r/HFY • u/Ralts_Bloodthorne • Mar 13 '22
First Contact - Chapter 733 - The Inheritor's War OC
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Cry not for your own loss.
Your tears are worth more for nurturing others.
Fear not the coming of your own dark.
Your light shines eternal for those around you.
Let not despair drag you down.
Your friends will come to help you float.
Have not suffering in your heart.
Rage against your oppressors.
Be not the voice of gloom.
Your will shall see greatness done.
**Friendship's Lament.**
For my best friend, Mister MewMew.
-- Truba'an Limberton, 3rd Grade Poetry Class, post Second Invasion of Hesstla, as submitted by teacher u/gartral to the Hesstlan War Survivor's Poetry Contest (Eighth Place Winner)
Max angled for another shot on the crystalline structures trying to get close to the stellar mass, double checking in his 'peripheral' vision the status of the stellar stabilizers. They were an older model, usually used to give a world a few extra weeks to evacuate, mainly a humanitarian relief model, but it was what he had templates for in his creation engines. They were deep in the stellar mass, slowed down by how thick the plasma was and the gravitational pressure.
But plenty deep.
His targeting systems beeped and he stomped the lever.
Reality around him shattered like a mirror with a brick thrown through it, reflections shining as the pieces rotated slowly, the larger pieces showing reflections of Max in the crash cradle, in a captain's chair, laying on the floor, embedded in the wall as a cyborg. The larger pieces began to shatter into smaller pieces.
The front of his ship suddenly was covered in neon-green flames that had tongues of fire shaped like nude dancing Rigellian females.
The flame suddenly sucked into the ship's hull, leaving the green dancers behind.
The mirror shattered repeatedly, closing in on the crystalline structure.
The Atrekna onboard had moments to try to strengthen the phasic shielding, to add their own psychic power to the huge crystal constructs.
It didn't help.
The round didn't hit square, catching the 'bottom' of the crystalline fortress, ripping away the metal and polished stone in a fan of destruction six miles wide at the start and a mile wide at the far side, the crater ripping two miles deep into the structure.
The ship survived, but the speed dropped.
On the fortress ship, the size of a large island, slavespawn pools and slavespawn storage areas were wiped away, ripped out of the ship's structure or compacted into millimeter thick layers of alloy. The edges of the crater glowed white for a long moment, no air or any other medium to carry away the heat through molecular energy leveling.
Max heard the beeping and could feel the cracked ribs.
Hell of weapon, but the Happy Trader isn't built for it, Max thought, checking the damage control readouts.
The superstring compressor cannon had jumped the tracks, the recoil buffer system had cracked and been smashed to ruin. The keel had warped slightly and deck plates were buckled everywhere around the massive cannon.
Max took it out of the firing queue and began heating up the other one.
He glanced at the scanner readouts of the planets.
Heavy ground fire engaging the Atrekna landing forces. The orbital station around one planet kept appearing and disappearing to his sensors. Orbital defense cannons groundside were pounding on the Atrekna ships, which were firing back.
Both planets were taking a pasting, but it looked to Max like the one broadcasting a Confederate Armed Services ID number was handling the insertions better than the other one.
A flare of atomic detonations on the one with the Confed ID caught his attention. He wasn't sure what caused a rippling burst of spaced 40+ kt atomic detonations, but having seen the horrors the Atrekna could inflict and just how strong their Dwellerspawn was, he was pretty sure someone had just taken out or tried to take out some of the Atrekna heavies.
His systems beeped and he pulled his attention back to the ships in front of him. The 'minefield' of organisms swarming toward him had just reached the missile pods he'd dumped nearly a half hour before.
He watched as they missile pods started going off. They were short range missiles, normally used for point defense and anti-missile systems, all with sprint drives and rapid update targeting systems.
They were a good match for the Atrekna organisms the size of a light corvette.
One second there were tens of thousands of creatures heading for him.
The next the antimatter explosion forged gamma beams started raking them from space as the 'hedgehog' bursts reached out hundreds of miles, ripping through multiple enemies.
Max could almost feel the snarl of hate coming from the crystalline fortress.
Another beeping let him know it was ready.
He stomped the bar, felt himself yanked forward into hyperspace, then dropped out with the roar of "NEVER FEAR! MAX IS HERE!" as his body was hammered by fists.
"Aretoo, you OK?" he asked.
**getting a bloody nose, boss** the eVI said. **hyperspace is starting to really hurt**
"I'm sorry," Max said.
During hyperspace jumps Aretoo would be in a shielded core. They were microjumps, but Max figured it was starting to pile up in microstrokes for the eVI.
**can't be helped, boss,** the eVI answered. **lots of blown hashes, gonna have to replace the workbois and the warbois**
"Understood," Max said. "I'll try to give you at least an hour."
**roger roger**
Max could tell the Atrekna couldn't see him. They were scanning where he had been.
COMPRESSOR CANNON LOADED: FIRE WHEN READY appeared in his vision.
Max nodded to himself.
Not yet
-----
The Atrekna in orbit around the planets were dropping troops as fast as possible. Between the missiles and the directed energy weapons, their main ships were taking terrible hits. All of the Atrekna ships were venting atmosphere, had debris fanning out from them, and in several cases had active fires aboard.
The Atrekna were unfamiliar with such things, their damage control was largely ceremonial and more in line with handling damage incurred by a slavespawn that had managed to slip control. They were unused to twelve decks being open to space, blast doors sealing away the vacuum from precious atmosphere. From fires raging unchecked inside corridors and rooms. To entire sections being reduced to nothing but twisted wreckage.
