The Nature of Predators 164 (Patreon)

Memory transcription subject: Captain Sovlin, United Nations Fleet Command

Date [standardized human time]: March 24, 2137

The crewed vessels of the Terran fleet advanced on Caato, where the unlikely Commonwealth-Dominion alliance waited. On a separate course, UN drones and Yotul Technocracy ships were flushing the shadow fleet out from the system’s asteroid belt; their band had been saddled with Ilthiss, since their particle beams allowed them to match his aggression. I was hopeful that the Chief Hunter’s ships would fall over the course of the battle, even if humanity didn’t believe that was the ideal outcome. However, the fifty thousand Duerten Shield vessels surging ahead toward the rocky world, which was somewhat similar in use to Sol’s “Mars” as I understood it, could be a problem too. The avians couldn’t afford to throw away their numbers, both for our sake and Kalqua’s.

We were a seed’s flight away from Aafa, after soaring through the moderate resistance near the gas giants. More vessels were amassed by Caato, but the bulk of the enemy fleet was anticipating our eventual arrival at the Kolshian homeworld. Their hope was to whittle us down along the way, despite how that knocked tens of thousands of ships from their half a million strong tally. The Terrans needed a full docket of information for the upcoming engagement, to stave off any traps or devious intentions. I surveyed the Shield with interest, trying to gauge what their strategy would be for engaging the hostiles. With their hulls packed into our ranks, it was then that I noticed a strange anomaly on the nearest scans.

“I’ve noticed something unusual about these vessels, compared to the standard Duerten make,” I piped up. “It’s as if they’ve stapled some mix-and-match storage bays to the bottom of their ships. High amounts of mass concentration there too.”

Onso tilted his head. “Were they trying to turn standard warships into bombers? The mass distribution is congruent with what I’d expect for a few standard antimatter missiles, typically used in extermination fleets.”

Samantha’s eyes narrowed. “Like the extermination fleet that came to Earth.”

“Or to Kalqua, even if they didn’t go by that moniker. I will note that there’s some variance between Krakotl technology seen on Earth, the Malti tube bombers specialized to colony foundation, and the Duerten’s rather antiquated technology. The blast radius of their bombs is limited by how inefficient the subatomic collision mechanisms—”

I jabbed my claws at the Yotul. “You don’t need to hijack my observations by regurgitating science textbooks. Stop trying to prove your intelligence through rote memorization.”

“I’m providing insight into the destructive capacity of different species’ weapons technologies. Ralchi forbid I find it interesting!”

“Here’s some fucking insight. Any antimatter bomb can flatten a city, but the Duerten’s warheads don’t have quite the same reach as others when they blow up. Isn’t that simpler?”

“Simpler isn’t always better, Sovlin. You just don’t want a primitive to know anything more than you. If I was a human, you’d gush about my intelligence.”

“Well, who’d expect a predator to behave that way? The bar is lower for them. Um, no offense. Humans just tend to have very specific interests, like how Tyler likes murdering fish and shooting things in simulated games.”

Tyler scowled at me. “I have other interests. Sorry that I can’t gush about philosophy and zoology like Marcel. You two need to quit your bickering, especially at a time like this, and conduct yourself with proper discipline. Am I understood?”

“Yes, sir,” I grumbled, as the Yotul said nothing. “I think you caught the point buried in there. Despite his excessive information, Onso is right about the Duerten strapping themselves with as many roughshod bombs as they could.”

Carlos’ brown irises darkened. “Do you think they intend to bomb Aafa, sir?”

“I think so. I also don’t see how humanity could stop them without throwing ourselves into the Kolshians’ tentacles, so we should cross that bridge if we get there. For all we know, the Shield flounders and panics at Caato,” Tyler answered.

I chewed at my claws. “But you said you thought they’d fight better because of their desperation, sir.”

“I said they might. I don’t think it does any fucking good to raise tensions before we even get to Aafa, because after seeing they taped bombs to their bellies, I’m certain they’re off their rockers with rage. Our orders are to destroy enemies posted in this area; focus on that.”

