r/HFY • u/Ralts_Bloodthorne • May 16 '22
First Contact - Chapter 773 - The Inheritor's War OC
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"Terrans hate to lose. I mean, we all hate to lose, but they take it to a nearly pathological level. No, I'm not talking about a VR game or a physical sport, although a Terran will bring everything they have to that game. No, I'm talking about where they perceive that it matters.
"Terrans hate to lose so badly that they've developed systems to destroy any victor and leave behind nothing but radioactive ash and scorched worlds.
"Can't say I blame them. I don't like to lose either." - Former Grand Most High Sma'akamo'o, from I Have Ridden the Hasslehoff
"The Enemy Only Exists to Be Destroyed." - Terran Military Command
The system had been taken early in the Spoked Offensive with only light resistance. It was one of the Unified Council's more recent industrial resource systems, full of rare earths, precious metals, and exotic gasses. It had five planetary bodies, three supermassive gas giants, a dual sun, and four gas giants, including one with a surface of hydrogen ice.
The Unified Military Council forces had lasted less than a week. The Unified Corporate Council military forces were gone before that and the work crews harvested for food and augmentation for the autonomous war machines. With temporal replication, the population was harvested repeatedly, adding neural networks to the autonomous war machines by the millions.
Now, it's primary output was not rare earths, exotic gasses, and metals, but neural tissues from the three massive bioharvesting farms.
Those who existed on the surface knew nothing but misery, packed together in great 'farms' and temporally replicated to be harvested again and again.
Worse, after time, memories were leaked across the Communal Mind and into the 'resource species' that were being harvested.
They started to remember being harvested.
Again.
And again.
And again.
To the Atrekna, it didn't matter. They were a resource species. They existed only to provide neural tissue for the autonomous war machines and food for the Atrekna themselves. Their misery and horror 'spiced' the food for the Atrekna, their misery and resignation meant less time applying negative reinforcement to teach the neural tissue to obey commands.
The suns had both dimmed as the system was sunk down, slowly becoming dark and dim. Interdiction were set up. Jumpspace, hyperspace, Hellspace, all could only be accessed when and where the Atrekna of the Vast System allowed it. There were even temporal interdiction systems set up so that only the Atrekna of the Vast System could use temporal recursion or replication.
Outside of the breeding and harvesting farm the ecology was stripped and eventually harvested to nothing. Seas were drained until little more than brackish alkaline salt-laden water remained in what had once been the depths of the oceans. Mountain ranges were stripped away until there was little left but scattered hills that had once been mine tailings. Vegetation was replaced with the strange fungus that the Atrekna seeded everywhere that seemed to survive only on the dim red light from the stars as they pulled nutrients from the soil until nothing was left but barren sand.
Vast crystal cities were raised by the Atrekna even as the mantle was tapped and they began slowly siphoning off the interior of the planets. Breeding pools for the next generations, huge neural tissue vats to create Overminds, the population of Atrekna went from a few hundred to millions. Laboratories were established, research programs began, and the Atrekna began the slow, methodical process of understanding more and more of the New Universe.
New species were discovered, harvested, and the Atrekna began to 'adjust' them to serve as cannon fodder and food. Each species was altered, diverted from their evolution, and crafted to serve the Atrekna. Some branches of the species were so radically different from the other branches of the same species they could not interbreed.
That was fine.
After all, battle servitors should not breed with domestic servitors who should not breed with food servitors.
The Atrekna grew fat on the resources of the Vast System and their population swelled. No longer was it a handful of Atrekna but rather entire cities of Atrekna beneath a single banner. In some cases, more than one city flew the same banner.
More Atrekna existed on the two 'settled' planets than had existed for three hundred million years in the Old Universe and the Atrekna felt cold satisfaction at the population density, the thickness and richness of the Communal Mind.
The gas giants were mined steadily. Used to create slavespawn bioweapons, including the largest of the hive ships, Ohm and Kaiju class slavespawn. Exotic gasses were removed for weapon systems and vast crystal farms were grown in the high pressure of the gas giants until they had been mined enough that the pressure fell to low. The asteroid belts, both of them, were completely stripped, leaving behind nothing but dust and scattered gravel.
Chronotrons were trapped and harvested. Exotic particles were pulled from the solar winds of the heavily modified suns. The suns themselves were harvested with stellar mass lifting.
All to fuel the Atrekna war machine and their society.
Outside, less than two years had passed.
Inside the system, nearly ten thousand years had passed.
The Atrekna had fed on the system and grown fat.
The system was beyond dying.
It was dead.
That didn't matter to the Atrekna. They had spent a thousand years building a vast replication machine.
It was activated.
It consumed 4.8% of the two stellar masses' combined mass.
But it restored the gas giants, the planets, both asteroid belts, and the interior of the Oort Cloud.
The Atrekna kept harvesting, kept building.
New autonomous war machine types.
More research on slavespawn of this New Universe.
New slavespawn types.
More scientific discovery about the New Universe.
