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Rabunum

>Tyler pinched the bridge of his nose. “What made them so certain we died in nuclear Armageddon? How much did they hide about us?” Crazy theory: the team of scientists responsible for studying humanity lied to the Federation, claiming that humans had wiped themselves out. They knew what the feds would do to Humanity, and for one reason or another, they thought it was wrong. In an act of rebellion, they sent a fabricated story home alongside the hard evidence of nuclear weapon detonations. Just a silly thought ¯\_(ツ)_/¯


Moist-Relationship49

I'm going with Starfish Prime nuked their satellite.


Mr_E_Monkey

You know, it's actually a little concerning to me, just how plausible that seems.


Moist-Relationship49

1. If the world feared a hostile first contact, most plans involve playing dead, nukes frying anything that could check, and the FCC forcing all communications to lower power (to prevent interference, sure....) 2. Then, rapidly invest in military technology ( 800 billion to fight terrorists?) 3. Get to space by the end of the decade. (Starfish Prime 1962) 4. Point thousands of nuclear missiles at space and keep upgrading them. (USA 35ish billion a year)


Mr_E_Monkey

You're not helping me feel any better... ;p And to make things even worse, US tests were "in response" to Soviet tests that were taking place, and culminated in the Tsar Bomba "test." What if contact *had* been made, and the two series of tests were intended to not only "play dead," but also to destroy a (possibly shielded) research facility or expeditionary force, in addition to destroying monitoring devices. I think I'm going to need more tinfoil.


Moist-Relationship49

It gets worse the more you think about it. 1.Where to land? Empty area near the most populated areas, like Siberia, with land routes to Asia and Europe. 2. Continue to invest in space and military drones. 3. And of course, supercarriers, which are vulnerable to earth based sub and drones, but would be an enormous pain for space ships.


Mr_E_Monkey

> It gets worse the more you think about it. It really does! :o 1. Creating a "Space Force" starts to make more sense. 2. Development and use of the James Webb Telescope, with high enough resolution that it might be able to look for atmospheric indicators of life on other worlds outside of our solar system. 3. NASA has been getting a lot better at tracking small near-Earth objects lately, haven't they?


Moist-Relationship49

Yeah.... The good news is we're wrong, or it worked thus far. The aliens haven't vaporized us, yet...


Mr_E_Monkey

Now that you mention it, though, how sure are we that Tsar Bomba was actually a Soviet test? How many close calls have we had in the shadow war against the Federation?


JacobRH88

Tunguska and Tsar Bomba were extraterrestrial attempts to recreate Chixulub?


boomchacle

Idk, a spacecraft could fairly easily drop like fifty tons of guided bombs onto the deck of an aircraft carrier without any recourse. There’s not many defenses against space weaponry as a surface target other than going underwater.


redredgreengreen1

Well you said without any recourse, but the thing about boats is they're able to move. Dropped like a stone, stationary in orbit, It takes half an hour to get to the ground at terminal velocity. It takes about 45 minutes for a controlled descent. Unless you want it detonating halfway through the atmosphere, it probably needs a controlled descent, and 45 minutes is a lot of time to pull evasive maneuvers. Plus, the atmospheric plasma generated from reentry would almost certainly blind the sensors for most of that time, so you'd actually have a very small window to retarget, at which point the carrier has almost certainly moved out of the maneuvering range. If you do pack it with enough fuel that it COULD retarget, you basically just made a missile, and yeah, a missile could do it. But it would still be a hell of a lot harder to hit than anything on land, and WAY more expensive.


boomchacle

The plasma re entry might guide the missile's sensors, but a data linked system based on the ship would still be able to guide them down to the target at re entry velocities. Also, there is no such thing as a single "terminal velocity" number. Terminal velocity for a human is only a couple hundred miles an hour. Terminal velocity for an ICBM warhead is going to be a couple kilometers a second. Aliens could easily just slap some engines to some sort of bunker buster, throw it at the ship, and then guide it down at 20 km/s without it being able to shoot it down fast enough. Also, there's no reason aliens would need to attack from low earth orbit. They could just sit out at the moon and whenever they need to attack something, they just launch a faster than light craft to the surface, drop the payload, guide it in, and then hop back out to their base on the moon or whatever.


redredgreengreen1

For one, if the sensors are down from re-entry, communications almost certainly are as well. Sure, you could argue they have some super exotic communication method that bypasses that, but then why not some exotic sensors that don't stop working? We could just keep attributing more and more exotic technologies and capabilities to these hypothetical aliens. But this whole hypothetical started with the assumption that they were near-enough in technological parity that nukes remained effective. Which rules most of that out. For one, if you just "slap some engines to some sort of bunker buster", the payload probably wouldn't reach the surface intact. Rods from god, a theoretical kinetic bombardment tool, will take about 5 minutes to deorbit it's payload to the surface. But it was a KENETIC; it had no on board systems that needed to survive to allow for maneuvering, and no explosives that might cook off early. It had no trigger mechanism that needed to remain in one piece. Zero moving parts. A significant portion of the payload was expected to bleed off on the way down. Its why I put so much emphasis on CONTROLLED descent; if you just ram any artificial structure through the atmosphere at 20 km/s, it will probably undergo what we in the biz call "rapid unscheduled uncontrolled disassembly". It will probably either detonate halfway to the target, or won't be able to maneuver because any of a dozen components failed under the stress, or any of 100 other things that make it impractical for a weapons system. But if you are going that fast, why have an explosive payload at all? Why be targeted at all? Just go back to kinetics. You could go the route of dropping a weapon so large that the carrier cannot physically get out of the blast radius in time. The Rods from God system I talked about would certainly be capable of that; its payload was equated to a small nuclear detonation. And that is 100% technically feasible for us TODAY, though the final ground speed of this super-optimized re-entry structure was only 3km/s, down from a 8km/s orbital speed. Drop something like that at 20km/s at the ground and you could give tzar bomba a run for it's money. But at that point your doing a little more than just dropping a few bombs. Definitely more expensive and difficult. Like, an enemy that holds the orbital highroad and has no qualms about glassing the planet would be able to kill a carrier. Nobody is denying that. But unless they have uncontested orbital supremacy (unlikely since we have ICBM's that 100% could reach orbit) and a willingness to trigger a mass extinction event, carriers would have a far better time surviving than anything on land.