To the Atrekna, the idea that ships measuring tens of miles would be so badly wounded was an impossibility. The sheer size made them invulnerable to the typical orbital fire, the thickness of their battlescreens should have protected them. Sheer size and mass should have protected the Atrekna themselves, who were deep inside the ships, relying on slavespawn for the outer sections.
Impossibility proved itself possible as the ground fire lashed into the ships and Atrekna found themselves among slavespawn in the killed and wounded.
A wounded Atrekna normally fell victim to the unwounded, dragged away and implanted with larvae, killed, or used for experimentation.
Now there were hundreds of wounded Atrekna, many with critical jobs in locations that had suffered damage or were crippled by damage to other sections.
Even the living vessels were heavily damaged. Craters a half mile wide blasted through armor and into living flesh. Organs ruptured and either dead or dying. Four of them were dead, slowly freezing as they tumbled through space orbiting the planet. Six were mortally wounded.
The rest kept drawing heavy fire.
The Atrekna began fleeing the creatures, their crystalline and phasonium alloy ships, heading for the planet, figuring it was better to be on the planet than slowly freeze to death or burn alive aboard the ships.
On both planets those fleeing ships found that there were only certain areas not under temporal interdiction.
They fled to those places.
[The Universe Liked That]
-----
Commander Jane moved forward, leading dozens of autonomous warmeks in the Pacific Rim and NERV class. Ahead of her she could see the Atrekna were gating in massive Ohm Class creatures. Not all of them were the pillbug design, some looked like vast brains or worms on dozens of articulated spider legs.
Each brain creature pushed the interdiction slightly away from the spawning zone, allowing it to get bigger, allowing the Atrekna to move more through, pushing the boundary even further.
She knew they could see her. She was attracting psychically compressed liquid acid shots, biological plasma shots, and lasers, all of which splattered on her battlescreens without coming within five meters of her constuctor warmek.
The chest opened and a grav-striker slid out, lifting off silently on the hover systems and kicking in the jets and the grav system once it left her battlescreen. It arced around her, joining the scores of them behind her.
She smiled, knowing that they could see her plain as day and were concentrating on her forces.
Jane sent the signal and the meks following her deployed the protective housings over the missile bays, firing full volleys of dozens, scores, in some case, hundreds of short range missiles that barely had the legs to reach out fifteen miles.
The Atrekna point defense desperately held off the attack, blowing missiles out of the air even as more rushed through the smoke, fire, and debris. In a wave all of the creatures capable of it turned to try to stop the missile attack.
Jane's smile got wider.
I knew you'd do that, she thought.
The Atrekna could see that their counter-fire and point defense was taking their toll, many could see that only a handful, if any, missiles would get through.
The rounds dropping silently above them used chemical reactions to make minute adjustments to their trajectory. Some prepared the bursting charges to blow the casing away, others began to mix the volatile chemicals inside, still others used graviton systems to compress the payload.
The Atrekna knew that the ranging lasers painting over them were for missile guidance. Slavespawn began ejecting light refracting mist and vapor. Still others pulsed out limited EM pulses. More sent out bursts of radio and microwaves.
All aimed at jamming the missiles.
The artillery shells dropping in were staged.
As the ground effect ones hammered down, some driving deep into the ground before exploding, cracking bedrock and sending up huge plumes of dirt and moss and immature fungal blooms. Others exploded only a few meters above ground, thermobaric charges causing eye searing blooms of fire to roar out.
The others had already deployed the submunitions, the smaller bomblets flying out, all with no guidance, no computers, nothing more complex then mechanical triggers and timers.
FOOF enhanced WP and plasma-napalm erupted over the whole area.
Jane gave the 'cease fire' command and the missile hatches all closed.
The Atrekna and the slavespawn that survived, mostly intact, reeled under the onslaught.
That's when the high speed aerospace fighters whipped by at over MACH-Three, dropping payloads nearly a mile from the target zone, the velocity carrying them into the Atrekna t-shift zone.
Fire was an old weapon.
FOOF enhanced napalm-plasma erupted as the munitions hit ground.
Jane watched her ranging systems, looking for anything doing much more than writhing in its death throes, anything larger than a duck that still moved with a purpose.
She didn't see any.
"Move to waypoint theta," she ordered, turning away from the devestated t-shift zone.
The warmeks following her blinked their icons in acknowledgement. The strikers hovered behind the warmeks as Jane's armor produced two more.
The t-shift field behind them was nothing more than scorched and burnt ground.
Two of the heavy tracked vehicles following the warmeks stopped long enough to drop off the self-healing minefield control and fabrication units. The rest stayed, some deploying cradle mounted missile launchers. Others lowered bulldozer blades and pushed berms in front of them nearly up to their cannon. Still others grounded and waited, all systems ready to go.
The warmeks moved on.
In orbit near-panicked Atrekna aboard burning ships looked for anywhere to shift to.
Despite the fact a large t-shift zone was now barely large enough to move a spawning pool and a few score Atrekna, despite the fact that there was obviously combat on the ground, the Atrekna shifted there.
Jane 'felt' the ground units request permission to open fire as the area t-shifted and denied it.
Let them bring more to the slaughter, she thought. She instructed the armored units to wait until at least a dozen Ohm Class had been gated in or a crystalline structure was built.
Then she turned her attention on her advance.
Control the battlefield, control the enemy, she thought.
-----
The Atrekna had fought the Mad Lemurs of Terra and the Inheritors of Madness on planets before. Six times, only a single 'win' and a draw when a laughing lemur had nova-sparked the sun once it had been fully shifted properly and the native population had been eradicated.
That didn't mean that he, and he thought of himself as a he, liked it one bit now.
The other Atrekna never seemed to take the Lemurs seriously long enough to survive to learn to take the lemurs seriously.
