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The original was posted on /r/hfy by /u/Psychronia on 2025-12-29 08:17:19+00:00.
Inheritance
(Innus POV)
"You nervous?"
Captain Henry Borlaug gave Innus a kind smile as they made their way to the fortress capital of Kepal. A squad of relief volunteers followed close behind.
The buildings there were all reinforced with steel, concrete, and similar materials. The main stronghold for Chief Karnak was even more so. It was clear that practicality and safety took priority over aesthetics here.
"A little. Rather than nervous..." The Uven's tail dragged against the ground behind him. "I'm worried that I'll give my inner thoughts away."
Karnak was one of the handful of leaders caught on footage featuring Uven meat cultivation technology. He was, more clearly than most, complicit in the starvation of their people.
Currently, Innus was on tour around Nysis to secretly spread the truth to national leaders and gather allies. The publicly given excuse was that he was there to mediate between the humans' relief teams and various Chief and Commander of the nations as they coordinated efforts.
To avoid suspicion, it was inevitable that he would have to visit some offenders as well. Since the nation of Kepal was raising some protests that the donated meat was making their people sick, this stop made as much sense as any.
It made sense.
But that didn't stop of the fire from burning in Innus's belly when he thought back to the footage he saw. How many of the 11.2 billion Uven that starved over the past 2 centuries could have been saved?
He was snapped out of his thoughts when Captain Borlaug pat him on the back. "I get it. I really do. It might be a bit of interspecies face-blindness, but you look like you've got a solid poker face to me. "
"Poker...?"
"Ah, it's a game where the best players are good at hiding their emotions."
Talking to humans often seemed to end with small tangents like this. Innus was used to most conversation being strict business, but their new allies seemed to love to chatter.
"You say you have experience suppressing anger?"
"I have experience dealing with the worst of humanity and pretending to be polite."
"Humanity...?"
Frankly, he found it hard to imagine the worst humans being comparable to the worst Uvei. As if sensing these thoughts, Borlaug laughed.
"I'm still a military man. What kind of jobs do you think a 'peaceful' species like ours have for their soldiers? It's a lot better nowadays, but I can tell you about things I've seen when we're back on the ship."
Innus nodded slowly. If nothing else, there should be no demerits to learning more about humans.
His eyes narrowed as he looked ahead to the Uvei waiting at the entrance to the fort. Among them was Jokan, a well-known and decorated lieutenant of the chief here.
"Kepal greets you, son of the Second. You have been granted permission to seek audience with Chief Karnak, but your...retinue may not."
At the last comment, he narrowed his eyes at the humans behind him. Borlaug saluted. "Not a problem! They're just here to drop off more supplies! And to avoid any problems, you can have your men check them all as you please."
"That said, the Captain here is the one seeking an audience. He is not subordinate to me. I would ask that my invitation be extended to him as a personal favor, as it would make discussion progress more smoothly." Innus added while staring the lieutenant down.
"....Does he know how to behave as a guest for an Uven ruler?"
"Of course. We wouldn't want to waste the busy Chief's time, after all. Captain?"
"I'm to only speak when spoken to. My weapons must be left securely outside the audience call. I may not call the chief by name! In the event of-"
With a friendly grin, the human rattled off everything they'd gone over. Some of these came up in audiences with potential allies too, so it was already relatively rehearsed by now.
..........
Chief Karnak Kepal strode out into the audience room with a flourish of his formal attire-a hybrid of battle armor and decoration signifying his station.
"Greetings, visitors. You're Vellik's heir, I hear?" He slammed his tail to the ground with a wide grin.
"Here I was wondering if our Second Spire was getting weak-hearted. I like your eyes, boy. You look like a proper soldier."
"Thank you...sir."
In a way, he was right. To rein in his feelings, Innus sharpened his focus by acting as a soldier according to his training.
In this case, he was fighting a battle of diplomacy for Nysis's future, and the man before him was an enemy. And like any battlefield, acting on emotion was dangerous, so he had to dispassionately stare down his enemy with focus and determination.