If the humans didn’t want to address the Duerten’s vindictive plans, then I was content not to dwell on the prospect of bombs. While the thought of innocents like Recel getting caught in the crossfire hounded me, the personal resentment in my heart yearned for the Kolshians’ to suffer, as we all had. Our lives meant nothing to them, so my sympathy was a bit strained. The Yotul would be able to ignore the looming problem as well, given that his opinion was in favor of glassing Aafa. What was Onso going to do, beg the Terrans to stop the Shield from completing his desired course of action?

What we need is for the Duerten to carry their weight in combat. The United Nations doesn’t endorse or crave genocide, but I can’t imagine they’d be sacrificing human lives to protect Aafa.

Caato’s cratered surface was becoming more detailed on the viewport, with a few artificial lights enlarging where hab modules had been installed. The settlements on its surface were cramped structures packed beneath a translucent dome, relying heavily on electrolysis of recycled water to create oxygen (I could read up on such topics, just like Onso). The Dominion and Commonwealth hadn’t struck defensive positions tailored toward protecting Caato’s orbital range, due to the negligible collateral on the surface. Both entities had a blatant disregard for sapient lives, so I supposed they deserved each other. More concerning was the fact that we barely had a numerical edge over their sixty-odd thousand encampment. Few manned ships remained in operation for the Terrans, so the bulk of our advance was the fifty thousand Duerten arrivals and Sapient Coalition survivors.

There weren’t enough of us to keep the Shield in check, even if we were meant to babysit them. It was a small relief that the Duerten weren’t charging in blind, like Ilthiss had. That said, at least there was a guarantee with Arxur ships present that the birds could deal some damage in the attack. The Coalition and our revenge-seeking allies were huddling together, thronging toward the hostiles in a massive group. I wasn’t sure what the avians were doing, but I still was worried about how the Terrans would handle an assault against civilians. Months ago, I could’ve never imagined that my main concern, standing among a human crew, would be that their mercy would cause quarrels with other powers.

“Well, that doesn’t look like any bombing formation I’ve ever seen. If this is a practice run for bombing Aafa, you’d think they’d be more spread out,” I grumbled.

Tyler crossed his arms, inspecting the viewport. “The Sapient Coalition has tipped us off that they plan to ‘mob’ certain ships, as one big cluster.”

“To me, it looks more like a clusterfuck,” Samantha chimed in.

“I’m inclined to think the same. They were using plenty words related to herds or herbivores too; I don’t know what the Duerten fed the SC, but they lapped it up. What kind of military strategy is this? Do you have any idea, Sovlin?”

Realization pinged at the recesses of my memory, triggered by those keywords. Were the Duerten trying to employ prey strategies from nature against predator warships? I combed my brain for hunting safeguards in ancient Gojid history, which they taught about in evolutionary science class; the obvious factor for us was the spines, but the Shield hadn’t taped any bristles to their craft. Somehow, I doubted the efficacy of that defense mechanism when the beastly “bite” was from white-hot plasma rather than teeth. This ploy seemed to center around safety in numbers, relying on the herd for protection.

“I think this is an attempt at communal defense?” I posited with uncertainty. “It’s not unheard of for herd animals to team up against predators. Also, clumping together as a herd makes it difficult for the predator to target any one prey creature.”

Tyler groaned. “It also makes evasion impossible when your fleet is a giant target!”

Onso squinted at his sensor readout. “Swarming might be the only way they can get kills in a calculated way. You saw how the Sapient Coalition performed as a proper military. At the very least, it won’t be any strategy our enemy is expecting from us…so it could surprise them. Like we did with Ilthiss, we can use our ships to distract the Kolshian-Arxur team.”

“I don’t think just shooting at the enemy will be enough to distract them from the giant ball of incoming ships,” Carlos pointed out.

“That’s why you humans need to pull one of your crazy stunts. Like moving another miles-wide moon?”

“Onso, that requires a ton of planning, and days-long acceleration in subspace.”

