Based on a dumb idea I had

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Date: November 12th 2075

The camera shows a turned on TV in a dark room.

"...the orbital infrastructure of China. It is projected that by 2077, the majority of the world's satellite networks will cease functioning, disabling services such as GPS and internet access in areas where..." The channel changes "...possible escalation to armed conflict as terrorist attacks increase in frequency across first and second world nations..."

A blonde man wearing a tie and jeans interrupts the broadcast with his presence. Behind him, the light turns on, revealing concrete walls, a table with a spaceship model on it, and a whiteboard filled with math equations. The TV gets turned off.

"This is dedicated to all the people who worked on the project. As the head of Canada's space operations, I thank all of you for the time you spent bringing it to life. Our sister and brother sites in Greenland and Australia have already finished work and are waiting for us to give them the signal." He cleared his throat.

"The secret of this operation, will be taken by us to the stars and to the grave. The risk of its existence being discovered by a hostile government or other entity that rises to power in the coming years, is too great. Only the current governments of the aforementioned territories and the people involved in this project know about it."

He points to the model on the table.

"This here, is a miniature replica of what will take the many people involved in this project, their closest ones, everything necessary to colonize unknown planets, and millions of frozen embryos, away from the brink of another world war, to a system called TOI-700. As of recording this, the engines are being installed on to the ship located near the Hudson Bay" He looks directly at the camera.

"Once again, I thank you all for your commitment."

end of recording

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The New York Times 11.13.2075

An arsonist attack in Ottawa takes the lives of the Canadian President and five other government members. Their bodies haven't been found.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The New York Times 11.15.2075

The King of Denmark goes missing during the visit to Greenland. Possible connection with events that took place in Canada.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The New York Times 11.16.2075

Australian president missing after car crash on the M31 Highway between Melbourne and Sydney. The investigation is ongoing.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The New York Times 11.20.2075

Mass disappearances shock the globe as ten thousand people go missing in the span of a day.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The New York Times 11.22.2075

Bright flashes of light over the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans of unknown origins.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

...

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The New York Times 03.05.2077

End of the Satellite Wars! What does the Treaty of Shanghai entail?

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

...

...

...

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The New York Times 07.10.2136

'The Odyssey'. Launch of the first manned interstellar mission will take place on July 12th 2136.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Memory transcription subject: Jonathan may, Diplomat of the Free Human Systems for the Gojidi Union.

Date [standardized human time]: 12 july 2136

The last 60 years have been intense for humanity, and the galaxy as a whole. We found alien life. They found out we were alive. For the first two decades, humanity stayed in and near the system we arrived in, and renamed it Helios. 35 years ago, we came into first contact with a herbivorous species called the Yotul, who were at the time going through an industrial revolution. The language barrier was a giant problem initially. However, we came to understand each other by further communication and eventually were able to have proper conversations between each other. Due to moral constraints, my predecessors avoided an aggressive spread of technology. But, they still utilized it when the Yotul needed it, and in return, humans gained their first friends among the stars

A decade later, a team on a mission in a system near Sol, found the Venlil and the Federation. Their hostility towards anything they found 'predatory' meant that our first allies had to take most of the diplomatic burdens while we worked in the background, and were dealing with the Arxur. On May 27th 2113, ten Federation members sent a fleet to our new home, to destroy us. With the help of our scarce friends and the galaxy's boogeymen, the threat has been repelled at the edge of Helios, with the only casualties being the soldiers unfortunate enough to participate in the battle.

Soon after, leaked calls between the Farsul and Kolshian leaders describing their atrocities against sapient life came into our possession. A few days later, unnatural genetic defects were found in many species formerly belonging to the Federation, confirming them. The regime, while extremely unstable, did not collapse. However, 40 civilizations have seceded from it, later 41 as one of the founder species, the krakotl, experienced a revolution. A new alliance had formed between them, with humans as one of its founders.

That brings us to this moment, where the current celebration of the Sapient Coalitions 23rd anniversary is being held on Venlil Prime. I am in the Governor's mansion surrounded by many planetary leaders, diplomats, and other important politicians. At the banquet, next to me was sitting my Gojid counterpart, eating some pasta with a mix of human and Cradle vegetables.

"...How long did it take to make a translator for you and the Yotul?" hmm?

Oh!

"I... think it was around 3 years. It was decades ago and I'm not too into history, so I don't know much."

"And who should I ask if I want to know more?"

chuckle

"A historian?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Are- are you drunk?"

"Uh- um... look!" She pointed to the window. There were fireworks visible in the distance.

"yeah, I see them. Look, just don't do anything stupid."

"Fine..."

Behind her, I could see Governor Tarva being told something by security and getting away from the table. Wonder what that's about-

"Ack! ^(Menti, sweetie, yours spines.)"

"^(Sorry.) Where do you think they are going?"

"Well, she got approached by security so..." Security was now approaching the leadership of every other founder species. "Nevermind, this is serious. Hey where are you-" She speedily walked out of the mansion.

"Seriously?"

I went outside to look for her. The celebration extended beyond the inside of the mansion, with people sitting at tables in the garden and waiters going between them. In the corner of my eye, I see a gojid going in the direction of the governor's office. They then hid, or at least tried to, behind a few b​ushes.

"What are you doing?"

"Shhh, trying to see what's so important." This woman. On the inside of the building we only saw Tarva and her advisors in front of a holoprojector, with the other politicians nowhere to be seen. Every person in the room was visibly slightly stressed about something. This is when a connection appears on the screen and-

what?

^(Hello. We come in peace, on behalf of the human race.)

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I might not be able to post anything for the next 7 days, so have a one shot.

I live

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Day news live Broadcast

The camera shows a hall filled with leaders of different alien species, more are actively walking into the shot and taking their seats. Among them stands out a screen with the face of the Venlil Governor, who gained a few glances from other participants but otherwise went unaddressed. Once all seats but of the Yotul were filled, the Kolshian chief steps onto a podium with the Farsul elder behind him.

"Dear leaders of the Federation, we know you wish to address the recent events and absence of two members. However, those questions will be answered with vital information that will be shared with all of you now. That is, the humans are alive."

The hall fell into chaos. Leaders of the Krakotl, Yulpa, and Tilfish are the largest contributors to it. By comparison, The Zurulian and the virtually present Venlil were the calmest ones, only cowering at the reaction of other species.

"Order! Order! Order!"

After a minute, the commotion returns to an acceptable level. The Krakotl representative's feathers had yet to go back to a calm state.

"You expect us to be calm when these predators are running rampant across the galaxy?!"

"I expect you to be rational. The reason Governor Kenim needed to access us through a transmission is because he had to stay behind on Venlil Prime to handle the humans who landed there. If a Venlil can handle this, then so should anyone else present."

"He knew and kept quiet!?" Squawked the avian.

"While the withholding knowledge of their existence is unherd-like, if the information had gotten out irresponsibly it could have destroyed the Federation! Am I understood?" The Krakotl grumbled before settling down.

"As for the newest uplifts, they have been invaded by the predators. Most ships sent to Leirn had been destroyed by the orbital defenses of the invaders, yet few who made it through show a disturbing picture."

Behind them appeared a projector image. In it were shown bodies of exterminators laying on streets and roofs of guilds. It then switched to human soldiers carrying out Yotul from predator disease facilities. The images of the patients had either been blurred or overly focused in on any feature that would indicate a struggle. Gasps echoed throughout the room.

