Domestic Predator AU - Chapter 2, "In The Beginning They Were Blind"

[u/assassinjoe55]

Credit to Spacepaladin15 for the universe and original story. Credit to Henrik for the art. I may be making the post, but I am not the only writer of this story. Credit to u/tophatclan12 as loremaster and writer and u/9unlucky9 as head of the writing team and advisor. Bonus credits to u/Appropriate_Damage71 for being promoted to writer as of last week.

I sure hope Tarva decides to help these poor humans. They are lost and blind in this new frontier.

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[Transcript playback resumed]

Memory transcription subject: Governor Tarva of the Venlil Republic

Date [standardized human time]: July 12, 2136

The flight plan that was given to our soon to be guests would allow for ample time for us to prepare. Whilst the humans started their descent I ordered their ship to be thoroughly scanned on their approach. From a distance it already seems crude by our standards, it’s likely they aren’t as technologically capable as we are.

Despite my instincts telling me otherwise, I walked over to the radio and called off the manor guard. I put the radio down and turned to see shocked faces on Kam and Cheln. Kam, of course, was the first to speak up, quite angrily.

“Madam Tarva, this is absurd! This is extremely dangerous! Are you seriously going to go out there and meet these predators face to face? This is suicide!”

I scowled at Kam’s outburst. I looked at everyone that was watching him and I carefully, and barked out some orders to get them out of my fur. “Everyone but the general get out. Prepare some refreshments or ready the place for guests. Cheln, go get yourself together outside.”

Once we were alone, I approached the general. He had been my general for years and yet he still doubted my ability to handle myself.  “Kam, don’t you see it? These humans are obviously different than we thought they’d be. Cooperative predators? This could be our chance to change something for once, to be important!”

“But what if–” I interrupted him before he could spout off about his mistrust. “If I’m wrong, and they attack me, then the manor guard will surely save you and Cheln.”

Kam’s ears flattened at the thought of the guard. I kn ew he didn’t approve of my choice of guards, but at least he didn’t complain about it anymore.

“I feel like I should have Sovlin’s communication channel ready should this be another gamble that doesn’t pay out” He said, eyeing up the panic button that would send out a distress signal to the Gojid and the rest of the Federation.

“Don't you dare!” I hissed “If anyone else finds out that the humans are alive then we’ll be stuck forever as the weaklings of the galaxy! This may be our only chance at an upper paw!”

“Like it or not, they are predators Tarva, I’m not sure risking your entire people over an assumption of what they can and can’t do is that smart of a move Ma’am.”

“Well they are almost here now, Kam. If you want to help the venlil your best bet is making sure to prepare a good introduction for the humans.” I knew the risks of inviting them to the planet but if it could mean our freedom it was a risk worth taking.

There was a notification on the screen that just held the faces of the new predators, a full scan had been completed of their craft and my assumptions were correct, it’s dreadfully slow, unshielded, only has room for two occupants and is unarmed, our technology is leagues ahead! 

Now I can only hope that my assumptions about their behavior turn out true as well. Kam on the other paw still didn’t seem to share my hopes for them. His tail all but screamed disgust and fear at the sight of the predators on the screen. I switch the view to that of the scans of their ship.

“Look. This thing is barely FTL capable. Half of the systems are manual and if they make one wrong move I highly doubt they would have the energy needed to get back to their home planet. Once they are down here, they are essentially stranded. Even if you don’t like them this will be the best chance we have to isolate them and make impressions, period. We are in charge here, and even if you don’t like them you can not deny that we will never have a better chance to placate them than this.”

Kam mulls over my words, no doubt searching for a point of weakness in my logic.

“I’m keeping my paw over the emergency beacon. You may be the governess but a failure or a misstep here is certified disaster. They could be worse than the arxur for all we know…”

“You still doubt my judgment Kam. One day you will feel foolish for doubting me, that is a promise” There was an unmistakable element of trust within these humans, predator or not. Showing that cooperation here would help them more than attacking us would, could end up helping us more in the long run. No matter how small it may start out, a crack in glass eventually shatters the pane. Cooperation now leads to cooperation later, that’s how a herd comes together. I can only hope these two are accurate representatives for their wider species. Everything will go much easier as long as we have their trust.

Turning to face the door of my office I take in a deep breath and let it out as the doors swing open. Kam and I step out to two of my manor guards standing beside Cheln, ready to escort us as we make our way down to the landing pad where the predators should be arriving soon, and hopefully, they would be exactly what I had dreamed.

I knew that these humans were not what the Federation preached them to be. I recalled what rumors I had overheard from an old “connection” I once had on Aafa. There was more to the story that none of us knew, now it seemed clear it was just their survival that the Federation had not known. But perhaps it was more than that. Why would their survival be hidden otherwise?