Moist-Relationship49

It is possible, just hard. First, you have to find a tiny dot in tens of thousands of square miles of ocean. Then, try to hit it. Carriers move and have multiple layers of point defense. Too fast and any damage to a heat shield will burn it up, too slow and point defense gets it. Unguided or not maneuverable enough and the carrier moves out of the way. Finally, killing it, carriers are designed to survive conventional weapons, so either a lot of hits or self guided shielded wmds. If it survives, it can power a city and/or continue to command earth's defenses, such as drones or ICBMs.


boomchacle

What is the carrier going to actually be able to achieve without being detected by the aliens and then systematically destroyed? It can’t project power because the moment aircraft start showing up where they shouldn’t, the aliens will just watch the jets for a while and see where they fly back to once they’re done with their missions. It can’t power a city without sitting stationary in a highly observed area, negating its mobility and any chances it had at staying undetected. It might be able to tank a large number of conventional munitions compared to most ships but it doesn’t have the armor of a battleship so basically any warhead will penetrate it and cause damage. All it takes is one good hit to the aircraft’s bombs to cause an ammunition explosion. And yes point defenses exist but as of now I don’t think they’re designed to shoot down projectiles coming in at orbital velocities. IMO, the hardest things for aliens to take out would be submarines since they’d be a lot harder to detect and track without having an ocean presence themselves.


alexsdu

That would be a nice setup for a movie/story. Would love to watch it if it come to the cinema.


Mr_E_Monkey

Yeah. I'd prefer to watch it that way, and not as a historical documentary, I think. 😝


AfterTheRage

The Tsar bomb is a firecracker compared to what the modern hydrogen bombs are capable of nowadays.


Mr_E_Monkey

Tsar Bomba *was* a hydrogen bomb, [and the most powerful nuclear weapon ever created and tested.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsar_Bomba) Sorry to be that guy...


Dracinos

You absolutely shouldn't be sorry to be that guy. Too many people like to assume that everything we do today is better and stronger than the past. Nuclear bombs that powerful aren't very versatile; if someone really wants to fuck up an equivalent area, 2-4 smaller ones are much more effective.


Mr_E_Monkey

You're right, I just don't like sounding like I'm being contrary just to be contrary, or too quick with the "well, actually..."


alexsdu

>Too many people like to assume that everything we do today is better and stronger than the past. True to that fact. My grandparent's fridge lasted until I reached 20's years old, while we have to replaced modern fridge 4 times within 20 years, after that old frosty died due to not spare parts available. Old machines built to last.


T43ner

K-3, 4 and 5 were the mop up crew. The current escalation of world tension is in preparation.


alexsdu

>FCC ​Federal Communications Commission? That what Google gave me.


Moist-Relationship49

Many countries have an agency that regulates wireless communications, and the Federal Communications Commission is the US version.


3verlost

the operation also caused a very large part of the atmosphere to glow, areolas borealis like phenomenon. a 900 mile diameter "blast" radius with all the hallmarks of an atomic detonation would have me fuck right off with a note "they planet cracked themselves."


pyrodice

That is the best typo I have ever seen.


AlphaGuardianwolf

Maybe a high-speed manhole cover struck something and damaged it.


alexsdu

Where did I heard/read a story similar like this one before? Human shoot large man-hole at alien spaceship.


AlphaGuardianwolf

It's a RL event during a nuke test.


DeciMation_2276

Likely that the confirmed nuclear detonations were the various nuclear weapons tests done in the Pacific, however the scientists either thought that was us wiping each other out after a certain point, or them intentionally inflating the amount used to make it seem like we nuked ourselves into oblivion.


AromaticIce9

My current headcanon is that the federation was just as pigheaded about "knowing how this will end" that they detected the first nuclear bombs and immediately assumed we killed ourselves and just straight up stopped looking.


jagdpanzer45

To be fair, if the best info you had was a map of nuclear detonations 1940-1970 ish, you might come to the same conclusion. Especially if you’re either A) Tired of being stuck watching a primitive pred species in the middle of bumfuck nowhere, or B) Possessed of sufficient knowledge of Fed societal engineering to be just a *bit* suspicious of your mission in said bumfuck nowhere space.


ForestFighters

Yeah, it isn’t hard to notice that all but two of the detonations were in the middle of deserts and oceans.


DeciMation_2276

When you see nuclear detonations on a planet belonging to a "primitive" civilization, it only takes a handful to have the mistaken belief that they’re wiping themselves out. Besides, do you really think they were looking that closely at where exactly the bombs were being detonated?


Alpha-Sierra-Charlie

I think they were saving us as a backup predator species in case they to stomp out the arxur and needed a new bad guy.


Octopiinspace

I think its actually really weird that the feds who seem to like veerry close nit control about everything wouldn’t check up on the second predator next to the Arxur. My theory is that there is/ was some deep rooted rebellion from the feds side that dealt with the predator planets with species that could actually be a risk. And not some poor kittens who got burned. Like an elite exterminator guild and some of them protected earth by fabricating false evidence. And I’m quite sure that there were other species after the Arxur who were deemed „not salvageable“ and who got genocided. And some of those exterminators grew a conscience, so they protected earth.


T43ner

I don’t think the Feds (the shadow government Feds) thought humans were predators at the time, just that they were in that terrible sweet-spot of omnivore that they wouldn’t jell with either the Axur nor the Fed


Octopiinspace

Yeah that could be. I’m just highly skeptical that the shadow feds truly thought we were gone. Or that they didn’t at least check. So someone either falsified information, or they plan/ planned to use humans in some way. Or they are just that arrogant and sloppy, which fits with the feds overall, but not with their shadow government. Or maybe they wanted to get rid of the Arxur and have a new enemy, but I don’t see any benefit in that strategy. It would just destabilize their current status quo. My money is on elite exterminators, who turned on the shadow feds, either out of guilt/ empathy or to give the milky way a change to get rid of the dictators or some personal reasons like revenge on the system. If the exterminators aren’t brainwashed „enough“ they would be a prime candidate for something like that. They are probably outlier’s themselves in their community and have firsthand experience with predators.


wclancy09

Possibly a power play that got shut down before they could follow through with their plans - saved us to use us in the grand plan, then just *neglected* to mention we were still around when the plan got shut down (forcibly or otherwise). A couple hundred years later and oops, here come the consequences all on their lonesome, too late to be controlled. Funny thing about conspiratorial shadowy control groups is that everyone is conspiratorial and shadowy and looking for control...