"This is what they captured." A quiet thud was heard out through the hall as a Sivkit lost consciousness. Eyes had turned to the source of the sound before returning to the podium. The Zurulian Prime minister spoke.

"M-may I ask about the quality of those images?" The Kolshian squinted. The one to respond was the Farsul.

"They appear blurry because they were taken by ships farther away the planet-" The projection goes blank for a moment. Previously blurred pictures have become high definition, revealing burns on the Yotul and their emaciated state. A second wave of gasps spread, a few participants were casting glances at the leaders of the founder species.

"I-I suppose it was a problem with the projection." For a brief second, a smug look appeared on the Venlil Governor's face before returning to the previous shock.

"What about the involvement of the Arxur?" Asked a voice outside the shot of the camera.

"Ah, yes. We believe they made an allience with humanity to empower themselves." Then there was an akward Silence.

"I-I believe we should double-check that system," Once again spoke Chatan "Y-you said that you only sent spies to the Yotul home world. What if there's something somewhere else in the system t-that we should know about?"

"I commend your bravery. However, that would be redundant. "

S-still, considering the importance of knowledge about the predators, it's worth going there." This earned a few affirmative words and actions from other members of the summit. Attention returned to Nikonus.

"Very well then... if you believe it's the right thing to do, go for it."

Memory transcription subject: Chatan, Zurulian Prime Minister

Date [standardized human time/UTC]: 1 july 2120

After the Aafa summit ended, a few other leaders approached me to ask questions about what I was planning to do. Some even decided to join in because they wanted to see the system for themselves. Out of sight, I had sent a message to the humans saying that we might approach Leirn and to not shoot at us.

I will be honest to myself.

The time since they contacted us was weird.

They had given us a disturbingly detailed description of their evolution, showing that they evolved from prey animals and how they fit both the definition of prey and predator. Another thing were the results of an empathy test done by the Venlil, which shocked us in two ways. They already gained the Governors trust before they came to us, and how... normal they looked.

Some of our scientists wanted to redo the tests to make sure they weren't falsified, but their proposals were quickly toned down, and the visitors were given footage of surgery instead of Arxur raid practices. Once again, they came out with the same results as it would with any other sapient.

This is why I am here in the first place. They deserve to be heard by the rest of the galaxy.

I know what happened on Leirn, how its inhabitants were backstabbed by the Federation that promised to protect them.

I am on a shuttle flying there. Many people have called me stupid for doing that. However, I am not alone. The group following me was... diverse. I understood the Farsul, they were scientists, so, of course, they would come. The Dossur, maybe the courage came with their small size? The Paltans... I can see that. I have no idea why the Verin came.

An awkward silence that had been hanging in the air ever since we left Aafa, was broken by the sound of a message being sent to the ship.

Unknown fleet, identify yourself.

"Should we...?" I gave the affirmative to the captain. Another message had been received after a moment.

You are aproaching an FTL disruptor field, exit warp/subspace within [30 SSTU].

"Do as they say, get the other participants to do the same."

Exiting subspace, we appeared near a gas giant far away from the star. One of the Farsul ships began calling us.

"Yes?"

"Hello Prime Minister Chatan, just so everyone knows, we will be transmitting everything to the rest of the universe."

"Thank you for telling us. It's good to know we have your support."

"I just don't understand why you would travel here personally instead of sending someone else."

"I actually expected humans would try to meet with us. After all, it would be pretty clear we aren't exactly spies with the amount of ships we have."

"It's still dangerous, you can't predict what the predators will do if we come into contact with them-" They were interrupted by a large vessel suddenly appearing in front of us.

"Dear representatives of the Federation, we ask you to dock a ship containing personnel with proper diplomatic abilities onto the station."

"Time to find out what they want..." I already know what they want, It's not having to fight against the entire damn galaxy at once.

Docking was a problem, as we first had to send everyone willing to go, not a lot of people, onto a single ship before going to the human craft. Obviously, I was one of them, and despite the protest from my crew, I still came on board explaining that this is literally why I am here. Alongside me were two Farsul with a hidden camera, one Verin and Paltan each holding a Dossur, and a single other Zurulian.

Connecting to an airlock was not a possibility due to different designs, so instead the small ship entered a hangar. Once the atmosphere returned to the chamber, a team of 3 humans in black suits approached, grabbing everyone's attention. Two had equally dark fur on their heads while one was blonde. I think they were also a woman.

"Please follow us. We will have to show something at the destination." Nervous clicking came from the insectoid and the ears or tails of the other species have fallen. We were lead to a room with a projector hanging off the ceiling, projecting a blank screen onto a wall. The hosts settled onto seats, and we were told to do the same. The chair was too high for me and I had to be given a step stool to get on it. Speaking of the chairs, they had holes in their backs, which was a nice accommodation for the larger species for their tails. The single Verin, meanwhile, stood next to a table that the Dossur were sitting on.

"So," One of the men in suits spoke, "may we know why you are here?"

"W-we want to know what's truly happening." Their lips curled up.

"Well well well, I suppose we will have to explain certain things. Please focus on the wall there," he said pointing with a remote. On the projection appeared a menu with files I couldn't read the names of.

[

Arxur_Orbit.mp4 26.06.2120

Farsul_VenlilPrime.mp4 28.06.2120

]

"Here we go."

Memory transcription break:[15 minutes]

"I hope that cleared some things up" It did, to everyone else.

"So if you didn't come..." Spoke one of the paltans.

"It would have been a lot worse. Also, don't worry about Governor Ralso, he's currently getting a tour of our planet while talking to a few leaders. Any questions related or unrelated?"

"A-aren't humans predators?" The one in front of them made a weird face.

"We don't label species this way. What you call 'prey' we call 'herbivores', which means 'plant-eater'. What you call 'predators' we call 'carnivores', which means 'meat-eater'. Humans, and many other animal species from Earth, are 'omnivores', which means 'everything-eater'. It's not a 50/50 [flesh] plant mix, it's a scale. I actually did research about the human diet before you came, and we mostly eat plants. Something around 70% of our food is vegetation." They pulled out a long yellow fruit from their leg pelts and peeled it.

"Here, I will demonstrate for the skeptics with a banana," and he ate it. No longer does that shock me after seeing it happen 10 times before, but for other people present in the room, they see it for the first time.  Looking around, everyone had their jaws wide open at the sight.

"How many stations is this connected to?" "20 or 21." I could hear the camera crew whisper.

"Wait, you are recording us?" Asked the presenter.

"Wh- we- yes."

"..."

"..."

"That's... actually a good thing," Once again, their mouth curved upwards. "I say hello to the galaxy. Maybe you will think things through this time. " What are they talking about?

"What do you mean' this time'?" Their facial expression faded. He bit himself on the lip.

"We saw a transmission from around [200 Earth Cycles] ago detailing plans for a genocide of humanity. I... said that referencing it."

Oh.

"I-I know what they are talking about." Spoke up the Verin. "When humans were discovered, an unanimous vote was held towards their destruction. It was canceled when nuclear detonations were detected on their planet."

The air presses uncomfortably against my fur.

"Let's... end this meeting. You can go back to your ship." Quietly, everyone got up and started inching towards the door leading to the rest of the station.

"One last thing. Can somebody tell the Thafki representative to await a transmission from Earth?" The Thafki? What could they possibly want from them?

System transcript: Reconnaissance Drone A-3

Date [standardized human time/UTC]: 1 july 2120 2 hours earlier

warp 4 disengage

Current Location: 500000 +-1000 meters from surface of [unnamed planet 47]

Scanning surface...