“I know, but my point is I’m sure you can repurpose something as a distraction.”

“What do you expect them to do, materialize an asteroid belt around Caato?” I hissed.

Officer Cardona’s icy eyes lit up with sinister delight. This distinct snarl was an expression that played on a human’s face when they had a diabolical idea, a wry proclamation of mischief. Nothing that would benefit an enemy’s welfare ever followed from that predatory marker; it usually indicated that a Terran had dreamt up some novel way of killing, or disrupting the natural order. For all their noble sensibilities, that was the expression of cruelty that lurked within them—perhaps even the bloodlust they didn’t believe they had. I shuddered to fathom what Tyler’s latest idea might be, and felt my spines bristle from the elated malice radiating from his binocular gaze.

It's been a long time since humans triggered my instincts, even during combat or when they’re killing others. Somehow, right now, I sense that it’s justified to fear their creative capacity within the field of death.

“So the Duerten want to swarm the enemy? I think we can do that one better,” the sandy-haired officer chuckled. “Nanodrones. We still have plenty of them.”

Onso’s eyes also gleamed, unafraid of the scheming human. “Instead of using them as tiny impacts, where they’re unable to be shot down, we fashion them into…”

“Locusts. Bingo.”

Despite the fact that I was at a loss, Samantha and Carlos both seemed to catch on to what the exchange pair were talking about. Officer Cardona stepped over to Captain Monahan, passing along his idea in hushed tones; I tried not to sulk that the nerdy marsupial always understood the predators much better than me, a veteran starship captain who was supposed to be a brilliant strategist. What had the Yotul exchange program been like? If Onso was a proper indicator, their response to military innovations seemed to be, “Wow, cool! Weapons are awesome! We should play with these killing machines for our ships too!”

My attention turned to the viewport, not wanting to express my inadequacy by asking for more details. All I’d grasped was that the Terrans found a new use for their nanodrones, aside from the standard “death by a thousand scratches”; given that Tyler selected the word swarm, I imagined he had a larger-scale plan for them. Hopefully, the Duerten wouldn’t be rubbed the wrong way by us springboarding off their idea with a better version. It would take the onus off them, depending how successful this distraction was: human distractions tended to morph into the main event, as an impetus toward chaos.

According to my sensor contacts, the primate vessels were unloading their nanodrones and pooling them into a giant clump. All it took was a contribution of about a hundred microscopic robots from each of our ten thousand-odd ships to cook up a monstrosity. The swarm looked like a dust storm in the void, a primordial-looking blob that challenged all notions of size and scale. There wasn’t a crew in the galaxy that was trained for a million tiny dots descending on them as one. This tactic had the downside of making it possible to target the nanodrones with conventional weapons; the Arxur and the Kolshians wasted no time lobbing plasma, bullets, missiles, and anything else they had in stock at our “distraction.”

“Well, they certainly seem distracted,” I commented.

The wicked grin hadn’t left Tyler’s face. “It hasn’t even started raining nanodrones over by Caato yet. We’ll have enough striking their hulls at once to rack up some kills.”

The Duerten’s herd formation wasn’t attracting much fire, allowing them to move forward with their group attack. Terran manned vessels pressed ahead alongside the avians, but kept our distance from their single cluster. Our plasma guns were charged, and Captain Monahan was waiting only to draw within range to give the order to fire. The Kolshians and Arxur were preoccupied with the tiny specks zipping toward them; the nanodrones could gather significant velocity in a short time frame, due to their insignificant mass. Our foes couldn’t cut down enough of our swarm, and there were mere seconds until its impact.

Every time I think that humans are normal people, and don’t have any particular propensity to evilness, they conjure up something like this. Something that nobody else in the galaxy has ever heard, or even thought of.

