Chain Reaction - (Deathclaws x NOP) Chapter 4
A very delayed chapter. No IRL holdups, I just had difficulty getting my ideas down on the page. Hoping future chapters can come out more timely.
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Memory transcription subject: Governor Tarva of the Venlil Republic
Date [standardized human time]: July 12, 2136
I needed to release an official memo to the predator shelters. The standing policy was that no communication from the government after 5 hours meant that the shelters needed to enter full lockdown protocol, and assume that the predators had been successful in their raid. But we had been debating exactly how much to say for the better part of an hour.
It was decided that we weren’t going to signal the all clear until at least after the Federation response fleet arrived in system and gave their blessing. For now the civilians were contained, and we didn’t want a full blown stampede on our hands. So if we gave them too much information, we would have many small stampedes on our hands.
“The predators were honest with us.” the words fell from my mouth unbidden as soon as there was a lull in the conversation. Kam looked confused. Javari, my civil protection advisor who arrived about two hours ago, just looked exasperated.
“Tarva, they’re just beasts. Sure they have some degree of intelligence, but you can’t use that as an excuse to give them virtues.” Said Javari.
“Most of our literature is about being wary of predator deception, not predator honesty.” I retorted. “They had an opportunity to attack that they didn’t take. They had an opportunity to lie that they didn’t take. How many unpredatory things might they do if we gave them the chance?”
“Tarva-” Said Kam cutting off Javari, and pulled a picture of Cyrus and Deeja from our earlier conversation, Kam suppressing a shudder while he did so “-What does this species call itself?”
“...Deathclaws.” I said, causing the three of us to shudder. It really was a revolting name.
Kam continued “And suppose you’re right. Suppose everything we know about biology, society and warfare is all wrong. Are you going to stand up in front of every Venlil and every Federation member and say ‘I know what you guys are thinking, but these deathclaw fellows are just misunderstood.’”?
“If I need to, yes.” I said without hesitation, causing the two of my advisors to practically leap off the table. “Listen! Just listen. Earlier today a singular unknown vessel showed up on our doorstep. The result was a worldwide lockdown, and the resigned knowledge that we didn’t really have the strength to fight them off. Had then been hostile, or if the ship belonged to the arxur, we’d be at their mercy. And I know what their mercy looks like first hand. We are this close to being broken by the constant fighting and war. We’re on the border with the Arxur! We should be ready and able to fight them back. And here we are, still waiting on reinforcements from the Federation. I am sick and tired of this! Of all of this!”
I stood up and swept my arms around the crisis response center we occupied. “We have bunkers, and evacuation plans, and orbital defense guns, and distress signals. But they do nothing to stem the tide of families being torn apart - sometimes very literally! So an unknown variable shows up on my front door, and they might be in a position to relieve some of the burden that is crushing my people underfoot. Yeah. I’m going to use every scrap of my reputation to help them. Now - I have talked with two of them once for a few minutes, and it ended poorly. They have not earned that level of investment from me yet, but if they come here again looking to talk, I’ll talk.”
Kam and Javari exchanged looks, and Javari spoke first. “Madam Governor. Today’s events have clearly rattled you. Rattled all of us. You’re not thinking clearly. Perhaps you should rest for a scratch and let me and Kam handle it?”
I shook my head “Kam, back me up. If we could get the deathclaws to join our fight against the arxur, it could wind up being a huge boon to the war effort.”
“Ma’am, they’re only one species, even if they are war-like. And they’re technology likely has some gaps in it since they don’t have the Federation’s backing.” said Kam.
“That’s precisely the point.” I replied “They don’t have the Federation’s backing. They made it to space on their own, they might have technology we don’t. They could have an edge that no one else does. They’re the first predators to make it to space on their own.”
“That’s not exactly true.” countered Javari “In reviewing your conversation with them, they have only existed as a species for a few hundred years. Most of their technology is still based on human designs and discoveries. You don’t know that the deathclaws won’t end up just as bad as the humans and arxur.”
“Fifty six minutes.” came the reply from a muffled Kam. His head was on the table, arms covering his head, as if he was shielding himself from his own words. “Fifty six minutes.” he repeated. “When the humans wiped themselves out, from the time the first nuclear weapon was launched, to the time when the last one exploded was fifty six minutes. Tarva might be right. Whatever innumerable faults the humans had, they excelled at making weapons. When they fell, the deathclaws must have found weapons under every rock and stone they turned over. They had everything they needed to continue the war.” Kam looked up at Javari and myself.
I finished for Kam “But that’s not what they did. When things were at their worst, they put in the work to build their way out of the ruin.”
“What is wrong with you two?” asked Javari as he threw his hands up in exasperation, and took to pacing around the room. “For all we know that ship of theirs was just a- what do you call them? - a scout, that was running ahead of their invasion force to see if we were a weak target.”
Kam returned his head to the desk as if he didn’t want to hear the words he was about to say either “Then we lose. The deathclaws aren’t starving. They’d be conquerors, not raiders. They’d eat some of us for fun, and make slaves of the rest. We’re close enough that it would be a defensible position. They could even go about reverse engineering Federation technology, just like the arxur did, only better since they’re smarter.”
