Chain Reaction - (Deathclaws x NOP) Chapter 5
Rumors of my demise were pretty accurate actually given my posting schedule or lack there of. Trying to get back into the swing of things. I originally started this whole project because I was so out of practice writing, so while I'll try to do better, you're going to see some growing pains. Just post memes about authors updating very slowly, that guilt trip worked on me eventually.
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Memory transcription subject: Governor Tarva of Venlil Prime
Date [standardized human time]: July 13, 2136
The good news is that there had been less stampedes than anticipated. The bad news was that “We’ve discovered a new species of spacefaring predator and they live right over there” had set that bar to be particularly high. But credit where it was due, Javari’s initiative to redesign the bunkers to minimize casualties resulting from a stampede had just paid for itself in full. Kind of shocking that such designs hadn’t been implemented before now; the only time the bunkers were to be used is when running away from something very desperately trying to kill you was a very good idea.
I got up and stretched the stiffness out of my legs from the unfamiliar bed. The situation rooms were designed with nearby sleeping quarters for staff use in case of emergency and it was impossible or impractical for people to head home. They were seldom used, which basically meant that they were only marginally softer than the ground beneath them. I dragged a brush through my fur to look semi-presentable. If our estimates were correct the Federation Response Fleet should be entering communication range any scratch now.
Kam and Javari were performing much the same ritual I was, as our various aides filled us in on what transpired while we slept. To say it had been an ordeal to coax some of them back to their posts was a massive understatement. I was just glad so many of them were still there after I woke up. Our last order of business before we had gone to sleep was sending probes to the edge of our systems to bolster our early detection systems. One of them caught a signal that had an admittedly small chance of being the deathclaw vessel, but the energy readings indicated that whatever the source was, it was moving away from Venlil Prime.
“Morning.” I said striding up to my advisors after they had finished their briefings. “Anything to report?”
Kam went first “Planetary defense repairs two days ahead of schedule - early assessment overstated how damaged the battery was.”
“Minor food shortages in some bunkers.” reported Javari “Improper seals on a batch of packaging. Appears isolated. Investigating. Rerouting supplies to compensate.”
I nodded and the three of us settled into a rhythm of updates, notifications, memos and creative problem solving for just long enough for me to jolt when an aide came to inform us that the Federation Fleet was within comms range and hailing us.
The three of us hurried our way to the conference room, bringing up the hail. As we accepted the hail, I was surprised to recognize the face on screen. It was Captain Sovlin, from the powerful Gojidi Union. He had risen to galactic fame after leading a valiant charge to break an Arxur siege on his home world. Typically, the Federation would just send the nearest available assets, but this time, they’d scrounged up someone competent.
“Governor Tarva.” The relief was plain on Sovlin's face, as he realized that we were alive. “We’re here to assist. What is the reason for your distress?”
Deep breath. “Captain. The worst has happened, and so has the unprecedented. We have made peaceful contact with a second spacefaring predator species.”
Solvin would not have recoiled as much if I had stabbed him, nor would he have worn such an anguished expression. “That’s not possible.” he said breathlessly.
“They call themselves deathclaws-”
“WHAT!?”
“-You heard me, Captain.” I said standing my ground despite the tremor in my knees.
Solvin looked over the three of us, likely hoping to see some sort of facade. There was a minor blip in the transmission as Solvin stepped away, their video and audio cutting out. One of the technicians in my earpiece said that the Federation vessels were scanning the planet. I dismissed the request to block the scan with a flick of my tail. He buys that predators came, but doesn’t buy the “peaceful” piece. Good of him to be cautious; I wouldn’t have believed me either.
Solvin’s appearance resumed, with him looking not a quill out of place. “Come in Tarva. Can you read me?”
“We can. Interference on comms?” I said playing it off .
“Just so. Give me a full debrief on this latest menace.” said Solvin stalling for time while the scan completed.
