Spooker

Grass Eaters 3 | 48 | Ascent

State Security Munitions Base 4, Grantor

POV: “Mark”, Terran Reconnaissance Office

Click click click click click.

The Geiger counter in his suit clicked urgently as Mark scanned the internal contents of the opened storage box. About a dozen large, enclosed warheads were stacked on top of each other, each about the size of a small Znosian, labeled with colorful alien symbols on the side.

Kara looked at one of the bomb casings with...

Grass Eaters 3 | 47 | Descent

State Security Munitions Base 4, Grantor

POV: Coyote-300 Swarm, Terran Digital Intelligence (Base Build: 2124-A)

The operators buried in the dirt heard the buzzing of the drone swarm before the base sirens. A dark blur in the sky — hundreds of miniature munitions each carrying just two kilograms of plasma incendiary explosives — they dove out of the clouds synchronously, whistling their signature high-pitched war cries.

A hundred years ago, some people...

(Bonus) March of Progress

Extra bonus chapter today. This is meant to be read before Chapter 47.

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1889 — Aberdeen

In certain forms of cardiac arrest, there appears to be a possibility of restoring by artificial means the rhythmic beat, and tiding over a sudden and temporary danger…

Now we know that when the mammalian heart has been inhibited through the vagus nerve it is quite possible to excite an immediate renewal of the rhythmic action by direct stimulation of t...

Grass Eaters 3 | 46 | Ill Intent

Grantor City Safehouse Romeo, Grantor-3

POV: Skhork, Znosian Dominion Marines (Rank: Six Whiskers)

Skhork didn’t have much time.

Every time the human operators left him alone in their safehouse, they’d ask him what he planned to do to escape. What he was plotting. How he was going to hurt them or get them killed. Questions of that nature, which he was compelled to answer while they grinned at him as if he were a toy. They were a paranoid bunch, these�...

Grass Eaters 3 | 45 | Book Club II

ZNS 1687, Znos-4-C (40,000 km)

POV: Plodvi, Znosian Dominion Navy (Rank: Six Whiskers)

It wasn’t easy. The FTL radio was not meant to be used covertly by a couple of low-ranked officers in the Digital Guide section nor a supervisor for the life support module.

But they had a few advantages. Their adversaries were officers in the Dominion Navy, bred and trained for very specific tasks, and few of them worried about internal security. Unlike the predators,...

Grass Eaters 3 | 44 | Unacceptable

SRNS My Other Ship, Spofke-7 (6 Ls)

POV: Sophie Garnier, Saturnian Resistance Navy (Ace of Clubs)

The Ace of Clubs brushed at the new scar on her cheek absentmindedly as she watched her minions escort the guest onto her bridge. Since the advancement of organic reconstruction technology in the early 21st century, scarring was entirely optional — and her wounds from her brush with death were trivial, but the scars had a nice aesthetic she enjoyed.

“What ...

Grass Eaters 3 | 43 | Book Club I

ZNS 1687, Znos-4-C (40,000 km)

POV: Plodvi, Znosian Dominion Navy (Rank: Six Whiskers)

Plodvi woke up groggily to the hum of the ship’s inertial compensators mixed with a loud ringing in his ears. As he slowly regained his senses, he realized that he was in some kind of maintenance closet. His paws were tied behind him to a chair by a thick rope. As his concussed head struggled to devise a way out of his predicament, he heard voices.

He was not alone. 2025-01-31 16:47:01 +0000 UTC View Post

Grass Eaters 3 | 42 | Total War II

TRNS Crete, Zhulnu-4 (2 Ls)

POV: Carla Bauernschmidt, Terran Republic Navy (Rank: Rear Admiral)

Even with his limited knowledge of Znosian facial expressions, Speinfoent could feel the inexorable smugness exuding from the State Security administrator even as he crowed, “You shall get nothing out of us. Nothing. As you deserve as abominations! Your ships will fall apart. Your people will rot. And we will burn your homeworld and nests…”

Carla let him r...

Grass Eaters 3 | 41 | Total War I

ZNS 1687, Znos-4-C (40,000 km)

POV: Plodvi, Znosian Dominion Navy (Rank: Six Whiskers)

Plodvi identified two distinct, hushed voices coming from the vents. One was a female, the other male.

“That’s why they say: the brutality of combat is a product of incompetence,” the male said.

The female voice snorted. “Spoken like someone who isn’t very good at it.”

“That can’t be.”

“Why not?”

“Because the examples in he...

Grass Eaters 3 | 40 | Recalled I

ZNS 1687, Znos-4-C (40,000 km)

POV: Plodvi, Znosian Dominion Navy (Rank: Six Whiskers)

Plodvi’s new job was simple.