I honestly hadn’t thought of that, and my tail twisted itself in knots. Javari looked like he was on the verge of fainting, but rallied enough to yell at Kam “Which is it!? They’re our new ally one minute, our new ruler the next! Make up your mind!”
“They’re wildcards.” I said. “The galaxy has stagnated. The arxur keep chipping away at the Federation piece by piece, and we never seem to make any headway in reclaiming territory from them. The deathclaws can change that.” I held my tail in my hands, and took a calming breath. “They will change that. We need to make sure that if there’s a chance it’s for the better that we seize that chance.”
Javari started pacing around the room again before talking, the three of us having sat at essentially every position at this table in the past hour. “We’re getting off topic. We need to formalize the address. I recommend we avoid speculation in our messaging. Give them the information as dryly and objectively as we can. Then we can…”
We spent the next few minutes actually focusing on the topic at hand, and going through the steps to disseminate a public disclosure of this magnitude. We eventually settled on the following:
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Memo from the Office of Governor Tarva
Re: Predator Incursion Warning Issued [standardized human time]: July 12, 2136
This morning government officials issued the Incursion Warning when an unknown vessel entered the system. Simultaneously, the Federation First Response Distress Beacon was activated. The unknown vessel hailed Venlil Prime and Governor Tarva spoke with the aliens present. The vessel contained a previously unencountered species - First Contact protocols began, salient details listed below:
First Contact
Species Designation - Deathclaw
Homeworld - Earth (previously designated homeworld of Humanity)
Diet: Predator
Technology Level: FTL Confirmed
After discussion, Deathclaw vessel fled the Venlil Prime system. Heading: Arxur territory. No military action taken by either party.
Federation First Response Distress Beacon remains active. Confirmed Federation forces en route.
Incursion Warning remains in effect. Begin rationing procedure and shelter in place.
Additional details and instructions will follow upon arrival of and conference with Federation First Response Fleet.
Stay vigilant. The herd protects.
The Office of Governor Tarva
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How can something so influential fit on a single page? Sure as the Federation expanded, it was not upcommon for news to come through that another species had been discovered and the uplifting process was to begin again, but it was still a big deal. I had never been on this side of it however. My wool began to frazzle. Was this going to be my legacy? The Governor that could have shot down the first vessel in a new war against the predators - plural? Or was this, as I hope, to be the first step in dealing with the Arxurs permanently? I guess it all comes down to how the first contact between the Deathclaws and Arxur goes.
Memory transcription subject: Captain Cyrus of the Terran Reclamation Committee
Date [standardized human time]: July 12, 2136
“Doctor Kira, why is there an Arxur in your medbay?”
“Point of order Captain, there are six Arxur in medbay - one of them happens to be alive.”
The doctor hadn’t even bothered to look up from her VIGOR tester that was currently hovering over the battered, bruised and bloody form of the offending, and thankfully unconscious arxur. The medbay was one of the most robust rooms in the ship, as this was intended to be a long term voyage. There was space for four of the crew to be treated simultaneously with a robust surgery suite. The walls were lined with all manner of machines giving it the ability to synthesize and analyze all manner of compounds and contaminants.
“Why are they alive?”
“The skull fracture they received when a disemboweled Arxur body was hurled at them with great velocity has not as of yet produced enough internal hemorrhaging in the skull to be fatal.”
“You know what I mean.”
“As is often the case.”
The aging doctor actually did look up from her work after that jab, the soft green glow from the monitors highlighting the graying fringes of her scales. Dr. Kira continued “When we separated from the Arxur vessel, they never entered our vessel to reclaim their dead. It’s conjecture as to why.”
“So you rounded up the dead and brought them here yourself?”
“I wasn’t going to leave them in the hallway.”
I turned an appraising eye towards the unconscious arxur on the bed. The only clothes that they had been wearing were a bandolier, a holster and a utility belt, all of which were clearly visible in a nearby locker. The holster I noticed was empty.
“Their weapons?” I asked
“Syk has them - I presume to reverse engineer.”
I grunted in the affirmative as I continued my examination of the arxur. Laid out fully instead of being hunched over truly highlighted how starved this creature was. It would have been easier to list the bones I couldn’t see under the arxur’s scaly skin than the ones I could. No wonder this one was one of the first into the fray; they were delirious from hunger and desperate.
“Have you stabilized them?” I asked
“Close enough. Drip feed of stims, hydra and nutrients. Doses minimal, monitoring reactions.”
“Anything noteworthy?”
“They had a strong allergic reaction to my first attempt. Nearly killed them.”
“Trigger?”
“Unknown. Investigating.” replied Kira as she tapped the VIGOR tester at her side. “But it would be easier if I had additional data to work with.”
I turned my attention to the dead arxur in the room, or at least the largest parts of them - my crew had been quite thorough. I nodded “Satisfy your curiosity and report your findings. Keep this one alive if you can. Keep them bound, I’ll assign a guard.”
“God Bless America, Captain.”
“God Bless the Enclave.”
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Posted Oct 25, 2025, 5:22 PM UTC