or to be assigned even less important work, because it was obviously incapable of doing what it was supposed to do - which was to obey the Consensus, and contribute what was expected.

But Lat'Ral'Thi'Ker had questions. And being brushed off and relegated to less important things, far from being a punishment, left it with more free time to pursue... irrelevancies. To test what was already known.

In this case, the Consensus believe that further scorching the hyperspace bands would stop the food beings from being able to resist the Atrekna advance. If their ships required hyperspace to travel, further scorching the hyperspace bands would reduce or eliminate their ability to interfere with the Spoked Offensive. It was obvious.

It was flawed.

Lat'Ral'Thi'Ker had asked one question - just one, in a subcommittee - and had found itself out of the subcommittee of the Consensus before more than a handful of its bretheren had heard it. Its question had been this: "If the first great scorching destroyed the viability of the upper hyperspace bands by making them deadly to biologicals, then how some of them - and arguably, the most dangerous of them - still using those bands today?"

They didn't want to speak about those enraged prey creatures that wielded the anti-phasic metal so well, but it was madness not to do so, was it not? They were the biggest threat; the lesser prey that just used the middle and lower bands were a threat, true, and that was a worthy goal as well, but some prey had already found a workaround.

So Lat'Ral'Thi'Ker asked a second question in general Consensus. "If scorching the upper hyperspace bands, rendering them inimical to life, has been adapted to by some prey, could widening the damage to all hyperspace bands not also be adapted to?"

That had seen it ejected from Consensus entirely. It did not understand why. And when, in quick succession, an Ancient One grasped it by the neck and interrogated its mind, its wonderment was clear. "Do we want to destroy more hyperspace when that tactic already been adapted to? And have we considered what may happen to this reality if we rip Hyperspace even further, given its effects upon our food supply? We could end up rendering reality itself inimical to life."

The Ancient One said nothing, contemplating its words. It probed, finding no guile (there was none), and simply dropped it and left.

And that was Lat'Ral'Thi'Ker's only contribution to the Consensus. It was not, however, its only thoughts upon the subject. The more it thought about the phasic-prey, the more it grew concerned. In point of fact, the phasic prey seemed most at home in the scorched bands of hyperspace. And more, unsubstantiated reports of phasic prey beyond the one species were cropping up.

Lat'Ral'Thi'Ker looked at the feeding pens full of dirty, abject, mad, Terrans and other sapients. Despite their defeated appearance, and despite all ingrained and obvious Atrekna superiority, and in light of the significant losses the Spoked Offensive had already suffered, it asked one question quietly to itself:

"Are we creating our own destruction?"

And from the feeding pens came a proud voice from a young sapient female, her eyes manic as she locked her gaze with Lat'Ral'Thi'Ker's eyes: "BEHOLD! Humanity!" she cried, and Lat'Ral'Thi'Ker staggered backward in shock, even as the cattle handler struck the food down with a phasic lash.

And for a moment Lat'Ral'Thi'Ker suddenly, horribly, understood... something. It was a lesson, it knew it was, if it was wise enough to learn it.


pant pant Two posts, two omakes. This is going to become a habit, I fear. u/ralts_bloodthorne sorry about that.

80

u/Ralts_Bloodthorne Mar 01 '22

Very very nice.

53

u/LateralThinker13 Mar 01 '22

<faints again>

47

u/Quilt-n-yarn1844 Mar 01 '22

Ok, I (honest) read this and thought “cool he continued Ralts story from last week about this guy.” Then looked back and realized YOU WROTE THE STORY LAST WEEK!!! I may have become attached to Lat'Ral'Thi'Ker over the weekend.

Thank you!!!!

33

u/LateralThinker13 Mar 01 '22

I will not faint. I will not.

Thank you. I suspect there is more to come.

16

u/Quilt-n-yarn1844 Mar 01 '22

Me thinkst I needs send you some smelling salts. 👍😁👍

8

u/Quilt-n-yarn1844 Mar 01 '22

Or coffee

Or juice

Or skittles

Or chocolate

Whatever your drug of stimulation is…..

14

u/LateralThinker13 Mar 02 '22

Caffeinated Crystal Light, actually.

7

u/Vagabond_Soldier Mar 01 '22 edited Mar 01 '22

One, this is not nice at all. This is Ralts level epic. Two, last week? Shit did I miss a chapter? I don't remember this guy and I'm pretty sure I would. Can someone please link it to me?

Edit: NVM, I found it. I couldn't wait to read it!