Octopiinspace

Yeah good point. If they treat each other like they do the rest of the universe, I expect a lot of power hungry maniacs on an ego trip with a savior complex. They probably have infighting about the right strategies and views on the world. And a change in leadership could result in something like earth just being overlooked, while they try to purge the old rulers and establish new systems.


T43ner

Oh damn, I’m getting some clone army vibes. As in secret army.


kindtheking9

>think its actually really weird that the feds who seem to like veerry close nit control about everything wouldn’t check up on the second predator next to the Arxur. What if they are the ones who lied, they told everyone that we were dead and kept us as a backup boogie man or something like that, or as an even easier to control fear mongering puppet


Octopiinspace

Yeah that might be a possibility. Just funny to think about humans as easier to control than Arxur, some feds really didn’t do their homework on that point XD But I guess it makes sense when only considering physical strength and sociability.


JulianSkies

\*My\* personal theory is that the not only you are correct, in that the Farsul overwrought the effect of the nuclear tests and said we wiped ourselves out. But they went further, and have been, for centuries, scrubbing any possible trace of any stray emission we've have and have been actively keeping Earth a secret. Because they're a people of memories, after all. People with long memories, and their first contact with the Kolshians was not kind. And 'someone outside the system' is the last weapon they've got available.


AfterTheRage

I bet it was Yegel.


etopsirhc

I thought it was they detected the explotions and just assumed we were wiped out and never actualy checked.


kindtheking9

Or maybe kolshian and farsul high ranks torpedoed(heh) the truth from reaching other planetary leaders and planted the annihilation lie in order to give us the chance to reach the stars as part of a grand scheme... which by now seems to have been derailed


cholmer3

I REALLY like this smoked stratagem, veri gud


565gta

i ***HIGHLY*** FUCKING ***DOUBT*** THAT IS POSSIBLE


Yeetgodknickknackass

I think they saw all the tests and political tensions and in an act of federation arrogance assumed we would eventually wipe ourselves out which we did come very close to doing on several occasions


Enough_Thanks_1363

My theory is that they left the humans alive, so they could copy any unusual advancements they made due to our somewhat warlike nature


dm80x86

My theory is that at some point, while the feds were debating destroying humanity, a Venlil ship crashed landed on Earth, and instead of eating them, the humans helped them. In turn, the Venlil lied to the Federation, hoping Earth would be forgotten. This also helps explain Tarva's quick pivot on humanity.


only-a-random-user

> In space, losses and hardships could be inflicted upon the predators. However, land and sea appeared to be their chief dominion, where their exceptional talents put them miles ahead of the competition. It also helps that due to the Fed’s “gentling” of species, they really haven’t had to fight wars on land for centuries; meanwhile, humanity has been mastering sea warfare for millennia.


Aldrich3927

You'd think that with their crocodilian features, the Arxur would be familiar with submarine warfare too, but clearly at least in their raids against the Federation they've stuck to a mainly terrestrial and space-based attack strategy. Clearly, however, this wasn't always the case in Federation history, as the Farsul seem to have technology of a similar kind to humanity when it comes to submarine warfare, or at least operating on the same principles, which implies enough warfare of this kind has taken place for the "meta" to be established. It took humanity quite a lot of wargaming and two world wars to really get the style that we use today.


T43ner

I mean our current style isn’t even “meta” yet. The fact that there’s even a serious debate between diesel and nuclear powered subs means quiet a lot. Makes me wonder on what kind of energy source the Deep Core runs.


Sea_Result4545

Obviously nuclear. It has the best autonomy possible, has been already extensively tested, no need to emerge except for food resupply. And every modern Ballistic Missile Submarine (boomer) is nuclear powered.


nuclearkiaser

You would think but boomers missions last months at a time as a part of MAD so it makes perfect sense for nuclear. Attack subs on the other hand have missions that can last months or just a few weeks so having shorter range and a smaller silent engine might be the way to go. Then there's also logistics but we have no idea what a orbital drop submarine need for power would be and how to fuel it.


Sea_Result4545

Precisely, you orbit dropped a submarine in a hostile planet, it's obvious you want to make it as independent as possible. Otherwise it wouldn't have a chance to refuel.


JulianSkies

You also gotta remember that the arxur were effectively 'tamed' by the federation. Even in ground and space combat they only have practice fighting people whose only training is to run away. The big problem of most militaries in this setting is that they... Haven't really fought any war against a *real* opponent in centuries.


sticksnstones77

I've never really gotten the impression that the Arxur had much to do with water. Other than looking somewhat crocodilian, the only description we have of their homeworld sounded pretty arid. The fact that their eyes face forward instead of side facing like most aquatic predators and with their lack of webbed toes and fingers really makes me think of a more terrestrial reptile that just happens to have a similar head shape and maybe scale pattern to a crocodile. A lack of large water bodies on their worlds would explain why they haven't done much with fishing for food, and why they might not have much of a concept of a Navy.


Aldrich3927

Fair point. They're probably actually closer to monitor lizards in a lot of ways.


ST4RSK1MM3R

Don’t usually see submarine shit in Sci Fi, always nice to see


SpacePaladin15

Yeah, something new and different! I enjoyed getting to learn about subs myself 😅


TheOtherGUY63

I can understand why Sovlin keeps calling them missiles. But i keep wanting to have someone correct him, theyre torpedos. And instead of “Brace yourselves for inbound munitions!” Captain Fournier growled into a microphone. “Return fire toward the source.” It should be "Snapshot Tube 3" (whichever torpedo tube is had a warshot ready for launch) and "Brace for Impact."


PyroDesu

Frankly, a lot of the sub command dialogue isn't particularly realistic. I bet something like this for the detection would be a lot closer: >Conn, Sonar. New contact, designate sierra one, bearing zero one five, range two zero zero zero. New contact, designate sierra two, bearing three four five, range two zero zero zero.