Setting designation for [unnamed planet 47] to 'Cattle'

Checking for captive species...

.

.

.

Target species: Thafki found

Sending coordinates to External Intelligence and Security Agency

Title of message: Priority colony found

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SSTU - Standard Small Time Unit / roughly 0.8 seconds

AU where the UN didn't become a global power after the satelite wars

Critique is welcome <3

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Memory transcription subject: Jan Lind, Ground soldier recruited by the Swedish Space Forces

Date [standardized human time/UTC]: June 27 2120

Nothing feels real. I'm on an alien planet, my friend nearly died, I saw the head of a conscripted child get blown to pieces...

Get me out of here.

"When will they come for us?"

"In about 40 minutes..." Jacob said while staring at the ceiling.

Looking outside, the sun of the planet was slowly rising above the horizon. After our coordinates were sent to the people above, we checked on those in the PD facility and the guild. Everyone was just as miserable and unwilling to stay for a moment longer.

Standing on the roof of the office, I could see ships lowering on to the surface to take soldiers. Soon enough they came for us.

First, they took people from the mental asylum, before coming to us and the guild. The injured soldiers and the rescued Yotul were brought in to the vessel on stretchers.

It will be a long way up.

External memory transcription device detected

Memory transcription Subject: Oliver Kaiser, President of Germany.

Date [standardized human time/UTC]: June 27 2120

I am on a call with the venlil Governor, Presidents of Korea, Poland, Sweden and Italy. Kenim, while visibly not happy with the battle on Leirn, had admitted that he was disgusted with how the Federation founders handled it. He had shown footage from multiple news networks talking about the events, and it always boiled down to 'The Arxur attacked the Yotul home world, unexplainable things happened, it's currently being investigated.'. He had mentioned that they would disclose the news of our existence in roughly 2 days at the 'Aafa summit' and that we should hurry up with anything we might want to do before that day.

Don't understand why they would withhold what should be vital information from everyone else, but it works in our favor. Ms. Hwang had admitted that they have plans for Korean diplomats to contact the Zurulians before that happens due to them being one of the most pacifistic species. The Italian head of state will send spycraft into Arxur territory, the Swedes will deal with rebuilding Leirn to its original state, while Poland will send help to all of them before they find their own goal. We, meanwhile, will need to decide what action to take regarding the nearest militaristic civilization, the Gojids.

"At the current moment, we propose an attack on their military networks. It would make an effective attack on humanity impossible, but not completely paralyze them to not be vulnerable to destruction by the Arxur." To what I said responded the Italian president.

"I would wait a moment. They're still unaware of our presence in the galaxy by the miracle that the Federation is so selfish they would rather abandon the Yotul rather than have something stray away from their plan. However, the Gojids are a major power, therefore an attack on them could force them to make a premature reveal."

"Understood, then we will have to wait until they at least understand why it's happening."

"I'm still not sure how you're going to get the Zurulians to also help you." Said Governor Kenim.

"They will receive documents detailing human evolution, medical practices, and anything else that would prove that we're trustworthy, including the results of the incident during first contact."

"I see..."

"Does anyone have more to add, or could this call be considered finished?"

"That's all we have to say to other governments."

"No, I will contact someone if we decide what to do."

"No, we will share the data we get."

"Then this meeting is concluded."

This way, the call ended.

I still feel weird about the fact that the way the Venlil found out humans eat plants was through Harry Potter movies.

Memory transcription subject: Jan Lind, Ground soldier recruited by the Swedish Space Forces

Date [standardized human time/UTC]: June 28 2120

The vessel we used to lower ourselves onto the surface finally connected itself back into the main ship. 3 hours after we'd returned to space. They sent down a ship to pick us up, forgot to board a second pilot on it for the original ship, then they sent back down ANOTHER ship this time with the correct number of people capable of flying those machines, and came back up. And this happened 10 separate times, with 10 different teams of soldiers.

If this is the peak of human competence, then I'm scared of our future.

The medical wings of all ships were nearly full. Yet those sent to the surface make up the minority, most were aliens.

I felt dread heading inside the one on this ship.

On the left were people sent to the surface, on the right were Yotul freed from facilities.

"Entering warp in T- 5 minutes"

I got to my friend's bed. He was unconscious but now had a proper cast on the broken arm. Looking around the room, the state of the people here was disturbing. Soldiers had burn marks all over their bodies. On the other side of the room, the freed 'patients' had anything varying from electrical burns to missing fur to missing digits.

I can't bear to see this for longer.

I speedily walked out of the medical area and to the dormitory. While we were down there, someone cleaned our bedroom. The sheets were new, the trash was taken out. My and his things were on the beds or bedside tables instead of the floor. At least they were nice enough to do this.

The ship starts lightly shaking.

"Entering warp in 3.. 2.. 1.."

To take my thoughts off of... everything, I check the news.

Governor of Leirn on the way to Earth.

Sweden, the first country to begin reconstruction of Leirn.

New information regarding the first contact crew.

No.

President of Korea sends team to attempt contact with zurulians.

Something positive maybe?

Ms. Hwang of the Republic of Korea has announced that on the 27th of June at 20:00 (UTC+9) a team of diplomats will be sent to Colia****^(1) to try and establish positive relations with the government of the Zurulian****^(2) species before the existence of humanity is revealed to the rest of the galaxy on June 29th by the founding members of the Federation^(3).

...At least someone is trying something peaceful.

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REWRITE

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Memory transcript subject: Adam wyszyński, President of Poland

Date [standardized human time/UTC]: 22 june 2120

A lot has happened since yesterday. On earth, people found out about the existence of aliens, many of them, and that they wanted to kill us. Distracting the public from it went surprisingly well, but there were still people gathering around government buildings in the capitals of many countries, including mine.

On the side of our astronauts, Robert nearly died of alcohol poisoning after being shown literal child torture footage, Anton was locked in the ship's bathroom for smuggling alcohol, and the rest needed to deal with being on a planet where only a dozen or so people wouldn't kill them on sight.

Interestingly, I was about to get on a call with the leader of the aliens they met called 'venlil'. From the footage we got, they were bipedal, wooly creatures from a previously thought to not exist planet that has a slightly higher gravity than Earth.

Getting the invitation, I join and see that the German president is on the call aswell.

"Oh, Welcome Mr. Vyshynski"

"Hello Mr. Kaiser. I see we are alone on this call so far."

"Yes, from what we know, the Finnish government doesn't wish to be involved in this." He brings a hand up to his mustache

"That was expected, considering their isolationist proposal-" A third connection appears on-screen. Three Extraterrestrials, black, white and one gray with darker stripes. The last was also the only one not naked as they wore a purple coat.

"Welcome, I see we're no longer the only ones here." The darkest one had their long ears pressed against their head and tail curled to their leg, while the other two were seemingly relaxed. Seemingly, as the one at the front was shaking.

"Y-yes. I'm Governor Kenim of the Venlil Republic. On the left is my military advisor Vin and on my right is diplomatic advisor Nalna" Talking to them is weird. I feel like I'm arguing with a skinwalker.

"From what our astronauts said, It was at your request that we have this call."

"I assume you already know what happened to them." Both me and my German counterpart sighed at this.

"We are aware of what happened to the team and the Polish engineer specifically, "he responded.
"Now, what is the reason for this discussion we are having?"

"The Federation is aware of you already, and has sent a fleet of 500 to us that will arrive in a few [days]. They're coming to take them." Silence

"Give us a moment. Adam, can you remind me which countries were preparing to go to 'Leirn'?" Interesting.