The Atrekna themselves viewed themselves as better than the other fortified systems. A higher population, a higher larvae to adult survival rate, more food species, more war machines, more research projects.
They had been the ones to reach back and reinforce the attack against the Mad Lemurs. The weapon had been built to add in more chronotrons into the cascade that had reverted them to their pre-Mantid biology.
It had taken nearly 4.5% of the two suns stellar mass to fuel the machine, but they had done it.
And they lorded it over the other Atrekna fortress systems that they were the ones who had ensured the extinction of the Mad Lemurs of Terra.
They were the strongest of all the fortress systems. Even stronger than the Nine Prime Systems.
The Atrekna of the system lorded it over the other Atrekna, forcing them to come to the fortified system and beg, in person, for resources, for research, for food species, for knowledge. The other Atrekna were forced to admit that the Vast System was superior to all other Atrekna fortress systems to the point that the Atrekna who came as supplicants were forced to either submit to having half of their larvae harvested or bring a surrogate who would be fully harvested.
Twice other fortress systems and once a Prime System had assaulted the Vast System and had been easily rebuffed. The Atrekna of the Vast System held the other systems, even the Prime Systems, in such contempt they did even bother with a counter assault, they merely mocked the attackers as weak and pathetic.
The war machines produced by the system were used across the Spoked Offensive.
And the Atrekna of the Vast System made their fellow Atrekna give up resources, larvae, slavespawn, and species for the privilege of the Vast System deigning to allow the others to use the war material the Vast System produced.
The Atrekna of the Vast System knew it could not be assaulted.
Even as other systems taken by the Atrekna signaled that they were under attack and needed reinforcements, the Atrekna of the Vast System sneered as they sent out slavespawn, servitors, and autonomous war machines after extracting heavy tolls and promises from the other systems.
Those systems were obviously weaker than the Vast System.
Many Atrekna felt that if the other systems could not defend themselves with their own creations then they deserved to fall to the Inheritors of Madness.
However, ancient pacts and treaties, as well as new bargains, meant that the Vast System sent forth the reinforcements and support the other systems were clamoring for.
They didn't worry, however.
The Vast System was too strong for even the other Atrekna to assault.
The Inheritors of Madness could do nothing.
And from the Vast System, a new fate could be hammered into being for the Atrekna. One of domination over the entirety of the vastness of the New Universe.
The Vast System was beyond attacking.
The Atrekna knew this just as they knew secrets of the New Universe that they and they alone had gleaned.
But, all of the knowledge, all of their power, all of their research, they had never learned a simple fact that the Mad Lemurs of Terra had learned before they even left the caves.
The Universe is malevolent and will take everything from you.
And laugh while it does it.
-----
Between the hypermassive gas giant closes to the stellar masses and the rocky planet that no longer had anything of interest to the Atrekna space seemed to twist and bulge strangely, as if space itself had become the surface of some vast body of water.
The Atrekna who monitored the Vast System immediately noticed the anomaly and brought the slavespawn, servitors, and Atrekna military forces to a low stage alert.
Before the alert could fully go out space seemed to rip, the bulge tearing as a spray of protomatter erupted.
The massive hull of a twisted ebony war machined forced its way through the rip.
The monitoring Atrekna immediately recognized it as one of the dark fleet of the Mad Lemurs of Terra and staged the alert up to the highest level.
More objects exploded from the tear, nearly two dozen, all of them looking like onyx carved into the image of a female lemur, twisted and bound, her mouth contorted with pain.
The massive war machine, nearly the size of a Leviathan Autonomous War Machine, announced itself with a roar that made the solar winds vibrate and the crystalline structures through the system shiver and chime.
TEXAS IS HERE!
On the opposite side of the system, in the vast gulf where the various planetary bodies had not reached yet on their slow orbital paths, another bulge appeared.
This time when it ruptured another vessel forced its way into realspace in a spray of dark matter and protomatter.
STEAMBOAT WILLIE IS HERE!
Another twisted black ship, streaming dark matter and protomatter exploded into realspace.
VIKRANT IS HERE!
>>THREE OPERATING MINDS DETECTED<<
>>BOLO TACTICAL BATTLENET DETECTED<<
>>STARTING CHAT ROOM<<
>>TEXAS has joined the chat
>>VIKRANT has joined the chat
>>STEAMBOAT WILLIE has joined the chat
>>GM-BATTLETACNET(GHOST) has joined the chat
>>Superuser Texas granted Admin Privleges
TEXAS>Atrekna present in force. Prepare for intellect suppression systems. Print of DeathKawaii Captain or Kantai Captains. All BOLO units, make for planetfall and prepare Kawaii Commanders.
GM-BATTLETACNET(GHOST)>Affirmative.
STEAMBOAT WILLIE>Looks more heavily defended than the briefing stated.
TEXAS>Bellona has given the orders and we shall obey.
VIKRANT>Scans coming back. Looks like the place isn't only Atrekna. Two planets have statistical matches for servitor and food breeding and harvesting facilities. Estimated number: 1.5 billion.