Four-hour watch. Nap time. Then another four hours. Dinner. Assignment of responsibility. Bed. And repeat.

As a six whiskers in the ship’s computer room, he was in charge of a small squad of technicians monitoring the automated life support. That involved the riveting task of staring at a dashboard screen for hours at a time until s...

Grass Eaters 3 | 39 | Learning Ahead II

TRNS Crete, Fsuzve-4 (3 Ls)

POV: Carla Bauernschmidt, Terran Republic Navy (Rank: Rear Admiral)

“Twelve shipyard modules in orbit at Fsuzve-4. Judging by the hull shapes in their assembly berths, it looks like they’re for combat missile destroyers,” Speinfoent reported. “They’ve made updates to their spaceframes. See? Look at those angles… they almost look like—”

“Our old Peacekeepers, yeah. They’ve gone much smaller than their last mod...

Grass Eaters 3 | 38 | Close Air II

Prunei City, Grantor

POV: Bertel, Znosian Dominion Marines (Rank: Five Whiskers)

“Ground team, we can’t get any closer. We are going to be firing blind into your proximity. Take cover.”

Bertel selected a small squad of infantry — it looked like four or five — huddling near the street corner furthest away from the broken-down convoy, zeroed her Skyfang gun with the laser rangefinder, and mumbled a short prayer to the Prophecy that they were predat...

Grass Eaters 3 | 37 | Close Air I

TRNS Sonora, Crissoel (25,800 Ls)

POV: Catarina Ibarra, Terran Republic Navy (Rank: Rear Admiral)

Sieges were rarely airtight. In terrestrial warfare, cutting off the ground line of communication — the most accessible routes between a defended unit and its nearest secured supply points — did not entail closing off all avenues of access. Interdiction was by itself a complex task; perfection was impossible due to a myriad of factors from terrain to the presenc...

Grass Eaters 3 | 36 | Negotiations II

Coalition Naval Shipyard Datsot, Datsot (18,000 Ls)

POV: Eupprio, Malgeir (Executive)

“What is this?” the head representative from Stoers asked gruffly.

Eupprio traced his paw to her Terran pilot seated next to her in her conference room. She turned back to him with a smile. “Representative Umvinto, that is my personal shuttle pilot, Abe from Terra. Abe, this is Umvinto from Stoers.”

Abe gave Umvinto a mild bow of his head in the traditional ...

Grass Eaters 3 | 35 | Negotiations I

Dominion State Security HQ, Znos-4

POV: Svatken, Znosian Dominion State Security (Position: Director)

“We would have to have been hatched addled to accept this idiotic proposal,” Sprabr declared on Svatken’s screen.

“It is merely in discussion right now,” Svatken replied calmly. “But even some of our Digital Guide programs seem to think that a similar deal would be a net strategic benefit for the Dominion. After all, I recall it was you who ins...

Grass Eaters 3 | 34 | Civilized

Atlas Naval Command, Luna

POV: Amelia Waters, Terran Republic Navy (Rank: Fleet Admiral)

“I’m here to begin negotiations with your people. Like civilized creatures would.”

Amelia stared at the screen for a full ten seconds, wondering what was going on in that tiny Znosian brain. “This is a hoot. Alright, just to let you know, Bun, you’re barking up the wrong tree unless you’re looking to surrender. I’m only in charge of our military, not our ...

Grass Eaters 3 | 33 | Evasion III

Grantor City South Mall, Grantor-3

POV: Torsad, Grantor Underground (Department Leader)

Torsad and Insunt picked up their pace as they heard the sounds of gunfire echoing throughout the large building in front of them. They were greeted at the mall’s door by the local cell leader shouting directions at his subordinates.

“You! Are you in charge here?” Torsad barked.

His head snapped over to her. “Yes, Department Leader! I am Cell Leader—”<...

Grass Eaters 3 | 32 | Evasion II

Cluxta Apartment Complex 25F, Grantor-3

POV: Torsad, Grantor Underground (Department Leader)

“They’re in effective range now, Department Leader,” Insunt announced as he watched the enemy signals approach on his tablet. “Six enemy choppers. This is their quick response team. You’d think they would learn that flying around here has consequences after we shot their precious eleven whiskers down. Serious consequences.”

“Don’t get too cocky, Ins...

Grass Eaters 3 | 31 | Evasion I

Cluxta Apartment Complex 25F, Grantor-3

POV: Torsad, Grantor Underground (Department Leader)

“They’re taking off!” Insunt announced, lifting his headset just enough to peer out.

They’d been on the roof for over an hour. Torsad had gotten used to waiting. They did a lot of it on operations. But waiting so high up, exposed, always carried its own danger. They could be spotted by one of the Grass Eaters’ own air vehicles. Or one of their units on th...