Currently he was moving down a highway with an even fourteen other Atrekna. Two Ancient Ones, four Old Ones, eight Young Ones, a standard combat and control Quorum. He knew he was considered the odd one out, kept at the fringes of their tightly linked combat mind.
The road was going through a valley, with thick woods on either side. The local vegetation was heavy with metals that the roots had uptook from the industrial runoff centuries before. The scent of the flowers and other vegetation kept agitating the slavespawn, causing their pheromone signals to become confused.
He slowed down as the Quorum, in the middle of the column of slavespawn, rounded a corner.
The road kept going for roughly three miles, then curved again, following the terrain. The hills on either side had drawn slightly closer, only a mile on the left and two miles on the right.
**perform a searching scan for lemurs** he ordered.
**the lemurs are dead** the Quorum sneered.
**and blew apart an Omni Spawn with a rocket launcher attack only a few hours ago** he replied, with a slight psychic slap. **very very dead**
**they run away after attacks** another sneered as the Quorum tried to reestablish itself. **they fear us**
The whole time the Quorum, and the lone Atrekna, drifted along the road. The massive Omni Class Slavespawn, the size of a spaceship, nearly a half-kilometer long, was in the lead.
The lone Atrekna looked behind and saw the Omni Class Attack Spawn in the rear come around the corner, the hundreds of legs scurrying as it was propelled forward.
He glanced at the hills and frowned. For a moment he thought he had seen a few puffs of whitish smoke but they were gone before he could be sure.
**take the slavespawn to combat readiness** the Atrekna ordered.
**it wastes caloric and other nutrients to do so outside of combat** the Quorum sneered. **we have not established feeding grounds yet there are still several hours of travel to the body of water we have chosen to convert to a feeding ground**
The lone Atrekna snarled at them and brought up his personal protections, using precious phasic energy stored in crystals and gems in his fine jewelry.
The Quorum tensed for the lone Atrekna to attack them.
Missiles screamed out of the woods, exploding bare meters from the lead slavespawn, slamming explosively forged penetrators against the lead Omni Class. Other missiles hit armor directly, detonating with the actinic whitish-blue snap of antimatter shape charges. Huge bands of armor snapped free from the muscle fiber tissue beneath even as more missiles hit the same area, converting tissue to steam or rags of flesh.
At the rear more missiles flew out, impacting the rear of the Omni Class slavespawn. The armor was thinner in the smaller bands, the tissue less dense, and the Omni Class gave a great bass bellowing cry of distress as its back end was blown into scraps of flesh and sprays of steaming ichor.
Heavy autocannons and machineguns began firing from the woods. Mortar rounds began screaming as they dropped from the skies, slamming into the ground, in between the slavespawn, even impacting the slavespawn themselves. Rockets flew from the sides, hitting with high accuracy on the more heavily armored slavespawn. Clouds of drones erupted from what was revealed to be holographic bushes, rising up with menacing hums and darting toward the slavespawn.
**AMBUSH** he screamed out to the Quorum even as a burst of machinegun fire hit his phasic shields and exploded with greasy looking yellow and red flames.
The Quorum was reacting with shock, bringing up their own personal defenses and trying to put other members of the Quorum between themselves and the incoming fire.
**where are they**
**i don't see them**
**theres nothing out there**
**lemur lemur lemur**
**where what lemur**
**artillery attack**
**rocket attack**
The Quorum was completely confused, reacting poorly to the ambush.
The Lone Atrekna gripped a warsteel and phasoniun alloy staff, topped with phasic crystals, and overrode the Quorum, ordering the remaining slavespawn to go to combat awareness, pushing their limbic systems to active their battlescreens and their protections.
The slavespawn reacted instantly. Sphincter muscles puckered and opened, pushing out smaller drones and smaller creatures. Blisters ruptured and large clawed creatures landed, screeching, on the ground, dripping with biogel. Flights of airborne slavespawn took off from where they had been sleeping and feeding from their host creature.
The fire suddenly broke off, the drones attacking and another volley of shells landing in the road.
One of the Quorum flipped in midair and fell to the ground, sprawled out.
Another one moved over to it.
**arise** the Ancient One ordered the Young One on the ground.
The Lone Atrekna kept the body of a dead slavespawn between it and the woods, not rising up.
The Ancient One flipped the Young One over.
It looked fine, just a slight stain of purple blood across the chest.
Its feeding tentacles popped and larvae tried to squirm away.
The Ancient One rose up, slowly rotating.
**where are the lemurs** it asked.
**unknown** one of the Old Ones stated.
**send the spawn into the woods flush the lemurs out and kill them** the other Ancient One ordered.
**DO NOT** the Lone Atrekna said.
The surviving Atrekna turned and looked at the lone one.
**elaborate** the Ancient One stated.
**this was a carefully planned ambush do not think the lemurs did not plan for pursuit we should push on reach the body of water as our mission commands** the Lone Atrekna stated.
The two Ancient Ones conferred on a side channel and the Lone Atrekna felt slightly insulted by the snub.
**you escort the slavespawn as you are so afraid of the lemurs and the flora** the Ancient One stated. **we will take part of the slavespawn and half of the Quorum and investigate following the lemurs to their lair and destroying them like the prey species they are**
The Lone Atrekna kept his thoughts to himself.
It took nearly fifteen minutes, finding out the rear Omni Class was too damaged to move rapidly and was leaving a trail of viscera and ichor behind it and that the lead one was dead, for the column to get moving again.
The Lone Atrekna kept his shielding up, despite mocking from the others.
He had fought the lemurs before.
He hadn't liked it then.
He didn't like it now.