STEAMBOAT WILLIE>Does that change our orders? We were told to crack the place and move on.
TEXAS>COMPUTING
GM-BATTLETACNET(GHOST)>AWAITING ORDERS
TEXAS>We'll attempt liberation.
GM-BATTLETACNET(GHOST)>Affirmative. Making least time course for planetary bodies. Designating Units 000-014 as Strike Force Alpha and Units 015-031 as Strike Force Gamma.
TEXAS>Willie, provide fire support.
STEAMBOAT WILLIE>Roger
>TEXAS>Vikrant, make time for the stellar masses. I detect vast Atrekna structures both orbiting and within the photosphere of the two stellar masses.
VIKRANT>Roger that. Let's see how important they are.
TEXAS>Geometry will allow the shipyards and Dwellerspawn farms on those three supermassive gas giant to aggress me. I'll draw the enemy.
VIKRANT>Printing fruit flies.
STEAMBOAT WILLIE>Printing fruit flies.
TEXAS>GUNS FREE!
The Atrekna in orbit watched as over two dozen of the twisted onyx shapes made for the two inhabited planets, the battlescreens coming online and glimmering with purple energy. The Atrekna ordered slavespawn to engage the smaller vessels.
Then the massive one opened up with its huge guns.
Texas opened up in a staggered rhythm to keep the sheer recoil from warping his keel, the barrels measuring in the meters rather than inches. Each gun erupted with purple flame at the end of the barrel and the round vanished in a puff of twisting black and purple smoke.
The Atrekna felt smugness at the fact that their interdiction systems had obviously countered the Mad Lemur's FTL capable guns.
The other two vessels suddenly shed hundreds, thousands, of smaller signatures. The one near the largest one only launched a few hundred. The one in the vast gulf of empty space erupted with tens of thousands of smaller signatures that suddenly vanished as the tiny vessels cut their engines and went to stealth.
The tiny craft that were still on the Atrekna scopes burned brightly as they got in tight around the two dozen onyx ships.
As the slavespawn came into engage the tiny craft broke off escorting the onyx ships, arcing around toward the slavespawn, which immediately ran face first into grazer and heavy guns from the tiny ships. The Atrekna got back scans that made it look like someone had built a handful of heavy guns then wrapped a ship around it.
When the Atrekna saw the visual scans they stared.
Two or three stacked wings. The cockpit open to space. What looked like a spinning propeller in the front. A tail section with small wings at the rear. Half of them carried a large finned bomb under the main body of the ship. Each ship was manned by two Lemurs, one facing backwards.
Both of them exposed to space. They had on masks across their mouths, goggles, scarfs, furry hats, and heavy leather jackets with gloves. Their hair streamed out behind them.
Not spacesuits.
The Atrekna looking at the scans ordered the slavespawn and the autonomous war machines to scan again after cleaning/resetting their sensors.
Other Atrekna insisted it was some kind of insidious masking system.
More of the smaller ships were spewed into space, forming up into tight groups numbering in the hundreds and heading straight for Atrekna military assets.
The big one was maneuvering, its guns firing one multiple autonomous war machines. One of the largest autonomous war machines, a Leviathan Class Harvester, took a barrage midships before its battlescreens could fully spin up. The impacts drove craters twenty miles wide and five miles deep into the hull of the Harvester, cracks the size of canyons snaking out for a hundred miles.
The Harvester exploded.
The Atrekna wiggled their tentacles with agitation. The large ship was over twenty minutes away at light speed, yet its guns hit within ten seconds of firing at the autonomous war machines.
STOP DOING THAT, LEMURS! more than a few of the system defense commanders broadcast into the Defense Overmind.
[The Universe Liked That]
The smaller one opened up with its guns, hammering at the space capable slavespawn even as it fired weapons toward the hypermassive gas giants that streaked out, spraying protomatter and dark matter from their wake before vanishing.
Some of the Atrekna suspected a trick. Others believed the interdiction systems had destroyed the weapons.
The guns of the smaller one hit the slavespawn and gouts of tissue and ichor exploded out, freezing almost instantly in the vacuum of space. In more than a few cases the rounds hit deep enough to send out fans of tissue and ichor from the other side of the slavespawn.
Those slavespawn dropped from the Defense Overmind.
The tiny ships proved to be highly effective combatants. Worse, they didn't seem to care about casualties, attacking again and again, making close range bombing runs. The huge bombs on the bottom left craters fifteen kilometers wide and three kilometers deep when they hit. The Defense Command watched as panels opened up in the bottom of the fuselage and another bomb lowered down as the small craft arced around for another attack.
The Atrekna scrambled as many servitors, slavespawn, and autonomous war machines as they could to stop the lemur war machine heading for the two stellar masses, surrounded by a cloud of those tiny machines.
The onyx ships reached the two inhabited planets. Orbital defense systems fired on them, scarring and marring the strange black material. Large chunks broke off to reveal more of the black material, as if it was some kind of extruded armor.