"Finland, Czechia, and Sweden. They will be there in about a week."

"They what?" Right, we're still on a call with aliens.

"These 3 countries are preparing militarily to remove the Federation from that planet. They expected aggression and decided to find a target to shock them first."

...

"Please voice your concerns."

"Them killing the yotul?"

"No, no. The Finnish and Swedish governments specified that they would only target non-native infrastructure and military personnel. Czechia wanted to make sure they weren't lying and started preparing themselves to also go there." The German president looked like he had just got an idea.

"I will need to discuss with you something regarding that later, Mr. Vyshynski," he said, looking at me, "From which species do these ships come from?"

"Krakotl and Farsul..." Their ears have drooped while he started typing something.

"That should be enough time assuming they left yesterday. I do need to know if you care about the people we sent."

"w- yes!" He said that weirdly energetically, as if he got offended.

"I am surprised how little you seem to care about the federation in this conversation." The three venlil shared a look between eachother

"I... began having doubts after 'you know what' happened. Also, they were bound to attack you anyway."

...

"Okay"

"Alright, we're going to need you to throw broken military spacecraft into a specific spot in orbit. A few vessels is enough. We will also throw our broken ships near them."

"what for?"

"The astronauts will leave and the trash in orbit would imply that there was a struggle in trying to prevent them from going to Earth. Showing signs of a fight on the ground would be appreciated."

The Humanoid sheep thought for a moment, "We agree to that."

"Great. Another problem is the overlap of our territories, which we currently cannot solve, since that would give away that you are helping us. " They made some gestures with their tails before replying that they understood.

My turn to speak came, "Does anyone here have more topics of the utmost importance? "

"No"

"No, I think we can end this call." The Aliens Disconnected

"Mr. Kaiser, what did you want to discuss?"

"I propose we help with preparations of the nations going to the Yotul home world. It will serve as an additional distraction to the fleet and will cause chaos across the federation." So that was what you thought of.

"I understand your thought process, although, what do you mean by help?"

"We send a small drone fleet to them, and rush their military personnel into going in 3 days instead of a week," I nodded.

"How about we call them now to tell our offer?"

Memory transcript subject: Jan Lind, ground soldier recruited by Swedish Space Forces

Date [standardized human time/UTC]: 23 june 2120

Yesterday, we were informed that the Governments of Poland and Germany have joined the Liberation Fleet. I was recruited on to a medium-sized ship with 20 other soldiers that is currently going at Warp 3 or 7.5 ly an hour. Take your pick. This is an advantage humanity has over the aliens. Higher FTL speeds.

Sitting in the cafeteria, on my right was my friend Karl, who was currently doomscrolling, and on my right was a random woman watching someone draw a... Dossur? I think? I just finished eating pasta of questionable quality and began scrolling through archived parts of the Alien internet.

It was honestly like peering into a dark timeline where the Axis kept existing to the modern day. Everything was uncannily normal. Casual mentions of inhuman animal treatment and sending people to 'treatment facilities' for being mildly asocial.

Going back to our dormitory, my friend decided to strike up a conversation.

"How bad do you think it is?"

"What exactly are you talking about, Black Beard?"

"The state of the world we're going to."

"Everything considered, I'm expecting 50% ruins, 50% cyberpunk buildings."

"I expect random corpses lying on the street." I giggle at the dark thought.

The rest of what was supposed to be the evening was just as uneventful. I went to the small gym onboard, where somebody tried to bench press 300 kilos and nearly died. Did some squats in a room with 1.3 Gs of gravity, bench pressed a more reasonable 140kg, then took a shower and went back to the bedroom.

There, I decided to check the Fed net for information on the yotul. The wallaby people used to keep frilled lizard cat things called 'hensas' as pets before the Squids came with flamethrowers. Pictures taken of the place were mostly of ruined factories, seaports, and train stations.

This is enough negativity for today. If I might die in 3 days then I might as well get sleep now.

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AU where the UN didn't become a global power after the satelite wars

Critique is welcome <3

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Memory transcription subject:Governor Kenim of the Venlil Republic

Date [standardized human time]: june 22 2120

What do i do, What do i do, What do i do, What do i do, What do i do

Calm down, calm down. They haven't done anything so far and I can't let that go to waste. I need to contact scientists. We need to check whether they are bluffing.

...

"This is the Dayside City University reception wh- Governor?" said the brown venlil on the other side of the screen

"Yes, there is a 'special situation'. I-I need a team of neurologists," the receptionists ears fell after i said that.

"What's happening? Are you alright?"

"I'm alright, this is quite an emergency, so I need them to be at the mansion in less than a claw. I will explain it to them once they're here."

"Alright... I will inform them"

"Also, tell them to bring brain scanning equipment for five people."

I disconnect from the call. My advisors need to know about this. This time i call my military advisor's holopad.

"Vin, you and Nalna have to come to my office."

"Understood."

I don't know the exact details of how the empathy tests used on PD patients work, but they need a screen or projector. Explaining the idea to them, Vin was hesitant, saying that this was a bad idea and that it might cause them to drop the act and attack immediately. Nalna, meanwhile, was all for it, hoping that it would prove that they didn't mean harm.

Now to inform the humans themselves...

Two of them were standing in front of their ship. Approaching, I saw that it was the captain and Olivia. They were watching something on their equivalent of a holopad and slightly snarling, making me rethink my decision, but ultimately, I continued walking.

They then snapped their heads to look at me and I had to force my ears and tail away from my body to not show fear. I could see their eyes widen at the sight of me. "Governor Kenim?" said both of them.

"Y-yes, I want you to participate in a neurological test."

"Alright? as long as you don't open our skulls. I will need to inform the rest of the crew. Also are you good?"

"No no no, we would not do something like that! And yes I'm fine after what happened last paw. Uhm... what were you looking at earlier if i may know?"

"The news of your existence has just now spread to the public. We were watching a video of a guy talking about you." THEY ALREADY TOLD THEIR PEOPLE ABOUT US?! Speh, keep up the fearless appearence! "W-we still haven't told our people about you."

"You will have to eventually, but take your time. Where will we have to go?" Oh, right.

"Just gather here, I or security will lead you to the place sometime within the next claw,"They thought for a moment before agreeing. Going back inside, I saw people preparing the holoprojector near the back entrance. Let's hope they don't lash out on us for this.

...

"Governor, there are people outside the entrance gate saying that you requested them here." Said one of the guards

"Did they say they were neurologists?"

"Yes."

"Then let them in"

The team that entered the property consisted of 2 venlil and a sulean.

"Governor, we were told this is an emergency, what's happening?" asked the quadrupedal fellow.

"Well, the emergency is... you need to see to believe it." I begin leading them to the human vessel

"I'm... concerned." said one of the venlil, already lightly shaking on their paws.

"And you are right in being so..." The ship was soon visible, standing tall on one of the landing pads. I could see the group freeze behind me as soon as they noticed it.

"W-what is that?" all of them exclaimed simultaneously

"The ship of a predator species we thought was dead." Their professional demeanor was faltering.

"Y-you mean-"

"The humans." They were now on the verge of a panic attack.

"Why are we here?!" What great scientists we have. Not that i would do better in their position. I do have to think of a reason to give them.

"We need to know how they react to things. They clearly aren't like the arxur, so we can't deal with them the same way. That would be a death sentence. We have already prepared everything but the equipment you brought." Despite being visibly skeptical, they seemed more likely to do it with what I just said. Promising that the trio would get paid for it simply made that a guarantee.