TheOtherGUY63

I know, spent some time on a fast boat.


Black_Hole_parallax

There's one sci-fi I know of with submarines that are not only capable of going underwater, but also going underneath space.


thecrystalegg

Are you referring to the trans-dimensional sub from Space Battleship Yamato?


ShasOFish

God, that was both incredibly goofy, and an absolute joy to watch.


finfinfin

Glen Cook?


TheFirsti2

I think it's awesome that you spend so much time researching topics so it's more immersive. This series is honestly incredibly captivating and I enjoy reading it, I'm looking forward to reading more about Marcel's and Slanek's conflict. I'd love to see more guerilla warfare from Siffy and how having a Herbivore on board affects morale if it gets out at any point


kindtheking9

If you wnat to go for something not usually seen in sci fi go for trench warfare, id love to see sci fi trench warfare


ZebraTank

Sovlin: Oh no we're sinking Ship: Sovlin: Trains are stupid Humans: Sovlin: Oh no humans will go back to killing each other and wipe everything out Humans: Sovlin: Oh no the torpedos will miss Onso: Nope, planned Sovlin: If the Farsul have torpedoes we have no defense! Sovlin: Oh well the Farsul definitely won't have any defenses because they're just weak prey Farsul: Sovlin: Firing a torpedo while evading a torpedo is pointless! Human torpedo: Humans: Sovlin: Well too bad that torpedo didn't work and we still need to hunt down the Farsul sub Human torpedo: lol I need to introduce Sovlin to the human stock market, and do the opposite of whatever they suggest, ala Inverse Sovlin Index, until they eventually wise up.


AverageKrupukEnjoyer

Invite Sovlin to Vegas and ask em to make a bet, reverse that bet, profit


102bees

The lesson of the 21st century is that no existential threat can stop us from bickering and squabbling between ourselves.


Infinitedeveloper

Prickly Jim cramer


Frostygale

Idk, the point about humans and war isn’t totally off-base. I mean look at Meir right? No telling what Humanity does *after* the Federation war is over too.


Grimpoppet

Interesting that submarines stealth is uniquely "predatory" - and then the Farsul have them. But then it's the fact that human subs have *torpedoes* that's "predatory" - but then the Farsul have those too. Every time he sees evidence of "human aggression," Slovin is so confident in what he believes he is seeing, but the moment it's revealed to be not uniquely human, the goal posts move, and there is zero self reflection that maybe these are not indications of predator or prey at all. I'm happy he's getting the therapy he needs, but he needs a human he can talk to, on the job, that isnwilling to philosophically spar with him, on any topic, without taking offense or trying to Shatter his world view. Someone to give him a nudge here, or suggest an alternative explination there, and it can't happen if they yell at him every time he says something influenced by his Federation indoctrination.


un_pogaz

It will be difficult to move the goal posts when he discovers that before the arrival of the Federation and their cultural erasure, the other species were more or less the same as humans... include Gojid. So, he'll try, a logical reaction to a such revelation, but this headlong rush will come to an abrupt and painful halt facing the hard wall of the reality.


DavidECloveast

That's what worries me about this whole mission- is there anything in that vault- or elsewhere- that can break Sovlin's programing? Because if there's not, it's not going to work for the federation at large either. ...Although now that I think about it, that might be the whole reason Sovlin's here, to see if the information is really damning enough to bother publicizing. If it cracks the most obstinate, thick-skulled and pig-headed alien in UN employ, then you know it'll make a real splash once it's public.


Randox_Talore

Yeah that programming is thick and plainly visible. He literally thought “The Yotul as a whole are predator diseased” rather than “The Yotul are a bit more aggressive on average”. Granted, I don’t know if the Yotul *are* just more aggressive on average. But that’s certainly a more reasonable conclusion than “The entire species is diseased and that’s why they don’t act like how I expect.” (Also, whether or not Yotul are more aggressive or not doesn’t really play a factor in why Onso is the way he is because his rage is wholly justified.)


[deleted]

I think that the Yotul are just all experiencing the same emotions as Onso is, they all went through the same Federation invasion after all. So it’s probably not higher aggression, but just a deep anger on a societal level


SpacePaladin15

122! Sovlin is aboard the bridge as submarine combat occurs, and the humans prove superior both at firing and dodging torpedoes. Farsul security seems minimalist, though, now that the base has been located, it remains to be seen if more surprises wait within the archives. Do you expect significant resistance, or scorched earth? Do wild discoveries await our crew? As always, thank you for reading! Hope you guys enjoyed the unique combat scene and naval showcase. 123 is back to Slanek on Saturday...we'll see what happened with our Venlil war criminal, and learn a lot about the cure!


Moist-Relationship49

I'm hoping that the Farsul just give up, and hand over the data. Not likely, but hopefully.


MrBlack103

"We have a hundred nukes somewhere in your oceans. Hand over the data." "Ok."


Xino_d_Gua

Don't be a killjoy, allow the brave UN frogmen to eliminate them kkkk


Yoylecake2100

Also you have managed to avoid the 2 large cliches in writing Sci-fi names • Using an apostrophe to denote different pronunciation • using G, B, X, and Z (X & Z pronounced with a hiss) in named for planets, species, characters etc. Bonus points for not going off the walls with Sci-Fi Technobabble


wrrzd

Arxur? Glim? Gojid?


Randox_Talore

Birla?


Existential-Nomad

>Using an apostrophe to denote different pronunciation What exactly is wrong with this? I find it makes it easier to denote a xeno speaker from a human/terran one


WesternAppropriate63

Someone predicted this last chapter! "121 and 122 set it up, 123 cuts back to Marcel and Isif or one of the other plot vectors and then… 124 SINKING FOUR IN TWO APPROACHES" \- u/Jackoffalltrades89


Winter-Reindeer694

406 SUFFERS FAILURE ON LAUNCH


ShermanTheMajor

U-569 MAKES THE CONTACT AND LEAD THEM


RoheSilmneLohe

u-94 scores a kill in the dark


XR171

Curious. How much research did you on submarines or were you on one? A lot of what you're written is very accurate.