Karnak's gaze soon shifted to Captain Borlaug. Immediately, his eyes narrowed and he wore a scowl. No effort was made to hide his disdain for humans.
"This one is here to peddle more of their junk?"
"Captain Borlaug is here as a representative of the Terran emergency aid effort. After hearing that some of your constituents reacted poorly to the food aid, they have resolved to take responsibility by personally investigating the matter, as well as apologize for any trouble."
Wordlessly, Borlaug got down on one knee and struck his wrist over his shoulder, causing a metallic ring to sound out. It was the closest thing a human could do to mimic a formal Uven gesture of apology.
"What's this I hear of more items being brought into Kepal?"
"It is more aid, with the contents modified in response to the original delivery. The captain himself would be able to explain in more detail."
"Speak."
"Sir! There is more cultivated meat, but it has been set aside in a separate container in case you wish to refuse. In lieu of food, we have brought supplies of clean water and water purifiers. There are also mass-produced datapads and appliances obtained from other Coalition-"
Even Innus immediately knew that the claims that human-made meat was dangerous were unfounded. He had read the reports of the extensive testing the humans did before beginning production. Uvei did not have the luxury of being picky about the sources of food scraps until recently, so human food standards were downright meticulous in comparison to what Nysis had.
But since Kepal was lying about the matter, they might as well make use of the opportunity they were given.
Partially because Karnak was completely disinterested in what the human had to say, the meeting went by rather quickly. Most of the aid was declined, with the only exception being items that might give comparative advantages to rival nations who accepted the offering.
Innus bowed politely. Just as he and Borlaug turned to leave, however...
"Wait."
"...?"
The young Uven tensed up a little when Karnak approached him.
"I meant it when I said you look like a good soldier. Your father is getting up in years. If you ever find the inherited role as Second Spire to be too much, or if the council foolishly strips the title from you, know that my door will be open to you."
The chief slammed his tail against the floor and knocked Innus's torso to check his build.
"Yes...we can work with this. I will need to be stricter than your father is, no doubt, but once I toughen you up, I can see you have the makings of a great warrior and commander. One enough to take his own nation from a feebler chief. I can make you realize your potential and build you up into a Primal Uven."
Innus clenched his fist under his cloak and resisted the urge to express displeasure with his tail.
"T...Thank you sir. That is a flattering offer. I will keep it in mind, if the opportunity reveals itself."
"It's your eyes. You have the gaze of a ferocious fighter. You look at me like you can tell I'm superior, but never stopped sizing me up or checking me for weakness."
"T-That's..."
"No, don't apologize. It's strength like that which keeps my claws sharp as well. That hunger for dominance is what builds strong armies. It's what born leaders are made from, and it can't be taught. Remember that."
Karnak smirked and turned to stalk off.
"And-and then he said, 'That thirst for dominance is what makes strong armies'!"
""BWAHAHAHA!!""
While Innus was seething in his spot on the shuttle, the humans around him were laughing boisterously as Borlaug recounted the audience.
His annoyance wasn't at the jovial humans, of course. Rather...
"How can you all laugh in that condition?"
"Hmm? What do you mean?"
When he and Captain Borlaug returned to meet up with his men, they found Jokan and half his own subordinates beating on them. The other half of Uvei were smashing the devices in their delivery crates. All under the guise of "cultural exchange of martial arts" and "strength testing".
Despite all that, the soldiers working as relief volunteers wore their usual goofy grins and laughed it off.
"Ah, that. Those guys were clearly trying to pick a fight, but if we took it, it'd cause problems in diplomacy, yeah? We want to prove we're trustworthy to the actual allies you're trying to win over, and I'm sure word will spread otherwise."
"'sides, we have that aggression hearing in like 4 months, right? I bet someone would get their hands on footage of us kicking ass if we fought back."
"I thought we didn't give a shit about that?"
"We do...
Content cut off. Read original on https://old.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/1pygsau/our_new_peaceful_friends_19/