The crew of the vessel was already waiting near the back entrance with security. When one turned their heads to look in our direction, the team behind me jumped a little, froze, then went back to following me.

There were five large reclining seats on which security made the humans sit. With their tails between their legs, the neurologists hastily put the nodes on their heads before backing off and doing work with the holoprojector. The humans have also been handcuffed to their seats? They visibly tensed up afterward and were mumbling something with each other.

I- let's hope all goes well...

The test subjects were pricked by a needle and a video of a venlil and gojid pups appeared on-screen. I was with the scientists observing brain activity and, apparently despite the tension, they saw a 'cute' reaction to the video. This is going very well. It seems the cuffs were just to prevent panic from happening.

Memory transcript break: 20 minutes

It went terribly. On screen were arxur raid transmissions. I didn't dare look, but I heard it. When it ended, the results showed were that they were just as distraught as any other species in the galaxy would, but instead of panicking, the group simply stared aghast at the machine before them.

The cuffs had undone themselves automatically, the scientists left after getting their credits..., and the group slowly and jerkily got up and walked back to the craft that brought them here. This is so bad. In spite of everything, they were normal people that saw arxur torture children because of me.

I brought that onto innocent people because i got spooked by them.

Why is that even used for PD patients?!

The head of security came up to me, holding in his paws what looked like an external computer drive.

"Before you came back, the humans handed me this. They said it contained information about their homeworld and species, and we translated it."

...

I need to study what those 'predators' are actually like. He leads me back to my office, and turning on the projector in my desk revealed a new massive file on it. Opening it, I saw a text file pop up with large text at the top and thousands of differently colored links below it. The head of the page was an explanation of what the colors meant: Green is safe, yellow is potentially sensitive, orange is sensitive and red is 'proceed with caution'.

Pressing a link marked as safe, it leads to a page containing information about common trees on 'Earth'. Starting with one called oak, I saw an unfamiliar classification system. At the top was the 'kingdom' designated as plants, which I understood, but everything past that was a mystery, order, family, subfamily, genus that was highlighted and extended onto hundreds of different species when pressed. This confirmed what I realized earlier: a brutish species would not have such complex classification for life!

The article itself was even more impressive, being thousands of words long, containing images, diagrams, maps. All of this only for one type of tree, in just one section of the file connected to one of the links. Once I properly inform someone of their presence, this will be the first thing to be analyzed, because it's way too much for a single person to read through.

...

I should...

I should check how they are doing.

Leaving the building, I approach the spaceship. The airlock has closed and the ladder was pulled up.

"H-hey!" would they even hear me? "I-I want to apologize for what happened!" So far, nothing has changed. Are they ignoring me? It's reasonable for them to do that. I need to think, if they are truly pretending to not hear me, then who would they not do that to?

"Nalna!" I go search for her back inside. She was so far the friendliest to them, it would be best if she came with me. I found her staring out a window in the entrance hallway.

"I-I-"

"Why did it happen that way?" The white venlil in front of me was speaking calmly, but i could tell she was... dissapointed?

"I know! I did not expect it to be so violent either! Look, I need your help to apologize to them."

"Verify what you are doing next time. Let's go"

Just like that, we were outside again.

"HEY! We want to apologize for what happened!" This time the Airlock opened, revealing Monika.

"I take the apologies, but we need help with Robert. He downed half a stash of alcohol someone smuggled onto the ship, and now we're trying to keep him alive."

Oh stars...

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Memory transcript subject: Adam Wyszyński, president of Poland

Date [Standardized human time/UTC]: june 21 2120

My day so far sums up to: wake up, eat an egg sandwich, find out Space Hitler and Space Stalin are real, and now I'm on a jet going to Paris with the prime minister and minister of national defense to meet with our Finnish and German counterparts alongside the heads of the European Space Agency.

There, we will figure out how to disclose the existence of the Federation and Dominion while causing minimum damage, and other, further actions. "How long until we land?" "About 30 minutes Mr. President," responded the stewardess.

"Anyone here has any idea how to NOT destroy the world?" Asked Thomas Baj, the national defense minister. "tell everything but heavily emphasize the good parts?" said Prime Minister David Lach, "and what would the good be?"

"Complete lack of cybersecurity, pathetic military strategies and subpar weaponry, especially when talking about the arxur combined with the general stupidity of both of their governments and citizens. And also other things we will figure out along the way"

I see what you are talking about, "We still need to talk with our counterparts and ESA to decide how exactly we're gonna tell everyone about them but that's a good base for it," now, we wait.

Memory transcript break: 35 minutes

"Mr. Kaiser, Mr. Lang, Mr. Roth, Ms. Koski, Mr. Ranta, Mr. Linna," After exchanging formalities with each other we walked into the headquarters building and were directed into a large meeting room where the management was already waiting for us

"Please take your seats" proclaimed the Director General.

"What will we begin with?"

"Spread of the information to other governments and the general public," Was the response of the SLE Director, "What ideas do the people present in this room have so far?"

The German team stood up from their positions. "We propose to reveal the state of the galaxy to world governments with a data package detailing its politics, history and current role of each of its inhabitants." Was the president's answer.

"As for civilians, it would require their respective states to sign off on this. They would first be informed of their existence and then slowly told the full story over the span of a few months, to relieve any tension any part of the truth may cause before revealing another one." And this was the chancellor.

"The part requiring their governments' consent would be hard to achieve, and the drip-feeding of information may be problematic at such a scale and assumes the aliens themselves won't decide to take action regarding us in the meantime," critiqued the Finnish Prime Minister. "The other teams may present their own ideas" Responded the Director General

This time we stood up. "We propose revealing the full truth, but directing civilians' attention to certain aspects of it, such as emphasizing their relatively subpar technological level on most fronts compared to us, as to lower dissatisfaction with the aggressive state of the galaxy, while simultaneously preventing the risks that would come with withholding information, such as potential leaks painting us as untrustworthy. " That, was what i announced.

"Its main problem is the fact that somebody will pay attention to unwanted details regardless, and we cannot predict how they will react. However, this holds up better than the previous idea by the fact that outside intervention wouldn't have as much of a negative effect." Was the Director's response, "Now for the last one"

Members of the Finnish government got up from their place at the table. This time it was the defense minister that spoke up: "We suggest isolation. The only people who will know about this will be those who already do and people required for the eventual interaction with extraterrestrials such as relevant military personnel."

This time I will butt in, "In spite of your previous critique, your plan would also fall apart in the case of outside intervention, and it possesses the high risk of information leaks, as it's impossible to guarantee that nobody will speak of it, even when threatened or paid for not doing so."

After a moment of silence, the SLE director once again spoke up: "We suggest a combination of those ideas. Send a package to governments, focus the public's attention to certain details, and inform military personnel and prepare for confrontation with extraterrestrials. Now we will discuss the specific details of how that will be done."

...

I hope our astronauts aren't being tortured for predator bullshit.

External memory transcription device detected

Memory transcription Subject: Anton Salmi, engineer on the SV3 Copernicus

Date [Standardized human time/UTC]: 21 june 2120

Finally, something that everyone on the Ship expected, giving a tour to the aliens. They had a problem getting up the ladder due to their weird legs, but after a longer while, all of them were able to get in.