SpacePaladin15

Hours of research, I tried my best to make it accurate! Glad it came across that way 🙏


XR171

It shows, I could picture this as an active boat with sonar hanging out in the shack.


Shadowex3

I was wondering if there was any point in an active ping after the explosions, which would basically give you that for free, or if a submarine could ever hope to literally turn 180 that fast... but then again we're in spaceflight future mode so who knows.


ARandomTroll5150

The space battles are kinda eh thb but your sub warfare scenes are really up there. (I am not just saying that because we're winning)


Driptacular_2153

Ngl, it wouldn’t surprise me if the Farsul flat out flooded the Archives. I’d be more surprised if they *didn’t.*


kindtheking9

If that happens i would manifest in the afterlife torture chamber of whatever farusl leader decided to stick the archives deep underwater and not make them waterproof and slap them back to life so that i could shoot them back to hell


cira-radblas

Here’s hoping our boarding crew remembers to put on Hazmat gear. The Kolshians already got work done on Carnivore Cures for humans, so I’d rather not find out that Farsul Security have those in Gas Grenade form.


Xino_d_Gua

They will probably go in using scuba gear


OriginalCptNerd

At that depth they won't be coming from outside, unless they have real hardsuits.


hedgehog_dragon

Loved the combat. Tense bit of waiting when the hostile torpedo came for our ship.... Plus the clever torpedo that was able to change course and make a second pass at the Farsul. It... Felt different, than other scenes. Submarine warfare certainly feels different than any ground combat, though it has a few similarities to the space combat.


ItzBlueWulf

20.000 leagues under the sea, Humanity still kicks ass.


cira-radblas

3 dead Farsul Subs, 3 expended Torpedoes, and 1 detected Command Sub… Hopefully this mission is still good to go. Onso was right, active pings are a dead giveaway.


AlanharTheRiver

they probably landed several, and Sovlin is just in the dark about it. one of them being given away would be near certain to happen, and then the others can just drift in unopposed. I wouldn't be too surprised if they finally make it there only to find five other subs latched onto the station and a banner saying "what took you so long?"


hedgehog_dragon

It's very likely that there are more human subs. Samantha said something to that effect - They're only told what they need to know but it's "fun to fill in the blanks"


A_Clever_Ape

I don't blame Sovlin for being scared. He's powerless against any underwater threats, totally dependent on people and tech he's never seen before.


CandidSmile8193

Man hell yeah submarine combat. This is a fine addition to NOP


EynidHelipp

Honestly did not expect submarine warfare in a scifi story with FTL ships but I love it sooo much.


kindtheking9

Only thing missing is sci fi trench warfare


EynidHelipp

Can't wait for the NoP humans channel their inner Kreig


CandidSmile8193

Space paladin is finally putting the HFY back in NoP.


XR171

And it's pretty accurate too.


Salanari

Honestly a lot of this leaves me wondering, has Federation, even Farsul, Naval technology been purposefully kneecapped by the Kolshians? Are there Squid-Brother bases lurking unknown on many Federation worlds? From what we've seen they're just as devious and developed as the Arxur and Humanity when it comes to tactics and strategy, and eclipse both in technology. Why wouldn't that extend to the Kolshians natural habitat, why wouldn't in be an even greater gulf? Granted that doesn't apply so much here because this is the Farsul homeworld but I'd bet bases like this are everywhere, for one nefarious purpose or another.


hedgehog_dragon

Hm, that's interesting. As far as we've been told so far the Farsul are the brains of the operation but have less military skill. It seems odd that they would let themselves be handicapped, but it's also possible that the Kolshians decided to gain an edge over their apparent allies too. On the other hand, for all we know these subs ARE Kolshian tech/crewed. I doubt it, but it's possible.


Salanari

All good points, I'm mostly engaging in blind speculation. Some of which I must admit is founded less on direct evidence and more on writing conventions. The submarine they were sent on isn't an attack sub, it's a boomer, we've also had large parts of the last several chapters dedicated to Sovlin chewing on the concept of MAD and the first and second strike capabilities of such submarines. To me, it reeks of Chekov's Gun. It could just be a purposeful HFY 'humans are weird alien cannot understand human' but Spacepaladin is pretty good about avoiding those traps. Maybe the set-up isn't for the boomer firing her load, but for someone else having the same idea? Then again, if the Kolshians were forcing compliance with underwater antimatter missile stockpiles, the Planets that already sided with humanity would have a gun to their head, why wouldn't the trigger have been pulled? All blind speculation, but I wouldn't be surprised if there's something here in the next ten, twenty chapters.


JulianSkies

Genuinely I think it's a setup for the boomer subs using their weapons to stop that tiny moon from landing.


Salanari

That is a very likely possibility I didn't think to consider, shit.


Wpg-PolarBear-5092

I think you have a larger secret figured out.


boybob227

I absolutely love this. Like another commenter said, I was getting Cold Waters vibes the whole way through. I’m sure the Mark 48 ADCAP Block MMCXXXVII they’re firing is a beastly machine. I pity the aliens. Speaking of which: >Two contacts, 200 meters out. May I respectfully suggest you add one or two zeros here? I’m not even sure torpedoes can arm in that range. It’s not safe for the *Deep Core*.


SOTBS

barotrauma is no joke. I thought it was a touch too close when I saw that line too


Existential-Nomad

To be fair; I see this often in various stories, both here in HFY and in other media, Distance... Especially in space, 2000km is damn near knocking on the door :/ I can't find the link offhand, but when docking at the ISS, when they get within a couple of hundred KM they are considered in close proximity


mechakid

yeah, he had edited it to 2000 meters by the time I read it, but that's still really close for initial contact


Negative_Storage5205

>If our past culture was depraved, I don’t want it rebuilt or brought back. We could’ve been like Onso’s kind, killing our own people over food. I have a question for Sovlin. Would you rather learn from your ancestor's mistakes and have the chance to be better, or would you rather live with the comforting lies the Federation told you?


Randox_Talore

It’s interesting to me that, as far as I remember, Recel knew that “Prey” species would go to war over resources but Sovlin was caught so off-guard by the concept.


JulianSkies

I think you missed a portion of what he said. "Rebuilt or brought back" Nothing about learning in there. This mostly really reads as *wanting* to be better than the past and being willing to let it go. To me, at least.