“We’re sending over the data we collected.” I said, giving the technicians to do just that with a swish of my tail “They entered our system nearly eight claws ago. Their initial trajectory was aligned with our outermost planet, but changed their target to Venlil Prime almost immediately upon entering the system.”
Kam interjected “That’s when we activated the Federation First Response Distress Beacon. The course change that is. We began analyzing their ship & energy signature - no match to anything we’ve seen. Then we traced their energy signature.” Kam shook his head. He had been the most excited about this being a new contact.
I continued, “Their homeworld is Earth.” Solvin’s head cocked in recognition of a name he knew, but not from where. “The human homeworld.” I clarified. Solvin visibly paled, and I heard someone in the background audibly gasp.
Solvin leaned in “You’re certain of this?”
I nodded “The deathclaws themselves confirmed it.”
“They irradiated that planet! Nothing can live there!” Solvin was sounding desperate.
“If the deathclaw’s accounts are accurate, the humans irradiated their planet twice, Captain.” I said as I began to lay one of the many pieces at his feet. Solvin could see this getting worse before it got better and steeled himself “Proceed with your full briefing.”
“The humans seemed to know that their war was going to involve nuclear weapons on a planetary scale. They constructed shelters to wait out the fallout… and living weapons to continue the war in their absence.” Solvin’s quills puffed out from that proclamation, but he otherwise kept a solemn and stern face.
I continued “Both measures were successful. Some humans survived the war, as did the deathclaws. But the human’s bloodlust was inexhaustible. Shortly after the humans started rebuilding their civilization, they restarted their wars. The humans used some unknown weapon, which this time fully irradiated the planet, and likely caused some form of mass flooding - the deathclaws were sparse on details. The deathclaws, by their own admission, are immune to the damaging effects of radiation, and were accidentally made too intelligent by their human creators. The deathclaws suplanted the humans, built their own society and made their way first to space, and then to my brahking front door!” I screamed the last line as the nerves I had been trying to choke down finally spilled out.
Solvin turned to his right, being signaled from off screen “And they did not land, nor even enter atmosphere.” he said, their scans likely having been completed.
He nodded and continued “That puts us on the frontline against an unknown and unpredictable enemy. Governor Tarva, I am formally requesting to invoke Federation Bulwark Protocols in the Venlil system.”
“Granted.” was my immediate response, sighing in relief, having expected this request from the onset. The Bulwark Protocols gave Federation ships blanket authority to move through our system, but more importantly, gave the highest prioritization to defense logistics support from the Federation. “Thank you Captain.”
Solvin nodded and immediately began barking orders to the other members of his fleet. “Yennic, Marsun, recon. Long range scans of potential incoming targets. Confirm enemy number and trajectory then retreat. Do not engage, do not communicate. Farlun, Shenta, confer with Kam to get as many of the Venlil defense systems operational as quickly as possible. Kan’yun, get a message back to Federation space. Everyone else, defensive perimeter around Venlil Prime.”
The rest of my team also fell in after Solvin’s, needing barely more than a flick of my ears for them to get on with it. Finally after hours of waiting, they had something to do, and they practically stampeded after the opportunity. The groups disbursed to handle their assignments, leaving me alone with Solvin for the moment, though a bit more off the record as he retreated to his ready room, and I to my impromptu office.
“Thank you again Captain.” I said with a nod, I really did mean it. I was unsure if it would mean anything if the deathclaws attacked in full force, but there would at least be a fight now, and Solvin was one of our best.
“No thanks necessary. The work has only just begun.” said Solvin shaking his head, a few of his quills quietly clicking against one another. “First priority is to fortify Venlil Prime in case of an attack. We’ll have the best minds of the Federation working on studying the deathclaw’s technology, based on the readings you took. I’ll put in a word for a commendation for that for you by the way.” he said as he pulled a bottle from one of his drawers (non-alcoholic if I recognized the brand), tipping it my way as a salute.
I collapsed further back into my chair. “Just making the best of a bad situation. The luck we did have was originally thinking it was first contact - made it easy to wrangle scientists and technicians on short notice. Once the wool started getting knotted, they were already in too deep to turn tail and run. Most of them anyway.”