"Quick tour, so nobody gets lost. Currently, we're in the main hallway." I point to a door, "there are the stairs leading to the cockpit, and right next to it," I point to an adjacent door, "is the bathroom."
We started walking down the sloped hallway. "The room on my right is the kitchen and that door you see leads to the refrigerator and freezers because we have more than one." I could see most of them shaking with their ears down. I could take guesses as to why, but I'd rather not ruin my day by overthinking.

Continuing our tour, we reach our sleeping quarters. "Behind those doors are two bedrooms, one for me, Robert, Olivia, and the other for Christoph and Monika."

I open one of them to reveal a room with three beds, each having its own nightstand, and two large closets. The walls were gray, and there was a dark green carpet on the floor. The room wasn't really decorated apart from the lava lamp next to Olivia's bed.

I could see them taking in the unimpressive bedroom for a moment before one of them spoke up. 

"what's in your ear?"

"Oh this?" I point at it

External memory transcription device disconected, Audio Available

"This is... a kind of journal, and also a translator. It records what I say at any given moment that it's near me and turned on."

"I saw the other humans also wearing, except the captain..."

"Oh, yeah, he got one put in surgically before getting sent on a mission to the Trappist 1 system, so he doesn't really need this thing."

External memory transcription device reconected

After I closed the door, we reached the end of the hallway. "This will be where we end. Past that door at the end of the hallway is a ladder leading to the engines and on our right is another bathroom. Now is the time when you can freely ask questions, and just so you know, Christoph should be in the cockpit while the rest are outside." With that i-

"Hold up, let me get a chair." Now i could begin answering questions. I pull out my phone and try to appear smarter than i actually am. "Ask away"

The Governor was the first one to ask "Have- Have you found other species before us?" His ears and tail were still pressed against his body.

"Not intelligent ones, we found some bacteria and microscopic worms in an ocean under the surface of a moon in our home system called 'Europa'. After that, we found some moss and bugs on the fifth and sixth planet in the previously mentioned Trappist 1 system." Their ears perked up at that.

"That's in federation space, h-how did no one find you?"

"I don't know"

"O-okay" He clears his throat, "The 'Exclusion Zone', which is what the Federation understands as basically your territory, visibly doesn't apply anymore. I want to know how much you actually expanded." I nod and start typing away, trying to find the best map I can, and then realize there is one in the ship's cockpit. I sighed before getting up, "There's one at the top of the ship, come with me."

entering the room i saw Christoph drinking something, from the smell i could deduce it was coffee. "What is the situation with our guests?" he asked

"They wanted to see a map of human territories."

He thought for a moment before replying, "Fair enough."

I pressed on a display and it came to life, currently showing a map of GJ 251 C, the planet containing the colony i lived in for the last 10 years. I switched it to the interstellar map, showing a roughly spheroid shape with bumps on it. it extended 25 light years in our direction from earth and 70 in the opposite with a rough diameter of 30. Zooming out, Surrounding it were blobs containing a few or singular systems, with the furthest one away being 300 light years away from Sol.

I could see their jaws fall open. After a moment, the military advisor spoke for the first time, "T-t-that's H-HUGE! How did we not detect sooner?!"

"Well, humanity has been careful in hiding their extrasolar activity in case the remains of the UN reach ftl travel, i will get into that topic later, so it's entirely possible that that also worked for aliens." Please don't go insane again...

"B-but-" he shook his head "I-I will need you to break this down"

"Alright, so each differently colored section that makes this map is an individual country, those white lines," I said pointing at the screen, "are highways. The highlighted stars are important systems, with Sol being the biggest one," I could see the entire group more or less panicking, God not again.

Christoph sighed and got up from his seat, sensing what's happening, and came closer to us. Then, the unexpected happened and Kenim actually managed to calm down, shocking both us and the venlil.

While we were staring at him, he spoke up "You keep mentioning that 'UN', I want to know what happened regarding them that caused... this," he pointed his tail at the screen.

OH boy, "In the 2070s, after the satellite wars, the UN, which before the conflict was simply a diplomatic organization, decided to become a sort of global government. They wanted to impose regulations on cyberwarfare, space exploration, and other aspects which were controlled by either governments or companies. Nobody but the United States, China and Russia signed off on this."

"Well, why did no one else do that?"

"In a moment. After that, they started threatening everyone else to join them, which made governments even more hesitant to do so. Soon, they began rapidly rebuilding lost orbital infrastructure, before seizing control of the military of subservient countries and attacking nations near them that were not a part of NATO, a different organization that treats an attack on one of its members as an attack on all. The first to fall were Mexico, North and South Korea, Australia and Taiwan. Later Vietnam, Laos, and countries in Central America.

The entire world was panicking at that point; military powers bordering them were preparing for a full-scale invasion. Suddenly, the United Nations attacked countries in Europe, triggering article 5 of NATO. To achieve victory, they prioritized major infrastructure such as power plants, and after that didn't work, the use of biological weapons began, poisoning water sources and spreading mosquitoes infected with non-lethal diseases, among other things, debilitating civilians and soldiers alike.

The invention of a filter capable of extracting uranium from seawater, however, was enough to undo their progress, as hundreds of tons of fissile material per day allowed extreme modernization of military equipment and produced massive amounts of energy. The war officially ended in 2081. Peace was made after a nuclear incident in the Norwegian Sea. Now both the free nations and the UN avoid each other, and the latter lags behind in technological progress." 

...

holy shit they were terrified. All the venlil were shaking, as curled up as one can be while standing up.

"A-are you okay?"

The governor did not respond immediately. "I-I need time to process this."

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Memory transcription subject: Christoph Beck, captain of the SV3 Copernicus

Date [standardized human time/UTC]: June 20 2120

Out of everything I expected to happen during first contact with a spacefaring civilization, I didn't account for the possibility of anthropomorphic sheep-rabbits screaming at Robert while Monika was trying to explain how sweat and heat strokes work.

It's my fault for trying to predict what will happen during the interaction with technologically advanced aliens... but this is bullshit. Also, only Nalna is seemingly not panicking at the sight of us. Even the zebra-looking governor looks like he is about to pass out.

Memory transcription break:[10 minutes]

ERR//: Gott, endlich!

The sheeple calmed down, my head hurts, Robert looks even more dead inside, Anton's daydreaming, Olivia is contemplating self-defenestration, Monika is catching her breath. Dear God, what did we get ourselves into?

"Psst," Anton gets jolted awake by me poking him, "maybe we should wait with telling them about WW3." He nods in understanding.

"Do you have any questions which are unlikely to have an answer that will cause a panic attack?" We need to distract them from that topic for both of our sakes.

"OH, oh. ...How long have you been spacefaring?" alright, simple question, my patterned sheep person.

"Well, humanity sent the first object into space in... 1944, I think? In 1969, the first people landed on our moon. A moon base was built in 2029, the first person on Mars, the fourth planet away from our sun, in 2034...

A base on that planet was established in 2051 and a colony was built in 2083, And finally, faster than light travel was discovered in 2099, after which a bunch of colonies both inside and outside our system were made."

"T-that's quite fast"

"Really? How long did it take you to do those things?" After I said that, from my previous observations, I could tell he had an expression of absolute horror, as if he had come to a terrifying realization that I don't yet understand. It soon spread to the other xenos in the room except the diplomatic advisor, who seemed just as befuddled as us.

what secrets are you hiding?

Then, at the most convenient time possible, I could see a holographic projector pop up on the governor's desk, with what seemed like an incoming call.

"W-who is it?"

"C-chief Nikonus, Sir."

"U-uhm, i n-need to be alone with my advisors for this call."

"Of course..." We left the room with security right beside us. I heard a message pop up on my phone.