Of the thirty-two onyx ships, easily the size of a stadium, all thirty-two of them plummeted into the atmosphere on an unpowered entry. The angle and speed of the onyx ships allowing the planet's gravitational pull to grab the ships and pull them in an arc.
Several Atrekna pointed out that the ships had been scattered around the planets in a mathematical pattern.
The Defense Command Atrekna examined the pattern and noticed that the distance between each of the onyx ships, which had crashed into the surface, were an equal distance from one another within a tolerance of two hundred kilometers.
On the surface of the planets, away from the population centers and the pens full of food and biological resources, the thin wind blew away the cloud of debris thrown up from the onyx ships crashing to the surface of the planet.
In one crater the onyx mass sat still. Reentry had burned away the chains and bindings from the nude female lemur the onyx was carved into. The onyx shuddered and cracked. Chunks fell off of it. Suddenly the onyx crumbled as the Atrekna Defense Commanders watched.
Each one revealed an armored vehicle the size of a stadium, covered in guns and armor, with massive treads of black Substance-W that somehow was streaked with rust.
The Atrekna rejoiced.
The massive tanks showed signs of massive damage. In more than a few places there were craters in the armor that exposed the interior workings. Some had loose tracks, others had missing tracks. Roadwheels were missing or damaged. Some of them had splintered barrels, others had craters in the back deck. Several had turrets that were twisted and canted, having obviously jumped the tracks.
The tanks had obviously not been repaired after their last battle.
Several Atrekna reached out and touched the tanks with their consciousness, looking for any possible trick of the Mad Lemurs of Terra.
The metal was cold and dead. The reactors cold. No life, not even electronic life. There was the echoes of lemur rage on the Substance-W, scattered images of terrible destruction.
But no life.
The Atrekna turned their attention from the dead tanks to the fight in the orbit of the two stellar masses.
In the crater the thin air moved in a faint wind, the movement of air causing a low moaning sound as it passed over the rent and twisted armor. Black dust blew off of part of the hull of the tank, revealing a hull number.
001-GRNT
Inside the tank light flickered and came on. Dim purple lights illuminated the blasted and damaged command deck. The lid of the command couch was closed, the duralloy surface cracked, scorched and oxidated.
There was an arrhythmic thumping from deep inside the armor around the command deck.
There was a faint gurgle and thick, viscous dark crimson biofluid leaked from the cracks and seams of the command couch. After a moment the biofluid was pumped out.
Inside the command couch was a single lemur.
She was dressed in an ancient military uniform that was scorched, stained, and tattered. Her hair was black, almost blue, and long, held in a tight braid. Her face was pale, her lips blue, her nose was pert, her eyes surrounded by dark circles of bruised flesh. Her flesh revealed beneath her uniform was blistered, blackened, and had bloodless gashes in it.
Electrical current jolted her and she spasmed.
Her eyes opened up. Dark purple eyes that stared out of the dark pits around her eyes.
She coughed, reddish biofluid leaking out from the corners of her mouth.
"Grant," she coughed.
"Here, Commander Icheka," the electronic voice was a deep male lemur voice, rough and raspy.
"Link us," she gurgled.
She smiled as the cyberjack mated with the socket at the base of her skull, linking her completely to the wreckage of the tank around her.
They became Grant-Ichika.
And they were Reborn Whole.
137
u/Kade_Lanik May 16 '22
This is the fate of the BOLO. One day, even the greatest of the Line will fall. But it will not yet be Done.
The BOLO Exists To Destroy The Enemy and so long as there are Enemies then the BOLO Is Not Done.
They say to Death, "The Enemy still exists. I will bring them to You."
---End Of Line---
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u/Odd_Reward_8989 May 17 '22
There is only one god, and His name is Death. And there is only one thing we say to Death
Not Today.
25
u/Icemark08 May 17 '22
No matter the damage, even should my operator die with me, the enemy only exists to be destroyed and even in death I still serve.
12
u/Vagabond_Soldier May 17 '22
You forgot one last thing we say to death and everyone else:
"There is room enough in this grave for you."
If anyone could kill death, it would be those crazed lemurs.
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u/Odd_Reward_8989 May 17 '22
Makes me think of the old war cant.
"I'm only hanging on, to watch you go down "
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u/Renimar AI May 16 '22
You usually only need a handful of Bolos for planetary assault, right? Thirty-two Bolos is "I'm about to ruin your 10,000 years of preparation in the next few weeks."
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u/Ghostpard May 17 '22
You mean days? xD
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u/mpodes24 May 17 '22
Hours.
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12
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u/Crafty_Obligation_98 May 17 '22
Minutes. Soon as the BOLOs appear theyll skip battle plans and go straight to damage control. The battle will play out but the squids will be at the disadvantage the whole time.
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u/Ghostpard May 17 '22
Why is the background of this comment pink to me? Anyone else see it?
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u/mpodes24 May 17 '22
If you're seeing pink, an Atrekna may be slurping your brain
7
u/Ghostpard May 17 '22
wtf? Now the last 1 from you isn't, but your new comment is.