Solvin looked as though he was about to comment on the scientists that did run away, but thought better of it. “I’ve been reviewing your communications with them. It struck me that their stated purpose might have been an accidental admission.” he paused looking for a confirmation that I was following. I was not. “They were attempting to find planets that could sustain life. Hunting grounds. But their homeworld is a wasteland, scarred by nuclear war and whatever the insane humans cooked up. Either, they don’t know what a normal world looks like or hopefully, they’re running out of food and are starting to starve.”
“Ok. But what good does that do us? They’ve already found Venlil Prime.” I asked.
“If they want to drive further into Federation space, they’ll first have to come through us.” said Solvin, as he started pacing back and forth, a plan formulating in his mind “We don’t have to beat them in one go. We can just bleed them dry. Shore up the defenses here, and ready defenses at other adjacent habitable worlds, but leave the dead systems undefended.”
He looked at me for a moment, hesitating “And if I may be coldly pragmatic for a moment? Venlil Prime is tidally locked. Large swaths of the planet are uninhabitable, which minimizes the territory we need to defend.”
I nodded in agreement even as the visions of the frigid side of Venlil Prime being bombed swam across my vision. Solvin’s idea wasn’t a novel one, our own planetary defenses were designed with such realities in mind. But it was still my home, I didn’t like the idea of any of it being attacked. Given that there were buildings damaged by the latest Arxur raid not five blocks from here, it was a reality I had long gotten used to.
Solvin resumed both his pacing and his plan “The deathclaws will waste time going after empty systems, scattering their forces, and slowing their advance. Once they’re onto the ruse, they’ll begin avoiding the empty systems all together. We can then use the desolate systems to run recon on the deathclaw homeworld, and even potentially strike with an extermination fleet when they overextend.”
I weighed the Captain’s plan; it did have some pitfalls. “The deathclaws are likely to make contact with the Arxur. What do you think will come of that meeting?”
“They’ll rip each other apart the first chance they get.” said Solvin instantly.
“You don’t think they would consider some sort of predator alliance?”
“Oh they would fake an alliance.” said Solvin continuing “But they would backstab each other at the first opportunity. Our intelligence suggests the Arxur can barely tolerate being in the same room with one another for any length of time. Family doesn’t even mean anything to them. No empathy or herd mentality at all.” Solvin returned to hit at his desk. “When those predators meet, they just see someone that’s going to steal their next meal from them.”
“Aren’t you worried how much damage this fake alliance could do in the meantime?”
“No, I doubt they would even manage to get their first raid together before it all fell apart. The deathclaws don’t have logistics in place for long distance raids, or the mobilization of a larger force. That means that they would need to rely on the Arxur until the raid was completed, meaning they would be using the Arxurs limited supplies. Tensions would break, and they’d turn on each other.” said Solvin with the same level of confidence as he would tell you water is wet.
I shifted in my seat to sit up straighter. “And what if, against all odds, the deathclaws come to us with envoys and diplomats?”
“Not possible.”
“Humor me.”
“I would insist on being on hand to deal with whatever trap the deathclaws have planned is sprung.”
“The part I want you to focus on Solvin is when you spring into action after the deathclaws show hostilities.”
“Why do you insist on giving these predators the benefit of the doubt?”
“I don’t want to fight a war in my backyard. I especially don’t want to start an unnecessary war there.” I said. “The deathclaws came to us with a promise of peaceful coexistence. Despite our fumbled first interaction, they have held to that promise. I will do the same and I expected you to as well.”
Solvin stared at me for a long while, before he scrutinized the now empty bottle in his paw. His eyes drifted back to his drawer, wondering if he made a mistake on which bottle to sample. “I will adhere to your policy so long as I am able. I am hopeful that it will not be a long time. Once the Federation at large makes an official policy against these deathclaws and their extermination, I will follow that policy. With gusto.
Posted Jan 12, 2026, 1:41 AM UTC