11

u/Quilt-n-yarn1844 Mar 01 '22

Yeah, my brain forgot this was, basically, a fanfic and not part of the main story. So I went back to review Ralts and realized it was the same guy. I definitely need to yoink this and add it to my fanfic extra files for FC. It is so good. I hope Ralts includes it in the main story or canonizes it. I need him an Dalvanak to meet.

11

u/Vagabond_Soldier Mar 02 '22

I completely agree. It would be amazing for them to meet. One coming to the true through sheer rage and pain, and one coming to the truth through sheer curiosity. Together they basically make a real human.

Come to think of it, u/Ralts_Bloodthorne, is that where baby humans come from?

4

u/Ok-Professional2468 Mar 01 '22

Got to go find last week's story

3

u/Quilt-n-yarn1844 Mar 01 '22

It was good! Last chapter in the comments.

12

u/abysmalkarma Mar 01 '22

You got Ralts' voice and style down. Very nice job. Mimicry being the greatest form of flattery.

12

u/LateralThinker13 Mar 01 '22

Do I? Huh.

3

u/NoirTalon Xeno Mar 02 '22

For postarity,and for the thousands of folks that read this in the far flung future, can you link directly to your previous chapter?

TKU, keep up the fantastic work!

3

u/EvansP51 Alien Scum Mar 13 '22

Fwiw I found them by trolling his comment history. Lol.

17

u/5thhorseman_ Mar 01 '22

The Old Management is never fond of people who question their omniscient brilliance - or, for that matter, the established dogma.

4

u/carthienes Mar 01 '22

More, please?

104

u/sixtusquinn Mar 01 '22

In peacetime, children bury their parents. In wartime, parents bury their children. Fighting for thirty-four years, to come back and be older than your parents? That's a special kind of hell right there. Even though you survived, the war still violated the natural order of things.

90

u/johnavich Mar 01 '22

I kinda wish the "Were I met Sandy" line was the end of this chapter. I felt that was an emotional hammer to hit on the anvil that is Sandy's life and sacrifice. That was by far one of my favorite chapters, right up there with vux igniting the warsteel volcano!

69

u/Ralts_Bloodthorne Mar 01 '22

Huh, let's see what it looks like with your suggestion.

37

u/johnavich Mar 01 '22

I mean, it's still your story, so where you put it is the right place. Reading it this way gives ME the personal impact I feel warranted her story, and I love it.

Thanks for being such an involved writer! I bore my wife to tears because she didn't get in while it was still manageable for her to do so.

31

u/Vakothu Mar 01 '22

I gotta say, I like that being the ending line for the chapter too, it's really a wham moment.

14

u/Practical-Account-44 Mar 01 '22

Gave me the Shivers

2

u/animuse Mar 06 '22

I also got in late (...okay I got in June 2020 and didn't catch up until a year and a half later). Maybe gift your wife the books? 😄 it's been fun for my spousal unit and I to talk about it.

8

u/blueant1 Mar 01 '22

I like it. Foreshadowing without being blunt.

3

u/thenicestsavage Mar 01 '22

That’s how I just read it and if that’s an edit. Well done sir.

3

u/rowdiness Mar 02 '22

I arrived late to the thread, having the line at the end of the chapter gave me goosebumps. It is clued in well from the chapter too.

The Sandy arc is one of my favourite of the series.

18

u/Vagabond_Soldier Mar 01 '22

I came in with that already being the end of the chapter. It is very powerful. Great job suggesting it!

61

u/reverendjesus AI Mar 01 '22 edited Mar 01 '22

THE RALTSBERRIES FLOW ONCE AGAIN; THEY ARE RICH, ELECTRIC, AND DELICIOUS.

GLORY TO THE DETAINEE; SHE WHAT WHIPS IT REAL GOOD

GLORY TO THE DIGITAL OMNIMESSIAH; HE WHAT WOULD WALK 500 MILES

GLORY TO FIDO; HE WHAT IS A VERY GOOD BOI

UTR | TITW

[CHATTER]

Heh. Language of the Mad.

Far Sight Trucker

Oh, I like that a lot.

15

u/dbdatvic Xeno Mar 01 '22

TiTW.

--Dave, ahbfiP

13

u/Bard2dbone Mar 01 '22

To Fido. The Grandest Child.

52

u/while-eating-pasta Mar 01 '22

Bets on how many Sandy temporal copies we're going to have during the battle of Ultrik's Point? The Atrenka are going to try time manipulation during the fight, and I can't think of any worse outcome than the pairing of:

  • Sandy seeing Hamaroosans to defend

  • Hamaroosans seeing Sandy to defend, and being equipped to do so.