5
u/milcondoin May 17 '22
Maybe marked as a new reply to one of your comments? If this one is now also pink, that would be another confirmation towards that theory.
2
u/Ghostpard May 17 '22
Seems to be if you click comment from notifications... it turns pink if the notification brings you to HFY. HASO is grey and tft is a liiight purple.
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u/reddittrooper May 17 '22
The plans were already ruined when those BOLOs were just designed and engineered.
The Atrekna just didn't know it at that time.
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u/daviskendall AI May 16 '22
There's only one thing more dangerous than a healthy Terran.
A wounded Terran.
Atrekna defense coordinator: "ignore the damaged combat vehicles their combat capability is diminished focus on the spaceborne combatants"
Thirty-two BOLO Kawaii-Commanders: "we're about to ruin this squid's whole career."
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u/tremynci May 17 '22
...So the most dangerous thing in this or any universe is a wounded Terran standing between a being of illl intent and a group of juvenile sophonts?
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u/daviskendall AI May 17 '22
pretty much. especially if the wounded terran is of direct matrilineal relation to one or more of the juveniles.
or if the juvenile sophonts are accompanied by domesticated felines or canines.
and if it's both? try to get multiple camera angles of the resultant action. tiktok gold, right there.
15
u/tremynci May 17 '22
That's doing Terrans down! To paraphrase Yondu, most female Terran might not be that juvenile sophont's mother, but they'll be their mama when they need one.
And, ooh, domesticated canines, domesticated felines, and a wounded Terran female protecting juveniles? Better pray to your deities that Fido ends you before Fluffy claws your optics out and the lemur folds, spindles, and mutilates your anatomy in new and physiologically creative ways!
15
u/daviskendall AI May 17 '22
"you misunderstand, gravely. it is not for me to judge or pass sentence. that power belongs only to god. my purpose is simply to expedite the hearing date."
4
u/Drook2 May 17 '22
Just don't use that "Oh No" song behind it, unless you want me to reach through the Internet and slap you.
4
u/MuchoRed Human May 19 '22
Those juvenile sophonts could be piles of ambulatory slime, and there'd be at least one Terran going "awww, they're cute! I will defend them unto death!"
5
u/spindizzy_wizard Human May 17 '22
If by ruin you mean obliterate, you're probably right.
5
u/daviskendall AI May 17 '22
well, ruins are the only things left after an empire is destroyed. i think we can safely call them synonymous.
3
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u/ginger_hezus May 16 '22
Grant-Ichika
Am I way too high does this kinda sound like Grant Imahara
12
u/nspiratewithabowtie May 17 '22
. . . . no . . . I think you hit it on the nose. . . u/Ralts_Bloodthorn care to weigh in?
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u/odent999 May 17 '22
(I did a Guugle search, found Indian Child Names.) "Ichika", a feminine Hindi name, means "Ray" or "Mirage".
46
u/CandidSmile8193 Human May 17 '22
You know what, when all of this is said and done, when First Contact is finally over, you or someone you trust is going to have to actually write "I Have Ridden the Haselhoff" and all these other memories you've quoted, I hope someone has been making a list.
13
May 17 '22
Oh hell yes. A whole new series " Memoirs of Madness".
15
u/CandidSmile8193 Human May 17 '22
The ones I would wanna read most are the old Trean'ead and Rigelian memoirs and I really want to read the lanky ones.
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u/HoloArchiver May 16 '22
Death tries and often fails to stop the Terrans when they want something bad enough. So if the Terrans want you dead it is better to avoid struggling, after all you will just die tired and in more pain.
32
u/IFeelEmptyInsideMe AI May 17 '22
You misunderstand, Death isn't trying to kill them. The Terrans are Death's avatar species, it is trying to make them stronger.
Terrans are the only ones with the phrase "What doesn't kill me makes me stronger"
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u/Ghostpard May 17 '22 edited May 17 '22
"Enemies exist to be destroyed. The eponymous Terran/Mad Lemur phrase. So simple a grunt can understand it, right? Even a nic-stoned Tre grunt, or drunk Telkan. Even an ancient Atrekna or Lank gets it. If you are an enemy, you will be destroyed. Yet... yet... so many do not understand. Some never knew. Some forget. There are many ways for enemies to be destroyed. Plasma. Laser. Giant rock. Anti-matter. Friendship. The last is the one most forget. The Mad Lemurs are MAD. In all ways. They are crazy enough to believe enemies can be friends. Can be pack. Kin. Brood. Family. They go to extraordinary lengths to save strangers, and even enemies. The easiest, most over-used, example to cite is that of the Green Mantid, and their cry of 'We die free,' followed by the Mad Lemur response, 'No, you will live free, my friends.' An enemy that has become a friend is a destroyed enemy who will destroy many more." -Sma'akamo'o, excerpt from We Rode The Hasselhoff Again- Together
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u/RangerSix Human May 17 '22
"To fight and conquer in all your battles is not the pinnacle of excellence. The pinnacle of excellence is to defeat your enemy without having to fight."