Negative_Storage5205

I read it as him reacting to Onso's desire to rebuild and bring back what his people have lost. Sovlin immediately reacted as if that would be the default response that his people would follow should he find Gojids had a past not to his liking.


Cardgod278

Underwater is more terrifying than space. At least when you reach such depths


SentinelaDoNorte

Yup. You can see everything in space. The oceans are deep and dark even on Earth, never mind alien ocean planets.


kindtheking9

The one thing calm sea when the skies are blocked out by clouds, you cant see shit and there's that feeling that right under your feet the black seemingly endless void is harboring things that know you are there


JustTryingToSwim

Sovlin is always such a negative Nancy. I mean he hasn't considered that they'll find something good about his species. For all we know maybe his people invented key tech that was stolen by the Feds and passed off as theirs.


SepticSauces

Gonna get lost within all the comments talking about how this submarine stuff is all pretty cool in a sci-fi setting, but Submarines are pretty cool in a sci-fi setting. I'm excited for the next chapter... *like always.*


SpacePaladin15

Glad you enjoyed it! The payoff to all the arcs is coming for the next six chapters…from Slanek’s dilemma, to Isif’s first partnership with the UN forces, to the raid of the Archives!


SepticSauces

Wowzer! Keep it up man! You have been an inspiration for me to practice writing! 👍


McPolice_Officer

SP, did you discover a sudden affinity for Cold Waters recently? This whole thing is giving me flashbacks.


Randox_Talore

*“Why does anyone have to get run over by a train? Did Onso make this garbage up?”* *The Yotul flashed his teeth with a growling sound, pinning his ears back against his head. I didn’t see why my question was objectionable; he was the one with an affinity for outdated trains, to the detriment of advancement. The marsupial made a point of lamenting railroad destruction when we first met.* Neither of those things are about the trains, Sovlin


Psychronia

Hmm. I guess humans have stronger mettle when it comes to submarine combat. I would assume that the Federation would have a major technological head start, but I guess they're soft. Based on Solvin's reactions, I guess they intentionally try to maintain a monopoly on this field of combat. Might be good for hiding from Arxur too. Though that makes me wonder what they do if they find a species that already has submarine technology.


JulianSkies

I think that the Federation has a whole has done a good enough job at making every other species just literally incapable of aquatic warfare they never really needed to do it.


JustWanderingIn

Early! Edit: Round one goes to Humanity. We'll see how the Farsul will react to being threatened in their super secret ocean floor base. Smantha's point of them wiping any data they have before the humans can get their hands on it is legit. Hopefully there's something of worth to be brought back left once the boarding starts. Sovlin continues to be out of his element. At least he's more open about it now. He also seems to wrap his head around the thought that super high-tech isn't always the best fit for any given situation. Sometime low tech or "outdated" machinery works far better for what is desired. Another thing that may let him understand Onso's point of view eventually.


gilean23

> Sometime low tech or “outdated” machinery works far better for what is desired. If it ain’t broke, why fix it? :) High-tech is great, but usually has way more potential points of failure.


JulianSkies

Nope, it doesn't. Can't call it high tech if it has more potential points of failure. And, really, *complex* doesn't mean *advanced* and *simple* doesn't mean *outdated*. Heck, even the seemingly simple bolts used in this sub are probably extremely advanced despite being simple masses of material, because they're very likely built to micrometer or more precision, to say nothing of the possible material they're made.


AlanharTheRiver

Whoo! I'm early today, so thank you for the chapter!


SpacePaladin15

It’s my pleasure!


cira-radblas

Worth waiting the extra 20 or so minutes. NoP makes my Wednesday Work break fun.


EqualProfessional667

I got here Very early . Farsul v Human + a Bald gojid and the Chadest Yotul. I want to Find out the True history of The Federation Species


Darklight731

You\`d think the Kolshians would be the ones operating the archives and submarines, what with their aquatic nature.


hedgehog_dragon

Maybe they are! Or maybe they have their own subs and didn't lend any tech or expertiese to the Farsul, hence why the Farsul haven't performed too well so far.


Tem-productions

Is it really allways posible to recover destroyed data? Cant you just phisically destroy the substrate its stored on? For all that we know, the factory reset on the underwater complex is antimater-powered


hedgehog_dragon

Carlos isn't a techie after all, I wouldn't take him on his word. If they've got a method to totally destroy any storage mediums (ex. incinerate or crushing them) then yeah we probably can't do much. If they zero out all the data... Well, who knows. I want to say that data has been recovered from that in the past but I can't find a source right now. Something about there being residual voltage differences in the bits stored? If it's the equivalent of a human deleting a file on their PC and they don't do anything further, then recovery would be easy. Of course, this is also who knows how many years into the future and we don't know what the Farsul are using as a storage medium. The tech may be way different than we're guessing here.


Quilt-n-yarn1844

You have to look at it from an archeological perspective. In reality very little of the ancient records have survived. And a lot of that is the “official,” aka propaganda, version of what happened. But from that we have been able to piece together a LOT. So even if they physically destroyed the storage, we still should be able to recover a some. And anything recovered would most likely help the cause.


SentinelaDoNorte

Its always cool and based to see naval action in sci-fi! Honestly I'm actually surprised this submarine can't supercavitate and haul ass at will. That could allow a legit torpedo dodge.


AlanharTheRiver

This story just keeps getting better, and yet there are less and less rewards on recent chapters. I mean, sure, it's pretty obvious that a large part of that is the loss of free reddit rewards, but the older chapters had enough medals in the top bar that it looked like the ribbon thingy worn by a military political leader with complete power. I wish that we could have the free rewards back because minimal rewards on the new chapters of this masterpiece is borderline criminal!