Grass Eaters 3 | 30 | High Value Individuals

Naval Ground Supply Base 34 (Grantor City), Grantor-3

POV: Sprabr, Znosian Dominion Navy (Rank: Eleven Whiskers)

“Another meeting over there tomorrow?!” Sprabr exclaimed at his computer officer as he examined his schedule.

“Yes, Eleven Whiskers,” she replied. “It appears you are very popular with our State Security friends in the Grantor City office. They seem to be… not pleased with your attempts to put up technical and procedural obstacles to...

Grass Eaters 3 | 29 | Annoyed at Small Things

Republic Spacer Training Center, McMurdo (2,400 Ls)

POV: Durnio, Malgeir Federation Navy (Rank: Delta Leader)

“Fire! Active fire in midsection hallway Two-Bravo! Fire! Fire! Fire!”

“That’s all of you!” Durnio screamed at his group of wide-eyed spacer cadets. “Get your vacuum gear on now! Let’s go! Let’s go! Move it!”

The group consisted of 40 freshly recruited Malgeir spacers. Half of them had some years of experience in the Federat...

Grass Eaters 3 | 28 | Erroneous Assumptions

TRNS Crete, Prinoe (22,000 Ls)

POV: Carla Bauernschmidt, Terran Republic Navy (Rank: Rear Admiral)

Carla stared slack-jawed at her command console. “They— they what? Is that— is that what I think it is?”

Beth examined the data feed for a second longer. “Kill codes, ma’am. They must have remote— remote kill codes for— for their own ships. Preliminary analysis says it’s the inertial compensators, the engines, or the ship’s central compute...

Grass Eaters 3 | 27 | Kill Codes

ZNS 1858, Cretae (15,000 Ls)

POV: Fskokh, Znosian Dominion Navy (Rank: Nine Whiskers)

“Broadcast the State Security kill codes.”

“Yes, Nine Whiskers.”

With the press of a button at his computer officer’s command, a radio signal beamed out from the ship towards every Znosian ship in the system.

Whirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

There was a groan emanating from the belly of the ship. The inertial compensators died without c...

Grass Eaters 3 | 26 | Third Chances

SRNS My Other Ship, Cretae (24,000 Ls)

POV: Sophie Garnier, Saturnian Resistance Navy (Ace of Clubs)

The pinpricks of light on the external view monitors imploded into the coherent starfield familiar to human eyes.

“Post-blink preparations complete, Ace,” Felix reported about a minute later.

“Damn, that was slow,” the Ace of Clubs said, staring at Krizvum’s back. “Are you deliberately sabotaging my ships, Krissy?”

The Znosian offi...

Grass Eaters 3 | 25 | Make Them Bleed

SRNS My Other Ship, Prinoe (400 Ls)

POV: Sophie Garnier, Saturnian Resistance Navy (Ace of Clubs)

“They’re taking forever, aren’t they?” the Ace commented as the exodus of enemy ships from the planet continued. As she watched, hundreds of shuttles ferried troops from the surface into the massive holds of the enemy cargo ships.

Felix glanced at the battlemap absentmindedly. “Even with their admittedly impressive logistics, it takes a while to evac...

Grass Eaters 3 | 24 | Free Znosian Navy

ZNS 1858, Prinoe (12,000 Ls)

POV: Fskokh, Znosian Dominion Navy (Rank: Nine Whiskers)

Fskokh stared at the brazen enemy on his screen in shock for a moment. “The Free Znosian Navy?!”

“Yes, Nine Whiskers,” Krizvum replied. His eyes looked down, reading aloud from an unseen datapad, “As per our rules, all Dominion officers are welcome to accept new responsibility and join our new Free Znosian Navy. If you surrender now, you will be treated with the...

Grass Eaters 3 | 23 | Battle Planning II

TRNS Crete, Quistqueu (12,000 Ls)

POV: Carla Bauernschmidt, Terran Republic Navy (Rank: Rear Admiral)

“So your plan is to just throw us against the aliens and then sit back and place bets on who comes out on top?” the Ace of Clubs glared at Carla. “And you think we’d just be okay with that plan?”

“We’re in the wild, wild west out here,” Carla said, shrugging. “You swim or you sink. We’ve got our own mission. We don’t have time to baby...

Grass Eaters 3 | 22 | Battle Planning I

TRNS Crete, Quistqueu (12,000 Ls)

POV: Carla Bauernschmidt, Terran Republic Navy (Rank: Rear Admiral)

“Admiral, Resistance One sent a message requesting a— a strategy meeting with you,” Lieutenant Beth Woods announced from the electronic warfare station.

“The Ace of Clubs? Is this some kind of trick?” Carla asked.

“We can always shoot her out of the vacuum and say it was an accident later,” Beth joked.

“Cover it up? Why? They’...