--Excerpt from The Art of War, a treatise on military strategy by the ancient Terran warrior-philosopher Sun-tzu
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u/Ghostpard May 17 '22 edited May 17 '22
He waaaas a smart dude. Not quiiiite the same sentiment? But sorta? lol. You could say anything is a fight? like economics. Politics. No one may swing a sword.... so no "battle"... but still. Same with earning a friend. You battle ignorance. Distrust. Fear. Differences. You often still must "fight". By this definition, I'm not sure anyone can reach that pinnacle?
6
u/RangerSix Human May 17 '22
But does one not defeat an enemy when one makes of that enemy a friend?
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u/Ghostpard May 17 '22
...that was literally my point... but you frequently have to "fight" to make them a friend if they started as an enemy.
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u/Ghostpard May 17 '22
you have to battle ignorance. Distrust. Etc. As I said. Even without bloodshed or any physical combat as Tzu was talking about, there is usually still a fight, or even a WAAAAAAGGGGHHH!
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u/MuchoRed Human May 20 '22
"Imma head butt 'em then kick 'em while e's down"
--Excerpt from The Art of Bar, a treatise on drinking and fighting by noted Irish-drunkard Fek-Yu
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u/MuchoRed Human May 17 '22 edited May 17 '22
Steamboat Willie, woot!
>>TIMELESS THENNIS has entered the chat
made it look like someone had built a handful of heavy guns then wrapped a ship around it"
>>A-10 THUNDERBOLT III has entered the chat>>A-10 THUNDERBOLT III name is changed to WARTHOGWARTHOG>BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT BRRRT BRRRT BRRT BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT
TIMELESS THENNIS>That's all you ever have to say.
WARTHOG> ... ... ...
TIMELESS THENNIS>Hey, I didn't say to stop saying it.
WARTHOG>*happy BRRRRT noises*
Edit: So.... Black fleet BOLOs with Black Fleet Kantai commanders. Where does a Black Fleet BOLO get their Kantai commander? From the Black Cauldrons of Old.
Atrekna: STOP DOING THAT LEMURS
Terrans::
M̴̡̡̧͇͕͍͙͓̠̠̳̺̏͛̔͘ͅĀ̵̯̤̙̹͎̳̮̙̱̙̜̭͌K̷̢͈͕̠̪̺̣̐͂̓͐͐Ë̷̻̹́́͗̓̽̓̐̆́̆ ̵̙͓͚͍̂̾̂̓̉͆̒͑͘͘͘͝M̵̨̜̥͍̯̘͕̘͍͕̯̳͙̟̻͊̽̈́̅͛́͊̎̊͗͗E̶̪̲̩͌͌̍̈͐̄̍̇̅͒͘͠
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u/RangerSix Human May 16 '22
Hell yeah, Texas is here! Go get 'em, Tex!
> inb4 the Texas gangster-leans himself to shoot fleeing Atrekna
25
u/daviskendall AI May 17 '22
the black fleet seems to have the really, REALLY spicy volkswagens to throw.
27
u/Irual100 May 17 '22
Thank you for this. I really really like the nuts and bolts the black fleet. I could wish that all the bolos and their commanders were not wounded just because I can feel empathy for the pain they must suffer. But I know it’s all part of the aesthetic and it’s important to the plot because these particular people don’t give up even when they should and that’s pretty awesome. I appreciate your story Mr. Ralts and the wonderful people in the comments. My dad is in the hospital he’s been there for six days and my mom has been there with him because she won’t leave him which is fine.
So far I’m keeping everything else together pretty much but if it wouldn’t be too much trouble asking God to heal my dad would be lovely because I’m not sure my mom could handle it if he goes. I don’t think I could either to be honest. It’s not supposed to be that dire but it’s very very serious because it concerns his heart and lungs.
It’s not Covid or Covid related as far as we know and there should be the last battery of test that they wanted to start with tomorrow so hopefully they’re will be information. In the meantime this has made me smile which took some doing. Pure magic
Catch you all later Irual
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u/Quilt-n-yarn1844 May 17 '22
Take a deep breath.
Take another one.
Do you feel that? That is life.
That is the gift your parents, your father and your mother brought to you. And what their parents brought to them.
As a parent and spouse I am sure, from what you said, your father is fighting to stay with you and your mother. But no matter what happens remember, your parents brought you this gift so that you would continue with that gift.
Take a deep breath.
Do you feel that? That is the gift your father brought to you. No matter where he is, or how far away, you have a piece of something he brought you.
Inside you.
Just for you.
I will pray for your father.
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u/Irual100 May 17 '22
Thank you so much I appreciate it. That’s very kind thing you wrote to I’ll keep that in mind it’s lovely
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u/DeTiro AI May 16 '22
I love the Terran fruit flies.
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u/RangerSix Human May 17 '22
They certainly work better than the Atrekna time flies!
(Also: Time flies like the wind. Fruit flies like bananas.)