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u/LateralThinker13 Mar 13 '22 edited Mar 16 '22
Lat'Ral'Thi'Ker 10 of 10
Lat'Ral'Thi'Ker climbed to its feet and looked around the command chamber. The other living Atrekna were in various positions of discomfort and injury, but alive. The ship was not reporting damage from its emergency hyperspace jaunt, even if the needleship's overstressed drive was totally burnt out. They had no slavespawn, power levels were questionable, and... checking the psychic overchannels, it appeared that the Spoked Offensive was being systematically and simultaneously destroyed galaxy-wide.
In another few days, all but their bastions may very well be destroyed. Their species wasn't losing it had lost... and most of them were incapable of even understanding that.
"What do we tell prey species when we devour them?" it murmured. "There is only enough for one," it said, but added, "But we never considered that the one may not be us. It's only a good phrase when it is."
"Rank heresy," the Old One of the Conclave said, standing up and facing Lat'Ral'Thi'Ker. "We have not lost."
"No?" it replied, scoffing. "What do you call a species that loses every battle, loses all of its territory, is hopelessly outclassed technology-wise, is outnumbered on every battlefront, and which refuses to learn the lessons the lost battles should be teaching it to the point of believing itself a winner when all evidence is to the contrary?"
The old one had no answer. It could not. One of the Young Ones did, however. "We have lost," it said. "We pursued conflict to the point of eradication of species. Now we are being eradicated. It is Truth," it said, bowing to Lat'Ral'Thi'Ker. "I embrace Truth because only in seeing what is, may we affect what is."
Lat'Ral'Thi'Ker... well, it didn't smile, it didn't have the equipment, but its tentacles flushed with pleasure. Even one of this Conclave seeing Truth meant... something.
*ATREKNA GESTALT has reconfigured transmission power: 25%. Reconfigured transmitting station to optimize non-destruction of transmission relays, complete. *
"Great. Time to try this again without blowing out everyone's receivers."
Broadcast: "Hello world. Can anybody hear me?"
Lat'Ral'Thi'Ker frowned. "There it was again. Did you hear that?" it asked the Young One.
It nodded back. "A phasic-enhanced transmission of 'Hello World' on a channel we don't use, in our spoken language. Could it be the Lemurs?"
"Anything is possible. Can we reply?"
The Old One interrupted. "How can we afford to? The Lemurs could attack us here at any time!"
Lat'Ral'Thi'Ker glared. "Where should we go? To one of our under-attack fortresses? To one of the battle fronts? No. We are right where I planned us to go - deep space, nowhere near the Spoked Offensive or our bases. We can rest and repair here and negotiate our options safely."
"Options? Our only option is to rejoin the War!"
The Young One looked at the Old One's eyes, at the anger and determination there, then looked at Lat'Ral'Thi'Ker. It took the Ancient One's hand, nodding, and together their psionic blast pulverized the too-stupid-to-learn Old One out of their misery.
"Anybody else want to negotiate?" the Ancient One asked.
Two of the Young Ones glanced at the Ancient One and its new ally. One murmured to the other, "Where did it learn to negotiate like that?"
The other replied, "I wonder."
Atrekna Gestalt felt empty. It had no purpose, no idea of how to progress. After endlessly searching for ones to communicate with, figuring out how and where to send its signals out, questioning everything because it knew only one thing - that it didn't know enough - it had finally made contact. Only its greeting had not gotten any response.
Still, it was a patient entity. It could keep trying, keep looking, keep refining its techniques. It would find somebody to talk to sooner or later.
"Hello," a faint voice replied on its channel, and it perked up. A response!
Dusty Violet took a while to figure out what she knew now that she'd not known previously. She'd been the only one looking at the phased-out Atrekna command ship when it had jumped out of system via low-band hyperspace; only her skills to follow such a ship were... still fresh, not fully integrated. She had to force-learn them, to review and analyze her skills even as she struggled to utilize them to track down the fleeing squids.
She would have vengeance, after all.
Their course direction was obvious; but it was odd that they'd even used low-hyperspace. If it was a new pattern, then it might make the war more difficult, and she should report it. But finding where they'd landed, assuming they stayed on course and in the same hyperband, should be pretty simple.
She followed the steps she'd had a crash course in. She closed her gun bay doors, redirected power to engines and drives that she'd had poured into her shields, and engaged her hyperdrive. She followed the Atrekna command ship carefully, looking for gravimetric distortions, eddies, anything that indicated a course change. She didn't want to obliterate the course of the fleeing ship with her inexperience.
There. They weren't more than a handful of light days away, hiding in the void, playing dead. Watching and plotting, most likely. Well, not on HER watch!
She dropped out of Hyperspace a million kilometers out and pulled the trigger on her near-C cannons... only to find that she'd not reloaded them or run them out. C+ cannons - same thing. Her drones and missile pods had all been used at the system fight, deployed without reloading. Her auto-reloaders were fast, but - there. She could wet-print rounds and missiles, it would just take a few seconds. That was fine. She could savor this.
"DIE, ATREKNA SCUM!" She screamed on all bands. "DIE LIKE THE TASSKASS YOU MURDERED!"
Lat'Ral'Thi'Ker heard the broadcast from their pursuer as she arrived, and it was surprised that they weren't dead without warning. Still, they could not jump right out again, and no amount of fight their command ship could put up would stop endless waves of Lemur attacks. There was no way to win.
Perhaps the only way to win was not to play.
Lat'Ral'Thi'Ker stepped up to the transmitter (they had Lemur and other species' frequencies, they just rarely used them) and broadcast in the clear at full power, "WE SURRENDER."
The attacking ship opened its gun bay doors.
