History Literature / RatsBatsAndVats

* AliensSpeakingEnglish: Though not ''all'' of them, and fairly [[JustifiedTrope|justified]] when they do.

* EatsBabies: [[spoiler: The adorably puppy-like infants of the Nerba are the favored food of high-ranking Korozhets]].

* ThePowerOfLove: [[spoiler: Ariel is able to defy a Korozhet command and, in fact, defiantly plants herself on her helpless human love-interest's chest, threatening one to stay away from him, simply because she cares about him that strongly it overrides her programming. Cruelly averted when it simply lasers her dead for trying.]]

* PrivatelyOwnedSociety: Although technically, it's commonly owned and the vat-grown citizens or their heirs can buy a share after [[ImpossibleTask they're done]] paying the bill for growing and educating them. That, and [[AllDevouringBlackHoleLoanSharks interest]].

* RestrainingBolt: [[spoiler: What the Soft-Cybers really are. Other features include a highly-accurate timepiece, one-way radio, UniversalTranslator...]]

* ExactWords: How the Doc resists the RestrainingBolt; sure, he'll follow the good, wonderful [[spoiler: Korozhet]]'s instructions. The CompleteMonster [[spoiler: Crotchet]] might as well order a wall around, though.

* AliensSpeakingEnglish: Though not ''all'' of them, and fairly [[JustifiedTrope|justified]] when we do.

* BigEater: the uplifted Rats; thanks to a large dose of shrew genes, they have extremely demanding metabolisms, to the point where it is mentioned repeatedly that they eat their enemies after every fight if it all possible, and if hungry enough they are compelled to turn on their allies.
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Bat and Rat moralities are quite different to human morality. For example, Bats are highly sociable towards each other, but also very politically fractious, whilst Rats are unrepentantly promiscuous and coarse, not to mention casually amoral towards killing and eating anything and anyone.

* CrapsackWorld: The idea behind the colony was a SocialistUtopia. Shareholders have all the money, Vats (the underclass) have to pay not just for their education, but the mandatory fieldtrips Shareholders might force them to be sent on, and the cost of cloning them. There's an alien invasion creating WarIsHell, and, in the second book, it's revealed that the "Special Branch" of the police is regularly getting away with murder to intimidate the Vats into compliance. WhatMeasureIsANonHuman means the newly-created intelligent species are used as CannonFodder. One of the major plots of the second book is a XanatosGambit to break the system enough that it can be fixed.

* ExactWords: How the Doc resists the RestrainingBolt; sure, he'll follow the good, wonderful [[spoiler: Korozhet]]'s instructions. The Complete Monster [[spoiler: Crotchet]] might as well order a wall around, though.

** Attempting the same process with bats, but using Irish revolutionary songs and "Wobbly" songs in an attempt to increase their loyalty created a mock-Irish race who fight the Magh' but are all secretly plotting against humanity, due to having imprinted upon them as "the oppressors".

* InterspeciesRomance: Ariel the rattess has a fierce affection for her human partner, Major Fitzhugh, and he reciprocates despite the fact she, for example, has to ride around in his pocket. [[spoiler: When she ends up being transplanted into a human body, she wastes ''very'' little time, even by Rat standards, in jumping him, and is openly willing to stay monogamously mated to him despite the fact casual promiscuity is her natural instinct.]]

* LanguageEqualsThought: An important plot point. [[spoiler: Because their soft-cybers use English, which is "very twisty", Bats and Rats are able to think around their implanted commands to obey Korozhets.]]

* {{Uplifted Animal}}s: the Rats and Bats are genetically engineered bipedal [[HollywoodCyborg cyborgs]] that require Soft-Cyber and vocal implants to soldier and talk.

* {{J'accuse}}: In the second book, Sanjay Devi has read about Dreyfus.

* ReassignedToAntarctica: Fitzhugh

* GeneralFailure: Part of the reason humanity is doing so poorly against the Magh is that all of their military higher-ups are incompetents who wouldn't be too out of place amongst the more useless specimens of FirstWorldWar leadership.

* KangarooCourt: Part of a XanatosGambit to let the evil conspirators get ''exactly what they want'', because a fair trial without trumped-up charges would actually have worked.

* KangarooCourt: Part of a XanatosGambit to let the evil conspirators get ''exactly what they want''.

