The Nature of Managed Democracy (2)

***STRATAGEM PERMIT UNLOCKED***

PB-32 Predator Bait

Stratagem Type - Defensive

Call-in Time - 4 Seconds

Cooldown - 75 Seconds

Deploys a hellpod containing a cage filled with venlil(or other herbivore) dissidents. Upon activation, automatic nozzles will spray fear chemicals into the air, encouraging the restrained prisoners to vocalise loudly, attracting the attention of nearby predators. Will distract Arxur forces and other predators, drawing them away from Helldivers. Super Earth encourages all Helldivers to dismiss any panicked cries or pleas for help as simply the patriotic cries of redemption for their final chance at atonement.

Input Code - ↓←→↑↑↑

Memory transcription subject: Movli, Gojid Defense Fleet

Date [Super Earth Standard Time]: September 24, 2136

My quills ruffled against the back of the truck as the vehicle hit another bump in the road, racing across the ruined countryside in response to a confirmed sighting of predator forces in the area. For all we know, we could have just run over the corpse of a poor child, brutally cut down by the savage predators.

The thought made my blood boil. How were they still alive? We were all taught that the humans had long been extinct, their recklessness and stupidity leading to them extinguishing themselves in a world consuming nuclear war.

Nobody had even bothered to check if one of the two greatest threats to the prey galaxy was truly gone. In retrospect, who would have? No one was insane enough to venture out to a predator planet, even if they hadn't yet possessed interstellar capabilities at the time

Now because of such shortsighted indecision, the predators have returned and were laying waste to our innocent populace, carving them up like cattle to be sent to a feast.

Yet beneath my indignation at Humanity's return, I couldn't help but feel a strange sense of unease.

Perhaps what troubled me the most wasn't how they were still alive, but rather how they were able to breach our defences so quickly. Conventional warp ships would have been punched out of hyperspace by our FTL disruptors and our planetary defence systems should have detected an incursion from an incoming FTL fleet. But our sensors had reportedly picked up nothing before the predators attacked.

No gravitational anomalies, no FTL signature that was the hallmark of Federation warp technology, nothing at all.

The predators had seemingly just 'appeared' above our planet by the thousands, completely blindsiding our orbital defences. We had no time at all to react.

What was even more concerning was just 'how' they conducted operations. Federation doctrine normally focused on total orbital saturation first before there would be any boots on the ground. That way, we could minimise casualties from a distance and ensure that our own soldiers would be in the least amount of danger as possible when we stepped in to clean up the stragglers.

The humans on the other hand, seemed to do this backwards; sending in shock troops from orbit to strike at key targets before calling in orbital bombardments second, often on their own positions. Why? It made no logical sense. Even if they were predators who couldn't feel fear, surely they must have had some sense of self-preservation left to realise that calling an orbital strike on your own position was a dangerously stupid idea.

Perhaps that was it. Maybe the predators were just stupid. Maybe they had somehow stumbled into some primitive, esoteric FTL technology that the Federation had abandoned early on due to its unreliability and were simply too unintelligent to figure out an alternative way.

My musings on the humans' intellect were invariably cut short however when the distant sound of gunfire reached my ears. Other soldiers around me must have also heard it too as they looked up and around at us uneasily, their claws fidgeting nervously.

Then off in the distance, I saw something.

Beams of red and blue light shot into the atmosphere somewhere over a low crest. I couldn't see what was happening behind the low hill, but several objects suddenly began falling out of the sky where the blue markers fell.

Craning my head into the atmosphere, my eyes fell upon the angular behemoths that the predators called ships. Many of them were shooting strange 'pods' out of their cannons, aiming directly where the beacons fell. Did the predators use some sort of marker to aim their orbital support? This tactic seemed wildly primitive. Did they not posses advanced enough targeting systems? How did this race ever reach the space age?

My thoughts were drowned out a second time when a large jet flew low over our truck, causing a wave of wind and dust to fly across our squad, temporarily blinding us. The sonic boom emitted by the aircraft forced many Gojids to clap their hands to their ears, desperately trying to block out the noise.

I looked up at the jet and saw that it was headed straight for the red marker. When it reached a low enough altitude, it released a payload from its belly and I watched as it plummeted towards the earth.

It impacted the soil with a dull thud.

For a second, nothing happened.

And then the bomb exploded in a massive orange fireball, kicking up rocks, dirt and, to my horror, Gojid body parts, scattering them across the field.

Seeing the carnage unfolding, our driver hesitated. Without thinking, I yelled for him to hurry. With a single nervous look back at me, he sped up towards the battle, evidently regretting his decision. If we hurried, maybe we could still save someone.

As the truck crested over the hill, the telltale sound of ballistic gunfire met our ears and strangely enough, music?

A strange alien tune was being blasted across the planes from a loudspeaker of some sort. When we finally crested the hill, a strange and morbid scene met my eyes.

Surrounded by craters, viscera and body parts was a group of four predators dressed in bulky armour. Around them, automated sentries scanned the surroundings, searching for prey as their predatory programming commanded them to do. The music was coming from a steadily rising pole that was being guarded by the four predators. Just what were these monsters doing?

In that crucial moment, we were too puzzled by the scenery to react when one of the sentries roared to life, immediately snapping towards us. Its barrel spooled up and unleashed a stream of hatred in our direction, completely obliterating one of the humans who had been unfortunate enough to be standing in its way.

Had there been more time, I may have laughed at the karmic justice served to the beast who had been killed by his own equipment but the bullets that began slicing into our inadequately armoured vehicle were enough to kill any humour I might have had.

I dove out the back of the truck just as a stray round tore through the poor Gojid next to me, his blue blood spraying across my face as his chest was utterly disintegrated.

Scrambling to my feet, my fear-stricken mind desperately tried to figure out what to do next. I was separated from the herd and most of my squad had just been killed outright. Without thinking, I dove behind a large pile of boulders in an attempt to escape the predators' wrath.

"CALLING IN REINFORCEMENTS!" I heard one of the predators yell. Panic stabbed at my heart as I heard those words.

'Oh great, now there are more of them,' I thought dejectedly to myself.

I thought about just picking a random direction and running as fast as my stout little legs could carry me. That thought had extinguished however when a large pod slammed into the dirt a mere few paces in front of me.

I let out an involuntary scream in surprise as mud and dust covered me. Then whatever had imbedded itself in the ground suddenly began moving. A lid the size of a manhole cover popped off with a loud 'pop' and a tall predator rose out from its metal coffin, cape billowing behind it like an omen of doom.

It looked down at me with its masked face and I lost all ability to think rationally.

Sheer terror overwhelmed me as I lashed out with my claws out of instinct. My sharp digits raked across its plated chest, doing little more than leaving surface deep scratches. However, my attack glanced off of the armoured portion and managed to knick a small exposed area underneath its elbow. The beast grunted in pain and swung at me with the butt of its rifle.

Pain blinded me as the polymer-metal frame collided with my snout and I felt something break. My vision swam as blood coated my face, flowing over my eyes as I fell backwards onto the grass. When I opened my eyes, all I saw was the terrifying visage of the predator as it towered over me, rifle levelled directly between my eyes, ready to snuff out my life like a dying ember.

Suddenly, sparks swam out of the corner of my field of vision and I looked to my right. The pole that the predators had been guarding had suddenly stopped rising. The music had stopped too. Atop the pole now flew a blue flag embroidered with a depiction of what seemed to be their home planet, wrapped in golden lines.

A flag. They risked their lives just to raise a flag in the middle of nowhere.

My squadmates died for a brahking flag.

***Error - Memory transcription interrupted: Subject Expiration Detected***

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