SV3 Copernicus lavatory

Monika F: Does the ship's internet still work here?

Robert S: Yep

Anton S: Yeah

You: Ya

Oliwia D: Yes

Monika F: Alright, mind spying on aliens?

I could hear through the door as Kenim and whoever this Nikonus guy was talking, and his voice did not sound like the furry convention escapees we had just met.

You: with all the red flags we encountered, not at all

Monika F: Who here has access to the camera behind the now open airlock?

Anton S is requesting a video call

On screen was a zoomed in video feed of the office we just left. Through the window, the call between the two was visible. On the projector was a... thing, it looked like something from the ocean.

I could hear them talk about some 'Aafa'. Did they really not expect us to hear that?

Something something spaceships, something something Gojids and Krakotl, Something something Arxur

That's a lot of aliens.

We could see the video call between them end and soon after, "Y-you can come in!" Entering the room I played around with my lips trying to come up with something to say, he took note of that as i saw his wool(?) expand over his body.

"We heard it"

"..."

"How many alien species are there?"

"352," said the only not panicking xeno in the room

"I don't suppose they will be friendly," Olivia Asked

"N-no..." said the black sheep-man

sigh

Olivia started "First, we don't even know what your species is called-"

"Venlil"

"Thank you, sanest venlil in the room. Now, what context are we missing?"

The Governor sighed before responding, "The Federation hates predators"

"...Define that word" Monika said

"Forward facing eyes, sharp teeth, asocial or dangerous behavior..."

"Give me a moment," Our biologist pulled out her phone, searched for something, and then turned it around to show a diagram with human teeth. "Not so sharp, are they?"

"B-but then how do you hunt?"

"The vast majority of people stopped hunting something around 10 000 years ago with the invention of agriculture and animal domestication. Also, we used tools to hunt."

"W-why do s-some still do it then?!"

"They either live in the middle of nowhere where no roads go and that's the only reliable way of getting food, or they have permission to do it during specific times of the year to prevent overpopulation of specific species or to remove invasive ones."

"invasive...?"

Her face scrunched into a pure 'Are you fucking kidding me' expression.

"Do you understand the concept of ecology?"

"Of what?" She looked like she was on the verge of tears.

"... Science of how organisms interact with their natural environment. Invasive species are ones not native to a certain environment, they have no natural predators there, causing them to outcompete local species via unrestricted reproduction and consumption, causing everything else around them to die off."

"How are predators, things that kill others, supposed to prevent death?!"

"I just told y- ............ Species 'A' is a plant, Species 'B' is a fast reproducing plant eating animal, Species 'C' is a slow reproducing meat eating animal. without 'A', the 'B' die off and so do the 'C'. Without 'B' , 'C' dies off while 'A' spreads indefinitely. Without 'C', the 'B' reproduce indefinitely, killing off all the 'A' which later causes them to starve to death."

He tried to come up with a response but gave up after failing for a minute straight. All of them looked conflicted on that matter but some were clearly more accepting of it than others.

"We done?" She took the look of defeat on them as 'yes'.

"Hey," Robert gathered attention, holding a mobile device, "
I got access to their internet, and so far, it's disturbing."

"You, you-"

"I see that the idea of cybersecurity is equally alien to you."

"Just... just don't hurt us, please..."

"we're not gonna do anything unreasonable" was the response of our diplomat

We have to do something, "Robert, download what you think is important and send it to ESA and our respective governments. Anton, set up a connection between the Copernicus and their internet.

As for you, venlil, we'll explain as much as we can about humanity in exchange for it and let you see parts of our World Wide Web, sounds fair?"

He hesitated for a moment before answering "Y-yes..."

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Memory transcription subject: Governor Kenim of the Venlil Republic

Date [standardized human time/UTC] June 20, 2120

I was standing near a landing pad, waiting for the predators to come. Waiting to die. ...Maybe not. I NEED to believe I didn't kill myself and everyone else on the planet when I was talking to them.

Right as I thought that Vin, Nalna and the security team came out of the mansion. Vin looked simultaneously scared and angry with his tail curled up while his ears shot out on to the back of his head. He hates you. Nalna, meanwhile, had her ears flicking in excitement. She was either oblivious because the irritated venlil next to her completely omitted the fact we're dealing with humans, or she's predator diseased and doesn't care. Either way, I'm jealous that she's experiencing this far more positively than me. I probably shouldn't be.

The guards, meanwhile, looked like they wanted to pass out, but their bodies wouldn't let them. I sincerely hope they won't start firing at the predators the moment they land, otherwise all this acting was for nothing.

Everyone but my military advisor stood a tail's lenght away from me while he came closer.

"You better not brahk this up," He whispered, " You do NOT know how much it took to convince the security team to come out here. Also, Nalna is definitely predator diseased, just look at her," Ah, so my second idea was right.

At that moment, the human vessel became visible. It was still high above us, but it was lowering itself, slowly. Now I could take a better look at it.

There were no visible places for any kind of weapons, though there was what looked like the outline of an airlock. On the curved wall of the ship was a string of text I couldn't understand with stripes next to it. Black, red, yellow, in that order. Most likely something to make identifying the ship easier. The rest of the vessel was silver in color apart from the black windows on the top.

The engines, instead of poking out of the ship, were 5 holes in the bottom of the ship itself, one large in the middle with 4 smaller ones surrounding it.

The ship was now in front of us. Three legs extended from its base, allowing a safe landing. When it touched down, we had to wait a few whiskers before the airlock opened and a ladder fell out, and with it, came the humans.

Memory transcription subject: Nalna, Diplomatic Advisor of Governor Kenim

Date [standardized human time/UTC] June 20, 2120

This is actually happening. From what Vin told me, they would either be the first peaceful predators in the entire damned galaxy and I'd get to be part of history, or they would sooner or later kill us. Both options sound good to me since both would free me from the worst position in the government. Calm down, don't want to get thrown into a PD facility.

The first one started coming down the ladder. Three things stuck out to me: the fact they were wearing a white suit covering everything but their head and neck, the fact they had absolutely no fur on what was visible of their body, and that they didn't seem to have a tail while their ears were... things on the sides of their head. Weird, but what do you expect from apparently friendly predators

After them came a human with long brown fur on top of their head, So they DO have fur, just a small amount of it though, one with a black fuzz intead, one with red-ish brown fur, and finally one with short black fur. All were wearing the same suit as the first one.

When all humans were on the ground I could now see that even the shortest one was more than a head taller than us. I should have expected them to be big. On the chest of their pelts were small rectangles with different patterns and something written under them. Two had the same pattern as the one on the ship, two had a white stripe on top of a red one, and one had a blue cross infront of a white background. The text I could tell were their names, their names were made up of two words, but i could only guess what the things above them meant. Maybe something to do with their rank or function on the ship?

The one who I assumed to be the captain and the one with a brown tuft on their head approached first with the rest of the crew following. Then they looked at me and i flinched, brahking instincts. "I believe we do not know each other, I am Christoph Beck, the captain. Next to me is Olivia Dobosz, the diplomat. And from my left to right is Engineer Anton Salmi, Engineer Robert Sienkiewicz and lastly Biologist Monika Fuchs," He said looking at different individuals.

"I-I am Nalna, I'm the governors d-diplomatic," Why am i stuttering?! "advisor."

"I see," he(?) responded

"We do not wish to prolong this more than you wish. Governor Kenim, please proceed with what you have planned." Olivia said with a higher voice than the captain. Alright so she's a woman and he is a man, got it

"R-right, follow me," With that, we all started going towards the governors building.