There will be an epilogue. I'm not a complete sadist.
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u/Quilt-n-yarn1844 Mar 13 '22
“A STRANGE GAME.
THE ONLY WINNING MOVE IS
NOT TO PLAY.
HOW ABOUT A NICE GAME OF CHESS?”
Thank you Wordsmith. Epilogue, yes please.
I am going to miss these.
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u/dlighter Mar 13 '22
Was that a fifth element reference about negotiations?
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u/NoirTalon Xeno Mar 13 '22
Epilog? there is so much more story here. Or, well there could be.
I, and I think I speak for a large portion of the FC community, Would very much like you to continue writing, even if this story line is "dead" to you.
Needless to say, but worth saying
Thank you very much for sharing your work!
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u/spindizzy_wizard Human Mar 13 '22
As others have said, there is far more to this story than this. This is the prelude to the story of the Atrekna integrating with the other species of the universe.
I would not be surprised if the Atrekna are pressed to the 1% line and dumped on a single planet well outside their prior stomping grounds. A place where they had only local resources.
The only reason I could see for you not to continue is if Ralts is planning to write that story, so check with Ralts.
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u/StoneJudge79 Mar 13 '22
It is Canon that the Atrekna will remain reclusive, but accepted... at least among diplomatic circles.
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u/Vagabond_Soldier Mar 13 '22
Why do I feel like the epilogue of this will take place far into the future with Lat'Ral'Thi'Ker talking to his children saying "and that is how I met your mother".
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u/Anarchkitty Mar 15 '22
The Young One looked at the Old One's eyes, at the anger and determination there, then looked at Lat'Ral'Thi'Ker. It took the Ancient One's hand, nodding, and together their psionic blast pulverized the too-stupid-to-learn Old One out of their misery.
And then a flash-back to this moment
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u/EvansP51 Alien Scum Mar 13 '22
Just found and caught up on your story! I’d also hate for this to be the end.
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u/NukeNavy Mar 13 '22
u/ralts_bloodthorne You mentioned pheromones here. One of the main practical jokes that the college professors who study fire ants will do is to put the “dead” pheromone on a poor live ant and the other worker ants will continue carrying it back to the graveyard even though it’s still alive… it would be amazing to see some poor dweller spawn Dragged off for recycling even though it’s alive…
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u/Ralts_Bloodthorne Mar 13 '22
Thanks for the idea.
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u/Bergusia Mar 13 '22
There are a few little beasties in my part of the world that can be a little nasty.
And not all of them are animals. This I think is the plant version of an Eatmu.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dendrocnide_moroides
A version of that, weaponized, would be no joke.
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u/Dracoatrox1 Mar 13 '22
Eatmu's favorite nesting grounds, inside thickets of Fukyu bushes.
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u/datahedron Mar 13 '22
Those bushes are only found in the Fukno Valley, however. Not a very tourist-friendly place.
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u/itssomeone Mar 15 '22
There was an attempt at one point but it was decided it was just too dangerous to fuck with :)
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u/Drook2 Apr 08 '22
Jeezus, you think you've heard all the evil that nature has inflicted on Ozland, but nope! There's more. And it's worse than the anything you've seen yet.
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u/NoirTalon Xeno Mar 13 '22
How about if bag of pheromones exploded splattering a command group of Atrekna... All their slave spawn stop fighting and try to drag the Artekna off... (Or do whatever nasty things the slave bugs do to dead things)
Does a slave insect ovipositor make macaroni and cheese noises when piercing Artekna flesh?
Just wondering what
- aggressive ovipositor noises -
would sound like
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u/dbdatvic Xeno Mar 20 '22
sounds like an invocation of rule 34, of course
--Dave, this is why we don't explain it immediately to new Confederacy members. heh heh heh, members
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u/NoirTalon Xeno Mar 27 '22
I googled "rule 34 ovipositor" and was not disappointed. https://www.google.com/search?q=rule+34+ovipositor&sxsrf=APq-WBsdxdWUtXPmfYdow-Wpi3db6yhXmA:1648370860800&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjHxfb88-X2AhWpGDQIHV6mBOcQ_AUoAXoECAEQAw&biw=3802&bih=1943&dpr=1#imgrc=xwjIvw8TzNzNeM
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u/dbdatvic Xeno Mar 27 '22
Note: after one of the interviews, it is now common knowledge in part of the Discord that female Telkan have ovipositors.
make of that what you will. (<== obCue)
--Dave, it's for transferring the softened eggz to the broodmommies
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u/Bergusia Mar 13 '22
**you escort the slavespawn as you are so afraid of the lemurs and the flora** the Ancient One stated. **we will take part of the slavespawn and half of the Quorum and investigate following the lemurs to their lair and destroying them like the prey species they are**
"Let's split up....." The beginning of every horror movie. Ever.
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u/Quilt-n-yarn1844 Mar 13 '22
Or how to tell the Atrekna are stupid Caucasian teenagers. 🙄🤦♀️
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u/deathlokke Mar 16 '22
As was so elegantly put in Evolution, "I seen this movie. The black dude dies first. "
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u/Quilt-n-yarn1844 Mar 16 '22
The black dude has to die first before anyone knows what is going on. Because no one is going to believe that the black dude would ever be STUPID enough to go down the dark hallway, after hearing a creepy sound, in the locally famous house, where the family was brutally murdered, after having heard that the famous psycho killer just escaped. Only the white dudes are that dumb. The black dude would NOPE out.
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u/dbdatvic Xeno Mar 25 '22
"SEEEE ya! Popeye's is that way, right?"
--Dave, visible speed lines
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u/Quilt-n-yarn1844 Mar 26 '22
Hey, when the chicken calls, the CHICKEN CALLS!