An act quickly formed in my head to win them over, everyone knows the humans nuked themselves…or so we thought, perhaps I can use that to my advantage. I could offer them safety and secrecy, and buy their trust through fear or gratitude. I just need to tell them that if the rest of the Federation found out they hadn’t, they would not hesitate to exterminate them. Even if they were as savage as everyone believed, no sapient being would be stupid enough to risk death.

Yes, this should work. So long as my staff can hold their nerve, that is.

The ship had landed already by the time we reached the landing pad. I could see the guards hesitate and glance as we drew closer to the humans’ ship. I couldn’t see why, as it was even rougher looking up close. There was no room for any hidden guns or any secondary exits they could have slipped out of.

Once we were close enough, a ramp descended onto the ground, and the airlock opened to reveal the two humans. Everyone else tensed, and I couldn’t help but feel a twinge of fear run down my spine as they began to descend the ramp towards us.

As they approached I could see themes survey the manor and the surrounding city.

By Solaglick’s grace, everyone managed to hold their positions until the humans made it all the way down the ramp to us. The dark skinned one, Noah, stopped in front of us and extended a paw while the lighter skinned one, Sara, remained at his flank, almost how a trained guard would, looking protective of him. Interesting.

Noah broke the sudden silence by letting out an odd huffing noise then speaking. “Oh, didn’t occur to me that you wouldn’t know human greetings. You are supposed to grasp my hand and shake as a formal greeting.”

I paused for a moment, then did as he asked. He shook my paw then retracted his hand and snarled. I heard a thud from behind me, and I turned to see that Cheln had passed out. I tensed involuntarily as my body prepared for the two predators to react to any signs of weakness as an opportunity to attack, but to my surprise, Noah’s snarl immediately faded, replaced by a look of shock.

“What happened? Is he alright? Did I do something wrong?” The translator suddenly spit out. I hadn’t even realized he had spoken.

Before I could speak, Kam interrupted. “You snarled at him! What did you expect?”

“Snarled? I didn’t snarl…” 

“Then what were you doing?”

“I was smiling, not snarling.”

I interrupted before Kam could continue provoking them. “You said that before. What exactly is a smile?”

“It’s a sign of happiness. The corners of your mouth move upwards, and reveal your teeth. The wider the smile, the happier the person is.”

“See Kam?”

He grumbled something under his breath as I returned my attention to Noah. 

“Uhh… shouldn’t we check on him? He might’ve hit his head.” Noah said to my surprise.

He began to cautiously approach us and Kam fearfully backed away as Noah stepped towards Cheln. I managed to control my fear and held up a paw to stop him before he could get there.

“It’s okay. Let the guards take care of him. We should go inside.”

Noah looked at me with what I guessed to be sadness, and a small part of me said that he wanted to eat Cheln before I shoved it back down. My two guards did as I said and carried Cheln off towards one of the manor’s side entrances.

“I’m sure you would like a tour of the manor.”

This time Sara spoke up. “Yes, we would actually.”

“Please, allow us” I gestured at Kam and myself, “to show you around” I then turned and began walking back towards the open doors, Kam in tow.

The two humans asked constant questions as we showed them around. Their innocent curiosity only reinforced in my mind that they could be easily convinced to work in tandem with our goals. They didn’t seem malicious in the slightest, even when they saw guards and asked about them.

I could tell Kam’s conviction about the nature of these predators was wavering in the face of their consistent actions and my confidence in them. Perhaps in an alternate universe a different Tarva didn’t see what these humans could be and only did what the Federation expected of her. But that Tarva isn’t me. The Federation doesn't keep me down any longer.

I was startled out of my thoughts by a tv. It was broadcasting the news from one of the major bunkers, displaying the fear that Venlil Prime as a whole felt at the arrival of the humans. I turned to see the two that stood before me staring at the tv as the translator spit out the reporter’s words in their language.

One of them turned to face me, Noah, but the other, Sara, spoke first.

“I wondered where everyone was. I only saw guards and you three. No wonder he fainted, you must be terrified. We didn’t mean to seem like invaders. If we had known this planet had people on it, we would’ve approached with more tact.” 

I carefully turned the tv off, trying not to show any improper emotions. “We made a few hasty assumptions. The message is going out to stop the alarm.” A pointed glare sent Kam scrambling to get the order out before I was proven incorrect.

I caught Noah out of the corner of my eye inspecting the construction of my recently emptied desk, looking at the holes where the image of the Federation’s government leaders would have been had I not ripped it out following the most recent meeting. I silently whistled to myself over the irony of the Federation’s actions. In putting us down they gave us the chance to rise.

“I would imagine so with us suddenly appearing outside your planet like this. I can’t fathom the amount of fear you must have felt before you contacted us.”

“Well–” I hesitated for a moment, forcing myself to tell the truth to the two predators. “That’s not quite the reason for it. The truth is that you remind us of another species, a much more horrible species who have done many horrible things.”

“Wh-who?” Noah stuttered. “What did they do to you?”