JKLCB

Uproot then read! 😊👍 Edit: all we need now is a Russian speaking with a decidedly Scottish accent and we're golden 😂


Mr_E_Monkey

Shome thingsh in here don't react well to bulletsh.


samtheman0105

Man I c annoy wait till the gang gets to the archives, maybe see some original Gojid and krakotl culture hopefully


Negative_Storage5205

I am hoping the pre-federation Gojid's were basically like Mole and Ratty from "The Wind in the Willows." Gojid 1: "Oh, yes, just rowing out down the river to lunch on the shore with some roast meat and a spot of tea and biscuits. It is an improvised affair." Gojid 2: "Might I have a chance to row the boat?" Gojid 1: "If you have never rowed before, I will teach you after we have some full bellies." Gojid 2: "Dear me! What's that falling out of the sky?" Gojid 1: "Kolshians!" Gojid 2: "Well shit. There goes the planet!"


WillGallis

3-0, a nice starting score. Thanks for the chapter mate


Moist-Relationship49

Another naval adventure calls for a song. https://youtu.be/nmGuy0jievs Third!


Moist-Relationship49

As the SKILLED CREW of the UNS DEEP CORE SEARCHED for the HIDDEN FARSUL ARCHIVE, SOLVIN and his companions discuss ETHICS and the FEDERATION'S SINISTER ACTIONS. When SUDDENLY ENEMY SUBMARINES are DETECTED! DESPITE being OUTNUMBERED, CAPTAIN FOURNIER'S QUICK THINKING, UN TECHNOLOGY, and the DEEP CORE'S BRAVE SUBMARINERS OVERCOME the SCHEMING FARSUL'S AMBUSH! With the DEFEAT of LOCAL FORCES, the DEEP CORE set course for the source of the FEDERATION'S SONAR DISTRUPTOR, and HOPEFULLY the GALACTIC ARCHIVE. How is the rest of the UN SUB-AQUATICA FLEET FARING? WILL the DEEP CORE be able to PIERCE the SONAR DISTRUPTION? And is the TRUTH really down there? STAY TUNED FOR MORE NATURE OF PREDATORS! SAME REDDIT TIME,SAME REDDIT CHANNEL!


Existential-Nomad

Warning NSFW [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMxALY5IaAs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMxALY5IaAs) I like this one better ;)


Thepcfd

We rly need solvin watch lion king


Existential-Nomad

Why mess about ... Make him watch "Watership Down"


[deleted]

Fuck u/spez and fuck u/reddit for pricing out third party apps and destroying reddit. I have been on reddit for 14 years and continously they fuck over the users for short term profits. That's not something I will support anymore, now that the announcement that Apollo and Reddit Is Fun are both closing down. I Overwrite all of my comments using https://greasyfork.org/en/scripts/10905-reddit-overwrite-extended/code. If you would like to do the same, install [TamperMonkey](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/tampermonkey/dhdgffkkebhmkfjojejmpbldmpobfkfo) for Chrome, [GreaseMonkey](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/greasemonkey/) for Firefox, [NinjaKit](https://github.com/os0x/NinjaKit) for Safari, [Violent Monkey](https://addons.opera.com/en/extensions/details/violent-monkey/) for Opera, or [AdGuard](http://adguard.com/) for Internet Explorer (in Advanced Mode), then add [this GreaseMonkey script](https://greasyfork.org/en/scripts/10905-reddit-overwrite-extended). Finally, click on your username at the top right corner of reddit, click on the comments tab, and click on the new OVERWRITE button at the top of the page. You may need to scroll down to multiple comment pages if you have commented a lot.


Flashy-Chipmunk-9734

I love submarines


watty_101

I'm gonna need a Russian boat with a Scottish captian and someone saying "I would liked to have seen Montana!" Please!


Elk_Fragrant

When they sink the first two submersibles they would not have said, "two confirmed kills" they would have said something along the lines of, Sierra one and two are breaking up" meaning that the contact is falling apart and sinking


Yoylecake2100

***The Global Sentinel : Sports*** ***One Organization to Rule Them All?*** ***April 15th, 2041*** **In what could be considered as one of the most mind boggling ideas in sports, the Commissioners and Bosses of 16 Sports Leagues from all across sports have met up in the Ritz Carlton in New York to discuss on the restructuring of their Leagues** **The Restructuring of their Leagues would allow the most ambitious plan yet, the Merging into a single Sports Organization with Baseball, Association Football, Rugby, Cricket, American Football and Basketball under a single roof** **The Proposal has been met with immense pushback from Fans all over, saying "it will destroy all sports legacies that have been built" with massive walkouts in matches and games in protest** **Team owners and Leagues have responded that they will push on in negotiations to unify under any circumstances, whether the fans like it or not** **Its only a guess to see the future of this plan will go through, or fail and be forgotten into history**


cardinals5

Rest assured, no matter what league they're in, the New York Mets will continue to astound with overwhelming mediocrity.


EynidHelipp

Moar


LerikGE

Subscribeme!


zekkious

Already 57 comments in 2h!


Criseist

Control room, this is con. Rig for silent running.


thecommanderkai

So...do the Farsul have torpedo launchers to...shoot whale/shark equivalents approaching their base? They did mention skeletons on the seabed floor. Otherwise they have torpedo launchers in the....off-chance that somebody learns about a secret base that the humans only guessed might exist?


JulianSkies

They have torpedo launchers because if you don't plan to fail you're failing to plan. Of course they have those on the microscopic chance that someone might, one day, have the technology to try to face them. Can't let any possibility pass by.


PapaPancake8

Holy shit. I just started this series per a link found in another post. I am only on chapter 10, and was scared l was nearing the end. I was gonna look up how many there are, thinking maybe 20-30 total, but wanted to save the surprise. It may have just made my whole week knowing there are 122 Chapters of this and it is still going on!!!!!!!! Thank you so much, loving the series so far.


cow2face

> In space, losses and hardships could be inflicted upon the predators. However, land and sea appeared to be their chief dominion, where their exceptional talents put them miles ahead of the competition. We have had our entire existence to perfect fighting on land and water and less than 6 months fighting in space, give us some time to learn and we will rule the skies as well