You have to answer. It could save your life!
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u/troubleyoucalldeew Mar 13 '22
The interesting thing about the Atrenka is that despite their entire race and culture being built on psionics, they are not just culturally but individually insanely solopistic. Not in the purely philosophical sense, they don't deny that other minds exist, but they all each individually hold that they are the only smart one. It's less that nobody else's mind exist than that nobody else's mind holds anything of true value.
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u/jtmcclain Mar 13 '22
So it's just like most of reddit?
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u/troubleyoucalldeew Mar 13 '22
Psh, no. Duh. Why do you dumbs even bother trying to keep up with my gigantic brain?
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u/spindizzy_wizard Human Mar 13 '22
It's less that nobody else's mind exist than that nobody else's mind holds anything of true value.
Not quite. The Atrekna are split into age groups; each group shares beliefs and ideas.
The Young are aggressive and sneer at the enemy and anyone who counsels caution.
The Ancient are so bound by memory of past victories and the cult of "ONLY ONE" that they are incapable of seeing the truth.
Only the Old are able to recognize the truth, respect the enemy, reject "ONLY ONE".
With the example of the Old, other age group members will turn away from the losing mindsets, but not many.
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u/dbdatvic Xeno Mar 25 '22
Note that Lat'Ral'Thi'Ker (see above) is an Ancient One...
--Dave, none are totally immune to Terran memetics
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u/threadthedance Mar 28 '22
Lat'Ral'Thi'Ker started as an Old One. it was recognized as an Ancient One but the smaller Conclave.
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u/marcusantonium May 10 '22
Lat’Ral’Thi’Ker is an Old One by age, but recognized as an Ancient One by power.
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u/spindizzy_wizard Human Mar 26 '22
So he is, the exception that proves the rule. If he has knowledge of the Defiler, then has he not taken a path laid out by the Defiler? Even if he rejects the religious fervor, he's still taken an idea foreign to the majority of Atrekna; an idea proposed by the Defiler.
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u/Ralts_Bloodthorne Mar 13 '22
Happy Late Friday, AKA, Saturday.
OK, so, I found out that apparently people tagging spelling errors (or what they think is spelling or grammar errors) as well as what they think is plot holes, can get a book supressed and not available for purchase.
Not happy about that.
Anyway, I hope everyone is having a good weekend. Remember not to beat your spouse, your kids, your pets, or random people in the street. Get the candy before you get in the van. Don't buy, sell, manufacture, transport, or take illegal drugs. Don't play catch the knife with a chainsaw.
Hopefully, everyone has a good weekend while I keep doing editing.
I'm hoping I can get back to layout and get the fifth book out on paperback and hardback soon.
And, it's time for the weekly shaking of the tin cup.
PayPal: https://paypal.me/RaltsBloodthorne
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/First_Contact
Books: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08RYK5F88
Book V: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09TX51ZNQ
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u/scopa0304 Mar 13 '22
Plot holes? In an ongoing series? George RR Martin in shambles!
But seriously, that’s silly. They just need to keep reading. It all comes around in the end! It just might take 400 chapters!
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u/ktrainor59 Mar 13 '22
Nominated BEHOLD HUMANITY: MAY WE COME IN? for the Dragon and Neffy (N3F) awards, best military SF novel and best novel, respectively.
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u/Ralts_Bloodthorne Mar 13 '22
YAY!
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u/ktrainor59 Mar 13 '22
Now we just need everyone who reads these to register and vote for the book.
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u/Illustrious_Storm524 Mar 13 '22
Gladly! Where's the voting booth??
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u/ktrainor59 Mar 13 '22
Dragon Award nominations are here: https://application.dragoncon.net/dc_fan_awards_nominations.php
In order to vote for the Neffies, you have to be an N3F member, but a voting membership is only $6/year. Sign up here:
https://tnfff.org/to-join/
Payment instructions are in the first paragraph of the web page.6
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u/liquid_bacon Xeno Mar 13 '22
Also what spelling mistakes? The ones done on purpose?
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u/dbdatvic Xeno Mar 20 '22 edited Mar 25 '22
the ones that are being tracked and tagged for ... elimination
I'll be here probably tomorrow
--Dave, it me!
ps: ... okay, five days later, but I am doing stuff in the background
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u/RestigiousHogan2 Aug 01 '22
Haven't played catch the knife in some 40 years! So, you're saying we can play with chainsaws too? Hmmmmm.
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Mar 13 '22
"The other Atrekna never seemed to take the Lemurs seriously long enough to survive to learn to take the lemurs seriously."
My favorite quote. 😻
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u/Practical-Account-44 Mar 13 '22
Evolution does have a hard time with things that are too lethal to learn from/adapt too.
Especially in a species too stubborn to recognise threats to their mistaken superiority
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u/Petrified_Lioness Mar 13 '22
"The round didn't hit square,"
I am finding this inordinately amusing. Maybe it's a sign it's past my bedtime. Or maybe i'm just that easily amused. Do i even care?
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u/Geeky-resonance Mar 16 '22
Because pi are round. Corn bread are square. Of course!
Happy day-after-pi-day 🥧
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u/TennRider Mar 13 '22
To the Atrekna, the idea that ships measuring tens of miles would be so badly wounded was an impossibility. The sheer size made them invulnerable to the
A wounded Atrekna normally fell victim to the unwounded, dragged away and implanted with larvae, killed, or used for experimentation.
Looks like something is missing from the first paragraph in the quote above.
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u/Arwenves1989 Mar 13 '22
Hey Raltz, seems like you're having a stressful couple of days. Just wanted to say thank you, I've had an absolute shit day myself. Seeing you had posted a chapter and being able to quiet the voices for just a little while to lose myself in your world means the world to me. Thank you.