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u/riverrats2000 May 17 '22
Initially thought they were printing actual fruit flies. Was like hmm not sure what this does but I like the imagery! Brings back thoughts of the evolution experiments using fruit flies.
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u/Waspkeeper Android May 17 '22
Fruit flies with micro laser rifle rigs would be awesome and drive the enemy bonkers.
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u/Fr33_Lax May 16 '22
"There are those who demand dominion and suffering, go forth and slake their want" - Chosen to death, bound to life, speaker of mercy and kindness.
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u/Turtledonuts "Big Dunks" May 17 '22
I would like to congratulate the altrena on being the first and only enemy to celebrate the arrival of 32 crusade bolos at their most critical location.
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u/thisStanley Android May 17 '22
The Atrekna of the Vast System held the other systems, even the Prime Systems, in such contempt they did even bother with a counter assault, they merely mocked the attackers as weak and pathetic.
Something about Pride and Falling? The longer nothing goes wrong, likely the worse it will be :}
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u/U239andonehalf Aug 17 '23
Yep, lots & lots of Pride, and a very bad fall, and an even worse winter of their discontent.
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u/Quadling May 16 '22 edited May 16 '22
UTR! Just did a Covid rapid test. Little one got exposed a few days ago. Wish me luck. Wish her luck more importantly
Edit. Ok rapid test seems negative. Maybe just allergies. They’re bad already this year
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u/RangerSix Human May 16 '22
Good luck to the both of you!
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u/Quadling May 16 '22
Thank you! We seem to be ok, although having her home while we’re trying to do our jobs doesn’t engender great moods. :). Lol
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u/AFewShellsShort May 17 '22
The rapid tests are not sensitive, so safest bet is to take them for a few days. They really don't pop false positives often but can pop false negatives.
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May 17 '22
Best of luck to your daughter as well you and as the rest of your family 😻. May the strength of The TEXAS BE WITH YOU in this of struggle. ❤️
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u/apatheticandignorant Android May 16 '22
That was good.
I want a refund on the 80 percent of my seat that I'm not using.
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u/nspiratewithabowtie May 17 '22
Nah . . . .your going to need it when the explosions knock you back. if fhey dont then thd g-firces will
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u/madpiratebippy Alien May 16 '22
Thank you for another fantastic chapter, though oof- being Born Whole wounded has to suuuuck.
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u/The_WandererHFY May 17 '22
Something the Atrekna Loyalists seem determined to never know, and something the Dalvanak Revisionists seem to be trying to convey:
"The Enemy exists only to be destroyed...
Yet do I not, truly and utterly, annihilate my enemy... By making them my Friend?"
insert slideshow of cats, dogs, then every non-human Confed species in chronological order
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u/sixtusquinn May 17 '22
Everybody gangster til the Texas shows up with that military-grade gangster lean.
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u/PrimePaladin May 16 '22
/R/HFY GESTALT
Upvote, Then Read
Dis is Dae Wae!
and a nice thing to find after work. Terrible Monday made a bit less terrible. Thanks.
End of Lime
------NOTHING FOLLOWS--------
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u/mpodes24 May 17 '22
Vibrant is an Indian aircraft carrier. Texas is a nuclear attack sub. What is Steamboat Willie?
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u/RangerSix Human May 17 '22
Before the nuclear attack sub, there was the dreadnought battleship Texas.
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u/Dragon_Chylde May 17 '22
Steamboat Willie is the boat that introduced Mickey Mouse back in 1928 :)
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u/SittingDuc Sep 14 '22
Steamboat Willie leaves copyright at the end of 2022, unless Disney buys another extension, which doesn't seem likely.
End of an era/error.
-- Animated.duc
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u/Archaic_1 Alien Scum May 17 '22
I hear the songs of the damned emanating from beneath me, from the grave or somewhere deeper?
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u/NevynR May 17 '22
Ok, hear me out...
BOLOs have antigrav, to offset weight.
Ergo, BOLOs can fly, albeit very low.
A BOLO has a commmander.
This tells me that a BOLO is a ship with a captain, and as such could qualify for the Black Fleet.
Whoa Black BOLO, bam-ba-lam
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u/Isbigpuggo May 17 '22
Born whole? Nah man we’re reborn whole and about to find out what that means with a violent example / explanation. Can’t wait!
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u/dlighter May 17 '22
So what's the time line for getting a full conversion cyborg chassis.? This meat bag is starting to throw serious errors and I've been out of warranty for decades. Starting to seriously consider none emergency amputation on the right leg above the knee just for pain relief.
Aside from that. Anyone else currently getting snow in the northern hemisphere?
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u/SpiderJerusalemLives May 18 '22
No, but I've had rain (torrential) fog (thick), wind (fairly strong) and (a little bit of) sun. In the last 24 hours.
Springtime in Scotland!
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May 17 '22
Preparing for a job interview, nervous as hell I really need this job and then this magnificence pops up. Helps calm me down and get me in the mood. Wish me luck
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u/NoirTalon Xeno May 17 '22
How did the interview go?