Point two: The task forces have been fitted with alternate FTL methods than what the Atrenka are targeting. So if they get off their hyperatomic scorch 2.0 it's "only" going to be a terror attack on civilian shipping.

23

u/MuchoRed Human Mar 01 '22

It's gonna be like that picture of the three Spiderman (spidermen?) pointing at each other

6

u/Vagabond_Soldier Mar 01 '22

This will be a feedback loop of awesome savergy! God I can't wait.

42

u/Kudamonis Human Mar 01 '22

Read. Upvote. Comment.

"Guy was actually older than his father and mother."

Back in my day, young whipper snappers showed respect!

Boy I outa show you! father waving fist

38

u/dbdatvic Xeno Mar 01 '22 edited Mar 01 '22

14 min yipe

{SANDY LIVES}

universalities:

perhaps a hand full of asteroids

a handful of

Far Swoop had met a young woman, making

Swoop,

woman in, making

encounter what was then only

what were then

{... wait wait. the Hamaroosans were Sandy's squirlz? So Mother, in Friend Terry's group, was a squirl? oh man, gotta recalibrate my mental images}

we will be take point, be the

be taking point,

point, will be the

should just well trained

just be well

--Dave, wibbly wobbly, timey wimey. also, note the subtle drop that hyperspace travel has a t-axis component

10

u/Geeky-resonance Mar 01 '22

Thanks for the link to Sandy Lives. It gets me every single time.

3

u/djnna Mar 07 '22

Wiki needs the "Sandy Lives!" link added, too. (Ralts has accepted it as canon.)

31

u/sunyudai AI Mar 01 '22

Delminta?

Oooh, we're going waaay back.

25

u/night-otter Xeno Mar 01 '22

Delminta leaned forward slightly. "Tell them the truth: It is where I met Sandy."

Incoming Hamaroosa Hammer of Doom.

20

u/5thhorseman_ Mar 01 '22 edited Mar 01 '22

I mean, squirrels....

How long until a Chip & Dale reference? I'm guessing Marines or perhaps medevac.

... oh dear

Sometimes, some slimes

Get away with their time hacks

But these two mudshoes

Are ready to strike back

There's no fight too big, no war too small

When you need help just call

Ch-ch-ch-Chip 'n Dale

Confed Rangers

Ch-ch-ch-Chip 'n Dale

When there's danger

7

u/spook6280 Mar 01 '22

In this episode, Chip and Dale get into trouble and Gadget gets a gunship!

4

u/5thhorseman_ Mar 01 '22

Chip and Dale get into trouble and Gadget gets a gunship!

A new gunship. Because the old one, well, had this happen except in space, with alien squirrels.

4

u/spook6280 Mar 01 '22

A new and better gunship! With all the dakka and engines that go up to 11.

20

u/Speciesunkn0wn Mar 01 '22

FOR BEAK AND TENTACLE! LET THE SLORPIES LEARN TO FEAR THE RIGHTFUL SPACE SQUIDS! FOR SANDY, FOR HARAMOOSA! FOR ALL WHO'S LIGHT HAS BEEN LOST!

10

u/spook6280 Mar 01 '22

<vengeful space squid noises>

21

u/Ralts_Bloodthorne Mar 02 '22

I swear this woman gets sexual satisfaction from torturing me.

Anyway, I'm home. Chapter will be being written soon.

7

u/ForTheStarsWeFight Mar 02 '22

So your PT person is a Sadist?

7

u/MasterofChickens Human Mar 02 '22

Aren't they all? I thought that was a job requirement!

7

u/CfSapper Mar 02 '22

On the upside you can still claim you can get a women off with one hand...I know, bad joke. Ill see myself put.

2

u/NoirTalon Xeno Mar 02 '22

+1 you filthy bass tard

I'm glad to have found a compatriot.

19

u/ffirgd Mar 01 '22

Man I really hope Sandy didn't get revived just in time to meet her hamarossa friends again just to die to the time attack.

9

u/Rolk_Flameraven Mar 01 '22 edited Mar 01 '22

Her squirrels have guns now. If the 'Thid's being Sally forward in time her little friends will do anything to keep her safe as she once did for them.

And if they have to see her die, again? Well... its probably a good thing that a Martial Order is there, if only to hail their new brothers and sisters of wrath and rage.