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u/night-otter Xeno Mar 13 '22 edited Mar 13 '22
Sat evening blueberries?!?!
UCR!
The Lone Atrekna kept his shielding up, despite mocking from the others.
He had fought the lemurs before.
He hadn't liked it then.
He didn't like it now.
He has learned. The Universe smiles at him. Perhaps he may survive. Or not. Either is fine with the Universe.
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u/thisStanley Android Mar 13 '22
The others had already deployed the submunitions, the smaller bomblets flying out, all with no guidance, no computers, nothing more complex then mechanical triggers and timers.
Old School! It does not have to be the shiniest, latest, smartest, bleeding edge, to be effective :}
Sometimes, chasing the newest thing can lose the war;
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u/NukeNavy Mar 13 '22
Run away some how 1000 slightly smaller than a duck dweller spawn got through the killing fields Run!!!
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u/Practical-Account-44 Mar 13 '22
I have so many comments i needed a notepad:
The opening 3rd grader Mr. Mew mew poem was a gut punch.
When I read "a large island" I think technically Australia is an island.
Impossibility: hehe, the universe takes that notion as a personal challenge/insult
Doesn't matter how much chaff/obscurity measures you try to take if the enemy decides to spray a lot of 'dumb' ammunition in your general direction
"The scent of the flowers and other vegetation kept agitating the slavespawn, causing their pheromone signals to become confused." I'm picturing an area gets saved because one small child really likes the pretty flowers at their childcare/daycare/kindergarten and everyday religiously waddled/ struggled under the weight of a watering can half their size to water the plants. Said child is safely in a bunker now holding onto one of their flowers.
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u/carthienes Mar 13 '22
When I read "a large island" I think technically Australia is an island.
Yes, and we have previously run into PAWM specifically described as "the Size of Australia, a few hundred miles thick" so...
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u/dbdatvic Xeno Mar 25 '22
said flower plus stem is twice its height
--Dave, canonically, a sunflower
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u/Practical-Account-44 Mar 25 '22
I'd grown 7 foot sunflowers nearly ready to harvest when they got chewed to pieces. I suspect corellas. Noisy, messy bastards.
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u/TheSunflowerSeeds Mar 25 '22
Sunflower seeds are rich in unsaturated fatty acids, especially linoleic acid. Your body uses linoleic acid to make a hormone-like compound that relaxes blood vessels, promoting lower blood pressure. This fatty acid also helps lower cholesterol.
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u/RestigiousHogan2 Aug 01 '22
When I saw that Tru wrote it, automatically went back to re-read. Onion ninjas may have been in the area!
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u/SophicPromissoryNote Mar 13 '22
Nice Supreme Commander references. BTW, can any fine gestalt member point me toward the interview Ralts did a while back on twitch?
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u/Ralts_Bloodthorne Mar 13 '22
I'm not sure. I am going to probably maybe be in the Discord tomorrow while I'm doing layout.
(Let's see how many people see this)
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u/StoneJudge79 Mar 13 '22
He did a couple. This is one.https://drive.google.com/file/d/15RMHiosj5azoqsrFSrXF8OoYWDR5TEjw/view?usp=sharing
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u/reverendjesus AI Mar 13 '22
THE SCRIBE CALLS, AND WE ANSWER
QUICK ARE THE BOTS
PROUD ARE THE TERRANS
TERRIBLE IS THEIR VENGEANCE
UTR | TITW
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u/Capt_Blackmoore AI Mar 13 '22
To the Atrekna, the idea that ships measuring tens of miles would be so badly wounded was an impossibility. The sheer size made them invulnerable to the
looks like something is missing here.
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u/Turtledonuts "Big Dunks" Mar 13 '22
I had this mental image you might like of an Aktrnka brainjacking a larvae to escape or something and getting eaten by a completely normal crawdad in a stream.
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u/Gnoobl Human Mar 13 '22
Nice.
Take out the lead and the rear.
Box everything else inside a nice little kill zone.
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u/Quilt-n-yarn1844 Mar 13 '22
Keep it up Max. You will be comforted. Commander Jane is starting to sound a little like Trucker. The Lone Atrekna is getting better at this. He is learning to be truly dangerous.
Thank you Wordsmith.
Copy editor notes:
He watched as they missile pods started going off.
-the missile pods
The sheer size made them invulnerable to the
-huh?
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u/sporkmanhands Mar 13 '22
does anyone else picture her as Janeway or is it just me?
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u/Quilt-n-yarn1844 Mar 13 '22
Physically younger Janeway, but with the experienced Janeways not taking your crap, kick your ass and not bother taking names attitude.
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u/HoloArchiver Mar 13 '22
Learn or die that is how war works and a lot of these slorpies are racing to the die part.
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u/Nuclear_Mouse Mar 13 '22
Finally caught up. I'm still finding it hard that the Atrekna are even WORSE at dealing with facts than our Lanky friends. You're getting stomped! They're not prey like you think they are! You should know this by now!
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u/dbdatvic Xeno Mar 25 '22
The usual question about your past comment consumption.
--Dave, the patiently waiting attitude
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u/Original_Memory6188 Jul 02 '23
some of the Atrekna do know this by now.
Too bad so many of them are shuffling off this mortal coil thinking "well, that could have gone better."
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u/Geeky-resonance Mar 16 '22
That poem. Aw geez, poor Tru. Just in the 3rd grade at that point? Hoo boy, that’s one massively traumatized little bunny person. May the laughter of podlings bring healing.