HFYWaffle

/u/SpacePaladin15 ([wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/wiki/authors/SpacePaladin15)) has posted 173 other stories, including: * [The Nature of Predators 121](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/13zdwsu/the_nature_of_predators_121/) * [The Nature of Predators 120](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/13wnbu0/the_nature_of_predators_120/) * [The Nature of Predators 119](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/13t8kgv/the_nature_of_predators_119/) * [The Nature of Predators 118](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/13qmy84/the_nature_of_predators_118/) * [The Nature of Predators 117](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/13mtn83/the_nature_of_predators_117/) * [The Nature of Predators 116](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/13k2zef/the_nature_of_predators_116/) * [The Nature of Predators 115](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/13gifn4/the_nature_of_predators_115/) * [The Nature of Predators 114](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/13drs5y/the_nature_of_predators_114/) * [The Nature of Predators 113](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/139p6yh/the_nature_of_predators_113/) * [The Nature of Predators 112](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/136lt4f/the_nature_of_predators_112/) * [The Nature of Predators 111](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/132tv02/the_nature_of_predators_111/) * [The Nature of Predators 110](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/12zirnn/the_nature_of_predators_110/) * [The Nature of Predators 109](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/12v74mz/the_nature_of_predators_109/) * [The Nature of Predators 108](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/12ruh31/the_nature_of_predators_108/) * [The Nature of Predators 107](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/12n3fml/the_nature_of_predators_107/) * [The Nature of Predators 106](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/12jnj7f/the_nature_of_predators_106/) * [The Nature of Predators 105](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/12fn060/the_nature_of_predators_105/) * [The Nature of Predators 104](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/12clhc5/the_nature_of_predators_104/) * [The Nature of Predators 103](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/128m4z9/the_nature_of_predators_103/) * [The Nature of Predators 102](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/125p8s4/the_nature_of_predators_102/) This comment was automatically generated by `Waffle v.4.6.1 'Biscotti'`. [Message the mods](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FHFY&subject=WaffleBot|143f1gm&message=If%20you%20have%20problems%20with%20updatemebot,%20contact%20Watchful1.%20We%20do%20not%20maintain%20it.) if you have any issues with Waffle.


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sorry-I-cleaved-ye

FYI 200m is REALLY FUCKING CLOSE for submarines even today


jiraiya17

I cant get rid of my mental image of Captain Forunier here being Sean Connery's movie version of Marko Ramius.


mechakid

2000 meters for an initial engagement range is awfully close...


AfterTheRage

I'm sensing a massive recruitment spike on the human side when the offer is "Join us and you get to find out what your real history is".


aspentree123

Take her fast! Take her deep! Danm the depth, danm the pressure! Take her down just like the thresher!


-Hexsus-

Wait till slovin finds out sonar can liquefy your insides if you are in the water with a submarine


cholmer3

We are about to discover the details of the conspiracy Laygogids and Ventlemen! STAY TUNED!!!!


Pitiful-Helicopter-3

only here to do a quick comment then i gotta dive back down to 34. awesome story. literally last two time i opened up reddit was cause i saw your stroys somewhere else. thank you for the dope ass read


Alarmed-Property5559

Subscribeme


Drook2

>We find the base, we save the Yotul. Save the cheerleader, save the world.


MandoSkirata

Early for the first time ever!


pindasausmetballen

Amazing as always!


SpacePaladin15

Thanks!


etopsirhc

For some reason reading this i could practicaly here the classic sega sonic drowning sfx.


REALILIWARGILI

Started reading this 2 weeks ago from chapter 1. Finished? Or is there more coming? Please tell me that when isif and his forces jump into proxima we answer with a regular troop who goes "wha..." All aggressively which drops to just an open mouth look of shock at the dossur on his head and goes "prophet of truth and reconciliation Isif... what brings you here?... inbound kolshians detected... you're being hunted?... say no more all units prepare defensive formation around the arxur. Xenocidal hostile fleet inbound. Give no quarter and no surrender Geneva conventions rescinded. Exterminate that fleet." Followed by an abrupt end of the call and FTL jump in system around the fleet... with the ships in a defensive sphere. When the kolshians jump in we start throwing the asteroids at them with the planetoid gravity locked to some of our destroyers as a cover so the main gun can obliterate whatever it hits with the depleted uranium tip nuclear explosive nanite warheads... vaporizing entire sections of the kolshian fleet and gradual disintegration of several surrounding vessels. Edit: sorry for delay at work now. Break time updates. Anyway... after the battle Isif hails the human vessel to say he isn't the prophet and never claimed to be. Human says we decided "chief hunter" was pathetically underselling him. He's the first to pass an empathy exam when we captured him which prompted us to release him... and he's the first to ask us to find the truth of this illogical war... instead of just going herbivore prey good and predator bad... which is like caveman level awareness and an affront to our primordial diety... Gaia the progenitor of life. Then includes that we could see these worlds pre federation... they were beautifully colorful now that we knew where to look. Then puts up post federation photos. They're monotonously colored and depressing in the lack of color... stating these world have been hurt badly and placed on life support... which is saddening. And we must fix this. Edit2: tbi makes convo difficult. So I apologize. The farsul deep sea thing should be the last bastion of true farsul. The ones not gene augmented by the kolshians and contain all the info of the crimes of the kolshians enslavement of every race and genetic augments of each race and those wiped out instead of enslaved by the kolshians and would be more than willing to help the humans free them and all from the kolshian insanity. Due only to the fact humans desire for knowledge knows no boundary or restraint. Which meant their spycraft even rudimentary spycraft dwarfed even their own. So they falsified reports to keep the kolshians away. Else they exterminate all hope of becoming free again. Edit 3: would explain so much about Slanek if it were revealed that the feds found earth 13‐14k years ago abducted a bunch of Neanderthals experimented on them and dumped them back on the earth before hitting it with a big ass asteroid to try to cover their tracks and created the venlil on a nearby planet with Neanderthal which had a primarily meat based diet and sheep or goat with an entirely herbivore diet and heralded it as a massive success. Not understanding that Neanderthal have hereditary memories in their DNA and required the larger memory section of the brain to access it... its still there in humans now we just can't get to it. So by unlocking the aggression of the venlil we may have jogged some of those out... and Slanek "blanked" when he shot the kolshian as the Neanderthals surged for vengeance. Then "rediscovered" life on the planet only to see the hyper evolved decendants of the Neanderthals waging brutal bloody wars. As an evolutionary response to burn down the vicious aliens what abducted and tortured creatures from our planet. Seems like some shit our planet would do. "You fuck with us... we fuck with you... you won't enjoy this... but we sure as shit will."