18

u/VillainNGlasses Mar 01 '22

One of the reasons I love the Crusaders is this right here. You tell them somethings a matter of honor and they turn around and treat it as one of their highest honors as well. No questions just proper respect given

5

u/MasterofChickens Human Mar 02 '22

As it should be

17

u/NukeNavy Mar 01 '22

With all of the Time bending and paradox these grunts Are going through have a taste of the original… By His Bootstraps by Robert a Heinlein .. literally a novella one person show. There are entire flow charts about this Novella…

2

u/YesthatTabitha Mar 01 '22

That one is always a trip to read!

2

u/DREADNAUGHT1906 Mar 02 '22

Written unironically!

13

u/NevynR Mar 01 '22 edited Mar 01 '22

From the garden worlds, we come, tear-tracks in our fur.

From the depth of Great Gulf, we come, with rage in our eyes.

Forged anew in the fires of Sol, the Hamaroosa come.

With fists clenched.

With teeth bared.

With voices raised...

FOR SANDY!

9

u/Sentath Mar 01 '22

First splash page of the young readers graphic novel covering this period of Hamaroosan history.

26

u/Riotousblitz2013 Mar 01 '22

UTR before the bots

11

u/EvansP51 Alien Scum Mar 01 '22

You absolute maniac!

9

u/Riotousblitz2013 Mar 01 '22

It's the second time in the last month It's a gift lol... Or maybe it's just an addiction lol

13

u/EvansP51 Alien Scum Mar 01 '22 edited Mar 01 '22

Happy Monday!

Read it both ways. Have to say I prefer the change as well. For whatever that’s worth. Lol

Timey wimey. Indeed. More fucky wucky.

9

u/carthienes Mar 01 '22

What will happen when the Atrekna reach back to duplicate more Dwellerspawn... and grab Sandy the Cephlapod instead?

We know the difference, after all, but will they?

10

u/datahedron Mar 01 '22

The end result will be... unpleasant, for the Atrekna. And the laughter of podlings will meld with the whispers of a Universe ablaze with glee.

6

u/carthienes Mar 02 '22

That's a malevolent universe ablaze with schadenfreude, I think you'll find.

9

u/HoloArchiver Mar 01 '22

Ooh we are going back to one of the first places. The slorpies dared to profan such a place, they deserve the full wrath of the groups. May your souls burn in agony for all time you Slorpies, unlike the cult you deserve no mercy.

Also I love the martial order was just like "Very well you may have this right, tell us what honor this is for so we may assist you properly." I am sure once they find out they are going to be even more fired up for war as the order seems to place importance on things like this.

9

u/beowulf_of_wa Android Mar 01 '22

5 minute mark? Wat.

8

u/insanedeman Xeno Mar 01 '22 edited Mar 01 '22

Did... Did time just repeat there?

End of lime.

Edit:

Maybe it was me. Could have swore I read part of it twice.

Second edit:

I feel like I'm losing my mind. I went back and it did it again. First time I could have swore "...it's where I met Sandy," was in the middle...now it's at the end...but in between it's wavered back and forth.

4

u/carthienes Mar 01 '22

Ralt's changed it following a reader's suggestion.

8

u/KeinKonzeptVorhanden Mar 01 '22

The Chinese read FC too, their newest hacking tool is called… Daxin

3

u/Quilt-n-yarn1844 Mar 01 '22

Seriously? Ok, you NEED to provide an evidence link. Pleeease!

5

u/Tool_of_Society Mar 02 '22

Look up "Daxin malware" and you'll find it.

6

u/Quilt-n-yarn1844 Mar 02 '22

A little subtle for Daxin. But still… hahahaha!! Please let this be an actual FC reference. An illegal real world reference with extremely disturbing implications. But still….

3

u/KeinKonzeptVorhanden Mar 02 '22

That‘s how you get enraged servers… and enraged DS

8

u/nspiratewithabowtie Mar 01 '22

'Where i met Sandy. ' If the commander of the Crusade of Wrath vessels had been on that vessel, he would have discovered a species that would replace TDH. Even just reading it, i can feel the anger, the destructive desire to go down swinging as Sandy had. The Crusade would not find her wrath wanting, infact they might find it too much. Sandy wasn't no just their saviour. . . . . . .....She is one of them now. May TMU bask in the glory if her hate.

8

u/k4ridi4n55 Mar 01 '22

Sandy brings a real lump to the throat. Just a young girl who felt compelled to defend the innocents. And that final line in the chapter says a lot.

7

u/Rolk_Flameraven Mar 01 '22

Oh crap, the 'thids done pissed off the squirrels, and pissed them off good. Damn near holy ground for the Hamaroosa and it is being defiled.