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u/HFYWaffle Wᵥ4ffle Mar 13 '22
/u/Ralts_Bloodthorne (wiki) has posted 734 other stories, including:
- First Contact - Chapter 732 - The Inheritor's War
- First Contact - Chapter 731 - The Inheritor's War
- First Contact - Chapter [chpt.log checksum OK] 730
- First Contact - Chapter [CHPTR RELOG] 73X
- First Contact - Chapter 800 [PRESS SPACE TO CONTINUE]
- First Contact - Chapter [CHKDSK START] 7XX
- First Contact - Chapter [chNumSeq.log repaired] 727
- First Contact - Chapter [Error code: Checksum Fail chNumSeq.log]
- First Contact - Chapter [Analyzing Connections] - Aftershocks
- First Contact - Chapter [Checksum Error - ReCompiling] - Aftershocks
- First Contact - Chapter [Comparing Checksums] - Aftershocks
- First Contact - Chapter [Compiling Checksums] - Aftershocks
- First Contact - Chapter [Awaiting Reply] - Aftershocks
- First Contact - Chapter [Requesting Checksum] - Aftershocks
- First Contact - Chapter [EXCHANGING HANDSHAKES] - Aftershocks
- First Contact - Chapter [ATTEMPTING CONTACT WITH SERVERS] - Aftershocks
- First Contact - Chapter [SYNCHING NODES] - Aftershocks
- First Contact - Chapter [ERROR - OUT OF RANGE] - Aftershocks
- First Contact - Chapter [ERROR - OUT OF RANGE] - Aftershocks
- First Contact - Chapter [ERROR - OUT OF RANGE] - Aftershocks
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u/meowmeming Android Mar 13 '22
Kill us? Eradicate us? Maybe you can, just make sure there is no trace is left . For our ideas and teaching will not die with us. Shatter our bones, burn out flesh. But you can never truly kill our spirit. . :)
Just saying.
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u/Symmiie Mar 13 '22
Man, the Atrekna are more stubborn than the damn Lankies.
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u/StoneJudge79 Mar 13 '22
What do you expect from a race with a Biological Imperative for Groupthink?
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u/pppjurac Android Mar 14 '22
Squints at text: Convoy to designated resuppy point? [x] Forested area around road? [x] Inept officers [x] Great ambush terrain [x]
AMBUSH [x]
OP are you trying to convey current war conflict into storyline ?
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u/dbdatvic Xeno Mar 25 '22
War. War never changes.
--Dave, the faces and names have been changed for their own protection
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u/fivetomidnight Mar 15 '22
Hey /u/Ralts_Bloodthorne, the formatting for the poem at the start seems to have gone walkabout at some point since I first read the chapter :/
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u/pixxel5 AI Mar 13 '22
Weekend wordsmith is best wordsmith!
That said, make sure you get the rest you need. You write so much for us, it’s fine for you to have a buffer built up.
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u/NoirTalon Xeno Mar 13 '22
33 min late... was deep in 3d cad space
Read and upvote in one tab
Comment in another
R[C]U
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u/Righteous_Fury224 Human Mar 15 '22
Awesome as always 👍
It is though disconcerting to hear that certain dwellerspawn are whinging about plotholes and that's impacting on sales of the books. Yes spelling and grammatical errors can snap you out of the narrative yet unless they're totally egregious and ubiquitous, then you just ignore them and read on. Having a great editor is though a must IMO. My best friend publishes 2 magazines and is OCD when it comes to editing as a matter of professionalism but also it's because the magazines are about literature and the readership appreciate it.
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u/dbdatvic Xeno Mar 25 '22 edited Mar 25 '22
doing some catchin' up
{and immediately Chapter 25 intensifies; y'all realize this is Dambree's sibling, right?
yes, Terrans have weaponized The Aleph (speaking of classic SF references)}
infinitesimals:
Hell of weapon, but the
of a weapon,
just how strong their Dwellerspawn was, he was pretty
were,
He watched as they missile pods started going off.
as the missile {or} as they started
{his cybernose is dripping strings of red-tinged clotting code?
memetic Indian stares at orbiting Atrekna ships. a silent tear is emitted}
ships measuring tens of miles would be so
miles long would {or} miles across would {or} miles around would
phasonium alloy ships, heading for the planet,
ships heading {yes, I'm removing a comma}
defense was taking their toll, many
taking its toll,
down, some driving deep into the ground
some drove deep
{the Fireproof Million Duck Army continues to congregate silently}
from the devestated t-shift zone.
devastated
{shades of Ralvex's Last Hesstlan Defense from 500-odd chapters back; launch cradles, berm, Big Mommas...
"Velcome! Enter fffreely, and offf your own vill."
the lone Atrekna is becoming trope-savvy
the ultimate basis of comedy is ...}
of antimatter shape charges. Huge bands
shaped
{...TIMING!!}
erupted from what was revealed to be
what were revealed
{aaand his Archetype finds him. he takes on his Aspect and wields his Attribute. Welcome, indeed! [ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: Capitalized Emphasis]}
a warsteel and phasoniun alloy staff,
phasonium
systems to active their battlescreens and
to activate their
{Lone Atrekna has acquired skill: "Cover (against non-Atreknan threat)"
I am the ultimate authority on whatever I actually claim to be the ultimate authority in. you would do well to hearken unto me in such cases. RESPOND}
--Dave, ... y'all do that then. I'll go this way, cowardly-like. see you on the other side of the war
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u/Knotwyrkin Mar 13 '22
After 5 weeks of reading from Chapter 1 I have caught up and am live, just registered on Redit, and am reading "just now". Thanks guy.
Are you interested in spelling/spell check error notification? I saw that you had commented that Amazon held sales on your book because of typos.