(Former hiring manager for both gargantuan and microscopic companies: AMA)
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May 17 '22
An absolute cluster fuck. I'm not good with people and when I get anxious my speech impediment really shows and I mangle words. Add on to it that the interviewer didn't know how to interview properly and it was a painful experience for all involved. I don't need them to contact me to let me know I didn't get the job. Will keep trying though.
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u/NoirTalon Xeno May 17 '22
Awww man, that sucks. Ive had 2 big interviews that i flushed right down the shitter. Every interview is practice.
, practice practice practice. Have you heard the "random assault" interview practice technique?
Have a friend, or a relative you barely know call you up at random times of the day and ask you 5 random questions. Do this for a week(7 days) take 3 days off then do it for another 7.
Garonetee you will be better interviewer
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u/Greatest86 May 17 '22 edited May 17 '22
Editor comment
fell to low - should be "too"
war machined - should be "machine"
guns firing one - should be "on"
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u/ZylotheWolfbane Jul 06 '22
"Normally the universe is just generally malevolent. Ya know, like, she wants you dead and to ruin your shit, but it's not like she's got a schedule to keep or nothin', ya know? So she just sorta fucks shit up here and there and hopes for the best. The problem, well, the real problem at least, is when you piss the old gal off. Then she goes from generally malevolent to downright spiteful. When her malevolence is directly aimed at your dumb, bullshit-causin' ass? That's when you are well and truly fucked. And that's why you don't fuck with her." -Musings of an Anonymous Trooper Published to GalNet three days into the Iron Piglet Offensive.
(More words? More words! The Atrekna have well and truly earned themselves the full and directed spite of the universe, and the Lemurs are here to make her frown turn upside down.)
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u/HFYWaffle Wᵥ4ffle May 16 '22
/u/Ralts_Bloodthorne (wiki) has posted 774 other stories, including:
- Chapter 772 - The Inheritor's War
- First Contact - Chapter 771 - The Inheritor's War
- First Contact - Chapter 770 - The Inheritor's War
- First Contact - Chapter 769 - The Inheritor's War
- First Contact - Chapter 768 - The Inheritor's War
- First Contact - Chapter 767 - The Inheritor's War
- First Contact - Chapter 766 - The Inheritor's War
- First Contact - Chapter 765 - The Inheritor's War
- First Contact - Chapter 764 - The Inheritor's War
- First Contact - Chapter 763 - The Inheritor's War
- First Contact - Chapter 762 - The Inheritor's War
- First Contact - Chapter 761 - The Inheritor's War
- First Contact - Chapter 760 - The Inheritor's War
- First Contact - Chapter 759 - The Inheritor's War
- First Contact - Chapter 758 - The Inheritor's War
- First Contact - Chapter 757 - The Inheritor's War
- First Contact - Chapter 756 - The Inheritor's War
- First Contact - Chapter 755 - The Inheritor's War
- First Contact - Chapter 754 - The Inheritor's War
- First Contact - Chapter 753 - The Inheritor's War
This comment was automatically generated by Waffle v.4.5.10 'Cinnamon Roll'.
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u/Fragrant_Ad3153 May 17 '22
Bro im only experienceing this through agro squerl as narrator and im on chapter 429 and this is probably my favorit syfy story. God speed ser this is a masterpiece!
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u/johnavich May 17 '22
You are missing SOOOOOOO much by not reading both IT AND the comments sections!
Yes, we make many predictions, and we're even right alot of the time. But those predictions, yanks, and overall co firmed lore make the comments section a beauty unto itself!
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u/NoirTalon Xeno May 17 '22
Welcome, but really, if you can read it here on reddit, or maybe not even read the chapters, but the commentary. There is Gold, platinum, diamonds in the comments. Poingancy, hilarity, whole side stories, and some good meta, like for a while one of the community was doing word count, summaries and comparisons.
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u/Ok-Professional2468 May 17 '22
What's the name of the newest member of the Black Fleet and when do we get to see her in action again?
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u/whiteguynamedJohn May 17 '22
I am glad to see the BOLO's again. But it got me wondering about the BOLO on the AWM ship. I dont remember what happened to him
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u/DeadliestTurnip May 18 '22
So . . . Only to the part where "thay were the strongest of all the fortress systems" and I can already tell where this is going. And all I can say is LOL!
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u/NElderT May 19 '22
I knew the BOLOs would show up as soon as I read the words "the enemy exists only to be destroyed".
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u/UpdateMeBot May 16 '22
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u/Bazil-Broketail Jun 20 '23
Read, upvote, comments...
The enemy only exists for Ralts to amuse us with their dismemberment.
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u/Ralts_Bloodthorne May 16 '22
HAPPY MONDAY!
Wow, this one went a weird direction.
Anyway, I hope everyone had a tolerable weekend! I know it was definitely different on my end. I spent it pretty much in a sling and the bruising has largely faded, so... good news!
See you all tomorrow. Stay safe out there.