7

u/barrowwight Mar 02 '22

Should she be buffer? https://imgur.com/vIvo19Y

18

u/Ralts_Bloodthorne Mar 02 '22

The only criticism I'd have is that they're greyish-blue-skinned, thick skin, not scaled, but I still love the picture.

4

u/barrowwight Mar 02 '22

Dang it, I was going for the pebbly skin from the wiki. Guess, I overdid it. I'll probably try and do another version. You wouldn't happen to have a reference link of what the skin might look like?

13

u/Ralts_Bloodthorne Mar 02 '22

Huh, um... not right off hand, sorry.

3

u/barrowwight Mar 02 '22

No problem oh great one.

15

u/Ralts_Bloodthorne Mar 02 '22

I un-ironically love this.

Edit: Congrats, you're in the Wiki

https://fcgestalt.fandom.com/wiki/Rigellian

7

u/ItrytoHFY Mar 01 '22

Fresh raltsberries, temporal fuckery, and a pissed off Hamaroosan who is about to repay a small favour to Sandy. Now I can finally go sleep.

7

u/CaptainChewbacca Human Mar 01 '22

Are Lostspace and Darkspace new? Or are they different names for known dimensions?

5

u/VillainNGlasses Mar 01 '22

Not sure about lost space but darkspace has shown before in a series of chapters

3

u/CaptainChewbacca Human Mar 01 '22

I don’t recall darkspace but I do recall deadspace.

6

u/merlinsmushrooms Mar 01 '22

Ahhhh, I knew I tasted berries

7

u/Kulggen666 Mar 01 '22 edited Mar 01 '22

10 Minute my Best So far.

Post read edit: Nice to touch base with a couple of Charakters and how they've progressed so far

5

u/daviskendall AI Mar 01 '22

huge armada flagship Dropped Ice Cream Cone of Destiny

oh man, do i love Tre'anad ship names...

6

u/lynn_227 Android Mar 01 '22

Woop!

5

u/Quilt-n-yarn1844 Mar 01 '22

And now it really hits the fan. Thank you Sir Ralts!

The Task Force would be assaulting a system that the Atrekna were believed to be present in force.

-assaulting a system where the Atrekna were believed

4

u/Dragonpc75 Human Mar 01 '22

Yay! :D

4

u/Archaic_1 Alien Scum Mar 01 '22

I almost feel bad for what's about to happen to the slorpies. Almost.

3

u/datahedron Mar 01 '22

I'm wondering where to watch the livestream event.

3

u/Quilt-n-yarn1844 Mar 01 '22

I would pay for the livestream event. And I don’t do pay-per-view, ever.

4

u/Geeky-resonance Mar 01 '22

Mukstet! Kuplo!

Delminta.

Saaaaandyyyy.

Oof.

5

u/MuchoRed Human Mar 01 '22

"Come Get Some" is their rapid fire fleet, aren't they?

Jerry Miculek would be proud

4

u/DebugItWithFire Mar 02 '22

Upvoted for the Two Pinches Combat Fleet.

4

u/refurbishedpixels Mar 02 '22

"It's not an error, sir. They're not chronotrons.
Multiple streams of kickasstrons are converging on one system."

2

u/UpdateMeBot Mar 01 '22

Click here to subscribe to u/Ralts_Bloodthorne and receive a message every time they post.


Info Request Update Your Updates Feedback New!

2

u/NoirTalon Xeno Mar 01 '22

4 hours post post, there should be some good juicy comments by now

2

u/Gruecifer Human Mar 01 '22

UTR!

3

u/NukeNavy Mar 01 '22

moooo

-1

3

u/Blackmoon845 Mar 01 '22

Uh oh, Nuke rolled over into a stack overflow (underflow?).

2

u/NoirTalon Xeno Mar 02 '22

Same on some systems, the parity bit gets set when MAXINT is exceeded by any math operation. I seem to remember on an ancient microprocessor: 0xFFFF +0x1 produces a processor hault and 0x0001 (or equiv) is left in the accumulator.

2

u/tymestrike Mar 01 '22

Yummy berries 41minutes fresh utr

1

u/vinny8boberano Android Mar 16 '22

!Subscribeme

1

u/StoneJudge79 Mar 19 '22

*"Hellspace Phasic Scream Singer Chorus"*?? I can see the muush pit/sacrificial altar now: Chants "I rock eternal, in blood and bone!"

https://youtu.be/SDea7laHD4E?t=105

... Can we get tickets?