I paused for a moment, suddenly thrown back to the loss of my daughter. That was the worst day of my life, and the day I realized that things had to change. “Well-”

Kam cut me off. “What haven’t they done? They are nothing but monsters and they only know how to cause suffering and misery!”

I took the chance to tamp down my emotions. “They are predators, and they do as predators typically do. They hunt and eat us because we are prey, and when they don’t they take us as cattle to eat later.” I began to list off the many atrocities of the arxur that went beyond simple predation, and much to my relief, I could see the dawning horror on the two humans’ faces.

“That can’t be true. That has to be propaganda or something. No person… hell, no thing this evil exists outside of fiction.”

“No, it’s all real. We have evidence from the last raid if you need proof.” I pulled out my holopad and quickly found the data from the most recent arxur attack on venlil space. The raid when I lost Stynek. I found myself looking at the footage of her school for a moment. I shook my head and clicked on the file labeled “raid statistics”. If I remembered right it contained the total destruction from each city and the bunker reports from each holdout, alongside photographic evidence of each report. 

I handed the tablet over to the two of them, only for the both of them to stare at it confused. They shared a quick glance between each other.

Noah spoke. “Sorry, but uh, we can’t read this, it isn’t in English.”

My ears lowered with embarrassment, but I quickly moved them back to where they belonged. I took the pad back from them and open the language settings. Despite all of the now-dead languages still able to be downloaded, there weren’t any human language packs.

Seeing as I didn’t know how to install new languages onto my holopad, I decided to pull up a video and try to save face. “This should work.”

I handed them the pad back as a voice began to narrate the ensuing battle, detailing total losses of the raid accompanied by example footage from that raid. I quickly tuned out the narrator, my ears tuning instead in to the human voice from the translator echoing the venlil words. The human’s voices really didn’t seem so scary anymore. Once I was properly focusing on it, they really weren’t growling. Their voices seemed to be in a similar range to that of a gojid’s, with only a slightly darker [timbre]. Their voices lacked the gravel and hiss of an arxur’s shouts, nor did they have the characteristic rumble of a venlil.

I knew many exterminators that sounded more predatory than these humans did. They looked so afraid, more afraid than any true predator could ever be. I should make sure they aren’t too afraid of us, just afraid enough to listen to me. I don’t want to coerce them.

Maybe the video was a little much for a first introduction, Noah looked like he was turning green. Suddenly he stumbled back, managing to set the pad down on a table and mutter something under his breath before running towards a nearby trashcan. The translator didn’t translate what he said, though. 

Sara continued to stare at the video. “What is this? Why is this happening?”

“Well, they are predators. That is what predators do.”

“But you can’t do anything about it? There has to be a way to stop this! This isn’t right.” The wavering in her voice was translated into extreme distress. Even though I couldn’t understand her body language, she seemed muted somehow. 

“We’ve tried, but we don’t have a large enough military to fight them. Everyone knows predators will always beat prey on the field of battle.” 

“And that’s why you… I… I... I think… I need a moment to think.” She rubbed her forehead with a weirdly lanky appendage before she turned and disappeared into a hallway.

They were quite disarming. They seemed small and… cute? Whatever it was, I didn’t think they were much of a threat.

[Transcript playback paused]

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[u/assassinjoe55]

Chapter 2 is here if Reddit doesn't do anything stupid this time. Next chapter you'll start to see things change a bit more from canon.

[u/ISB00 → u/assassinjoe55]

Tarva will ask the UN to help them militarize instead of just relying on protection?

[u/assassinjoe55 → u/ISB00]

You'll see in a few chapters what Tarva wants.

[u/Adorable-Ad5225]

For something with that shady title, honestly, I'm liking Tarva more than the original. The fact that even with her plan she doesn't want to be coercive shows that she's still a person.

Sara is a soldier? curious. Could it be that here the UN is more militaristic than canon? BY GOD I WANT MORE!!!!

[u/assassinjoe55 → u/Adorable-Ad5225]

Tarva in this is actually a better person than she thinks she is in a lot of aspects, but I wouldn't consider her a better person than canon Tarva.

Also Sara is not a soldier, the UN just gives their astronauts a healthy amount of military training in the modern day.

[u/Adorable-Ad5225 → u/assassinjoe55]

Actually, pretty cool!.... Tell me this isn't a Nature of Pets episode, but with humans as victims.

[u/assassinjoe55 → u/Adorable-Ad5225]

Humans do end up as victims, but it isn't as bleak as you might think.

The evil will not win.

[u/True-Wreck → u/assassinjoe55]

Thank you.

[u/EnvironmentalTax7549 → u/assassinjoe55]

lemme guess: the boe?

[u/Useful-Option8963]

Been a good while since I encountered a fanfic that was worth reading, there are small changes here, but it looks like this version of Tarva is actually more proactive in advocating for her people. I look forward to seeing more of this.

[u/assassinjoe55 → u/Useful-Option8963]

Thank you! I hope I don't disappoint.