The Subtlety of the Kuravans

Here we are, a little post inspired by 18 November 2023, @mariannewest's Freewrite Writing Prompt Day 2224: no nuance - it's another one that fits into my sci-fi setting, although very much on the fringes of it. Enjoy !

Also, it is so tough just having five minutes to write ! It makes things all a bit of a rush, thank goodness I can spend time afterwards sorting out typos ! It also makes me realise how worn out my hands really are, I think age might be creeping up on me. I did try a speech to text converter, and all I can say about that experience is "oh dear..."

Image created in Nightcafe Studio

“Attention planet. This is Fleet Admiral Varasssh of the fifth Kuravan Venjshii You have attacked a Kuravan world. Surrender and join the glorious Kuravan empire or be destroyed.”

Fleet Admiral Varasssh sat back and rattled his wattles in a satisfied manner.

“There, that should do it. Open a viewscreen when they respond.”

Barely five minutes later the viewscreen flicked on, revealing a pale green hairless creature that looked like a cross between an axolotl and a sphinx cat.

“I’m Representative Slusjsh,” it began in a hesitating voice. “Please, we.… we made a mistake. We didn’t know the world was occupied. We just wanted to terraform it to our needs.”

Varasssh growled, his smooth tough green hide flushing darker with anger.

“Choose…”

“Can we talk about it ? I am sure we can come to some kind of compromise ?”

“NO !”

The Kuravans are not known for their subtlety. They see things in black and white (or at least, black and green), with no room for nuance.

Thus it was that the indecisive Zrujian race died under a hail of planet-cracker bombs.