"I-if," stop, "I may ask, what do the things above your names mean?"

"Our nationalities, Christoph and Monika are German, I and Robert are Polish, and Anton is Finnish, we're all from different [Nations/Tribes]." Vin opened his mouth to say something but the governor did it first, "S-so, why don't you have a single government?" The human sighed before giving an answer

"It's gonna be hard trying to explain thousands of years of history but roughly [50 earth cycles] ago an organisation called United Nations tried to become one after the so called 'satellite wars' and the way they attempted that caused a global war. For more details you will need to ask Anton, he knows far more about history than I do," That... wasn't what I expected. Vin's ears fell onto his head while Kenim's pressed harder against his skull. I myself didn't know what to think so mine started swiveling.

The guests seemed to notice the akwardness of the situation and didn't say anything until we reached the governor's office.

"So u-um before we proceed I'd like to know two things," The humans turned their heads towards the governor, making him flinch, "F-first what happened to 'Robert' that caused him to... be this way?" Somehow only now have I noticed the sorry state of the person before me.

He sighed, "For [101 paws] before being sent here, "he sounds tired as speh, "I was working on repairing rovers on an automated research station on a planet we call 'TOI-1260-c'[AB-233221-3] after a complete system failure on said station. Gravity 1.4 times stronger than the one I'm currently experiencing, VERY close to it's star so even with massive amounts of temperature regulating technology and heat shields, it was always between 40°C[40°S] and 50°C[50°S] with only our makeshift sleeping quarters going below 30°C[30S°]." HOW THE BRAHK IS HE ALIVE?! I could see the other two venlil being about as shocked as I was I WOULDN'T SURVIVE 1/4 OF A CLAW THERE AND HE WAS THERE FOR A 100 PAWS?!

"Seeing someone pass out while trying to stand up was quite a common sight, thankfully they almost always got up within [a whisker]. Anyway after that I got sent to earth for [8 paws], then got called in by the European Space Agency, they did some tests and somehow decided i was fit for getting sent onto another alien planet"

Vin managed to stop his ear swiveling for just a moment to ask, "HOW THE BRAHK ARE YOU ALIVE?!"

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[previous]

My stand in for a Venlil temperature unit is S° (Degrees Senek) named after the venlil who made it 100 years after the Federation came. 1S° = 1.25C° counted in base 8, starting at the freezing point of water.

Disclaimer: This is my first attempt at writing fiction and english is not my first language

Criticism is welcome <3

AU where the UN tried to gain control but failed failed to become a global power after the satellite wars

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Memory transcription subject: Governor Kenim

Date [standardized human time/UTC]: June 20, 2120

What they don't tell you about being a planetary governor is that most of the time you do... absolutely nothing. Meetings, campaigns, all things relevant to your position are merely moments compared to the gaps between them.

I can't go out to the Capital without getting swarmed by journalists and people who have nothing better to do than gather around the first famous person they see. I can't go see my parents because they live on a colony world AND far away from a spaceport. I don't have a wife, my only friends either work in my mansion or live in the Capital where i can't go. There's nothing i can do!

So here i am, in my office, stuck with my tho-

"Governor," Vin, my millitary advisor stood in the doorway, ears pressed against his head, visibly stressed about something. "T-there is an unidentified ship in orbit"

-ughts... unidentified ship?

"Can you get a video transmission of the vessel?" The federation would have informed us if they planned to test new ships in our space and the arxur aren't so stupid as to send a singular scout to the homeworld of a species. Which means...

"This is footage from the nearest satellite." On the screen of the holopad was a small craft, cylindrical in shape with a pointed front, the engines not visible due to the position of the camera.

this is first contact with a new civilization!

"Vin, what can you tell me about it?" But if this was simply a first contact situation then why did he look so distraught?

"T-the subspace trails are more intense than expected and..." He paused " i-it came from the quarantine zone"

oh speh

Why does it have to be me that has to deal with this? i shouldn't have taken part in the election. I could have just become my towns mayor or- or joined the millitary or i could have picked literally any other job! Sweet nothingness, please come back!

"S-should we shoot it down?" The black wooled venlil asked. Calm down, it's a large area of space, a different sapient species could have evolved there. Even if it is the humans, it's only a single ship that's just idly sitting there, shooting it down would only anger them.

"No it's only a single vessel and i don't want to risk them sending a whole fleet because we shot it down. It could also be an unfortunate prey species that also happened to live there." Just as i said that they began hailing us.

"Sir?"

"We don't have a choice, turn on the projector and accept it" As he did that a furless face appeared on screen. one with forward facing eyes. As i looked at it i saw two more predators in the back observing us. All of them were wearing a blank expression. I felt my wool puff up at the sight of them. Was this a mistake? would they have left us alone if we didn't answer them? And then it spoke.

"I am Captain Christoph Beck of the SV3 Copernicus. We come with peaceful intentions in the name of science and diplomacy" peaceful, what. But they're... they... it...

...

whatever, i have to play along, i dragged myself into this. I signaled to my advisor to act normal using tail language as to not cause suspicion.

"I am Governor Kenim of the Venlil Republic," I point to Vin with my tail, "and this is Vin, my Military Advisor."

"W-welcome," He's doing his best.

"My crew also should introduce themselves," The predator backed away from the camera while the other two came closer. The one on the left spoke first. They had black fur on the top of their head cut short into almost a fuzz, unlike their captain who had none. "I am Anton Salmi, one of the ship's engineers."

Interesting, they all have two names. The vessel's pilot left the room containing the camera. What could they be doing?

Before I could dwell further on it, the other human began talking. Their fur was brown and extended down to its neck. Their voice was higher than the previous ones. Maybe they're a woman? "My name is Olivia Dobosz, I'm the diplomat for this mission."

I'm afraid of what they might consider diplomacy.

The captain came back with two extra humans following. The shorter one with a red-ish brown tuft declared themselves first, with a once again higher voice. "Monika Fuchs, I'm a biologist."

The last one... looked half dead, they had a black mane cut short although not as much as the other predator and their horrible eyes seemed... fatigued? "My name is Robert Sienkiewicz, an engineer."

The rest of the crew looked mildly concerned at the presence of their pack mate, at least I think so. It's hard to read someone without a tail or moving ears. I don't think I would want it to work on a ship and not because they're a predator.

"W-what happened to h-him?"

"The last [101 paws] have been rough for him, and he has barely got [8 paws] of rest before he got sent here. You would need to ask him for exact details," Christoph said. "Anyway, we're interested in advancing our communication with you and beginning with actual diplomatic action." The 'Diplomat' added Does that mean they want to land here?! "I-i will need to consult with my advisor"

"Of course"

I muted the call and turned off the video transmission "Vin, I am quite certain that they want to land and meet us"

"Wh- No!"

"I am afraid we once again are out of possibilities"

"They could kill us!"

"that's why you need to inform security and my Diplomatic Advisor Nalna of what's happening in a way that wouldn't make them panic"

"B-but-"

"Just do it, i'll handle it. I will wait in front of the mansion," After that he begrudgingly left the office. I turn the transmission's audio and video back on and after a moment Christoph is once again visible, talking to the other humans while snarling at each other before switching attention back to me and returning to his neutral face. Have we done something to anger them?

"Y-you will be given landing coordinates in a m-moment"

"Thank you Governor Kenim for such quick action"

"N-no problem, we welcome you to Venlil Prime."

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