I trusted humanity to utilize their creations for good, but I was suddenly very grateful for that empathy which might drive a wedge between us and the Duerten Shield. This latest plot exemplified how dangerous they were when their hunting prowess was allowed to flourish. Shivers ran down my spine as nanodrones struck home, in quantities that defied imagination. An assortment of holes blossomed on enemy vessels along their entire length, with our robots hammering drive compartments through brute force. Explosions besieged the Kolshian-Arxur line, as shielding and plating were both helpless against an attack of this magnitude.

While the nanodrones were continuing to pelt them from all sides, encircling and swallowing the enemy whole, we took the opportunity to deploy shield-breaking missiles. This softened the defenders up even further for the Duerten Shield, whose herd moseyed ahead to mob small segments of remaining hostiles. Humanity targeted foes away from our allies’ line of sight, picking off any dazed opponents with plasma. The numbers of Caato’s garrison had taken a significant hit from the nanodrone swarm, and a second wave of attack was on them without a moment given for recovery.

It was a brutal trouncing, even as they tried to fight back in desperation. The panic among the enemy formation wasn’t just in the prey-crewed Commonwealth vessels; even the Dominion’s order had disintegrated with a million mites of dust pummeling their craft. The Kolshians and the Arxur didn’t team up with each other well to begin with, so the result was predictable. We were facing isolated survivors, hurling munitions at us and the Duerten in a blind frenzy. The Shield sustained several hits due to their strategy of flocking together, which had made them an unmissable target. That persuaded the hostiles to concentrate munitions on the herd rather than us.

“The nanodrone swarm inflicted a catastrophic amount of casualties,” Onso remarked. “Formation outside of Caato is dwindling rapidly, down to a few thousand. The enemy appears to be targeting the Shield primarily, by virtue of taking out as many ships as possible.”

“The Duerten could mitigate their losses, except some vessels seem disinterested in targeting the last enemies.” Tyler pointed to a Duerten breakaway sect on the viewport, and his scowl intensified as the Yotul zoomed in on the movement. “Shit, they’re moving toward the planet! I don’t exactly see any new hostiles coming up from the surface.”

Terran manned vessels zipped closer to expedite the cleanup of the last few hostiles, but our sensors station was entranced by the Duerten’s erratic behavior. Homogeneity ships had made a beeline toward Caato, breaching orbital range with as much speed as they could. I flinched as their plasma guns revved to life, cutting down a lone evacuation transport. It made sense that most Kolshians stayed put, since they assumed humanity would ignore the colony in favor of Aafa. However, from what I’d guessed the avians’ wishes to be, that was a grave error of judgment.

Gasps of horror sounded from the predators across the bridge, as the Duerten unloaded antimatter bombs without hesitation. Where there otherwise would’ve been celebration as we cut down the last enemy ships in the area, there was instead a somber silence. The wait for the inevitable felt both long and short, as warheads hurtled toward each settlement on the colony. Orange flashes popped atop the surface’s beacons of artificial light, though when the radiance died down, Caato’s electrical glow did not return. The importance of the colony clearly hadn’t mattered to the Shield, as much as the fact that there were any Kolshians living down there.

The Duerten Homogeneity had broken off for a hot-headed action of their choosing, not even waiting to secure orbital victory to move on to bombing the civilians. The avians had snuffed out every settlement they could spot on Caato; if that didn’t make their intentions for Aafa clear, I didn’t know what would. Our plans were also set in stone, pledging to displace the Commonwealth government and bring their homeworld under our control, alive. My crewmates had stated that we needed the Shield’s numbers, and couldn’t afford to clash with them due to our conflicting ideas of justice.

Where each side stood and what was at stake was as unambiguous as the result of the Battle of Caato. The question was what humanity would do about the murderous atrocity their allies had just committed.

A/N - Part 164--the last before the first "intermission"! The Duerten try to use herd tactics in battle, giving humanity the idea to create a drone swarm of crazy proportions. However, as the manned Arxur and Kolshian ships are cleared out at Caato, the Shield takes the opportunity to pepper the colony with an antimatter bombardment anywhere there is live. What do you think humanity should do about the Duerten's genocidal intentions? Will this cause problems going forward?

As always, thank you for reading and supporting!