The second book (and parts of the prequel) involve the bureaucracy striking back against the heroes that made them look bad by succeeding. This brings in a whole host of Lawyer Tropes.

*

* AliensSpeakingEnglish

* BadBoss: [[spoiler: Korozhets routinely kill any slave that fails them, for any reason, and "slave" is also synonymous with "food"..]]

* {{Prequel}}: Genie Out of the Bottle is a short story taking place shortly before the main plot, detailing the backstory of Fitz, among other things. Available at the Baen Free Online Library [[http://www.wattpad.com/486908-genie-out-of-the-bottle-by-eric-flint-%26-dave-freer here]].

* BadBoss: [[spoiler: Korozhets routinely eat their Magh slaves whenever they feel hungry.]]

* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Bat and Rat moralities are quite different to human morality.

* EatsBabies: the evil aliens do this with aplomb.

* FlowersForAlgernonSyndrome: what else the Soft-Cybers can do.

* InterspeciesRomance: Ariel the rattess has a definite, arguably romantic fondness for Fitzhugh, even though she fits in his pocket [[spoiler:until she [[BodySnatcher gets an upgrade]]]].

* {{Oireland}}: the uplifted Bats to the point of asking why were they given high explosives again?

* {{Prequel}}: Genie Out of the Bottle is a short story taking place shortly before the main plot, detailing the backstory of Fitz, among other things. Available at the Baen Free Online Library here: http://www.baen.com/library/0743498879/0743498879.htm

* StarfishAlien: three varieties; vaguely bug-ish Magh, vaguely land-sea-urchin-ish Korozhet, and vaguely blue-four-tentacled-hairball-thing-ish Jampad.

* VillainWithGoodPublicity: [[spoiler: The Korozhets, the "friendly aliens" who warned humanity about the Magh and gave them their alien technologies, are actually the true masters of the Magh and are seeking to slowly grind humanity into slavery or extinction and claim their world. They use their status to subtly manipulate the human military to ensure they fail, and the soft-cyber implants include a compulsion to obey them.]]
* WidgetSeries: take a swig every time you laugh out loud ... we dare you.

* BigEater: the uplifted Rats thanks to some shrew blood, to the point where it is mentioned repeatedly that they eat their enemies and if hungry enough their allies

* {{Lilliputians}}: 2/3rd's of Harmony And Reason's elite soldiers are the size of a small housecat.

* StarfishAlien: three varieties vaguely bug-ish Magh, vaguely land-sea-urchin-ish Korozhet, and vaguely blue-four-tentacled-hairball-thing-ish Jampad.

* BugWar

* InterspeciesRomance: Ariel the rattess has a certain fondness for Fitzhugh, though she fits in his pocket [[spoiler:until she [[BodySnatcher gets an upgrade]]]].

* RestrainingBolt: what the Soft-Cybers really are. Other features include a highly-accurate timepiece, one-way radio, UniversalTranslator...
* SheCleansUpNicely: Inverted. Chip has no interest in Ginny whatsoever...until she gets nice and dirty.

* {{Uplifted Animal}}s: the Rats and Bats are genetically engineered bipedal [[HollywoodCyborg cyborgs]] that require Soft-Cyber and vocal implants to soldier and talk

* HotSkittyOnWailordAction: Ariel the rattess has a certain fondness for her commanding officer, though she fits in his pocket [[spoiler:until she [[BodySnatcher gets an upgrade]]]].

* VirginityMakesYouStupid: Ginny. [[spoiler: Partially averted that the symptoms start to attenuate shortly before the [[UnusualEuphemism cause is treated]]]].

''Rats, Bats, and Vats'' and ''The Rats, The Bats, and The Ugly'' are military Science-Fiction books by Creator/EricFlint and Creator/DaveFreer that take place in the same universe on a colony planet called [[PunnyName Harmony And Reason]] with a BugWar going on. But wait, [[SarcasmMode it gets better]]: the colony was put there by a [[GenerationShip slow ship]] so a good deal of the passengers were of the genetic material variety ... [[CloningBlues instant conscripts]]! Hu, What not so instant? Well, crud. But wait, there are friendly aliens who are willing to sell us their [[AppliedPhlebotinum advanced technology]], [[TooDumbToLive too bad their ships FTL broke down on the way to warn us about the bugs]]. This technology consists of implants slowshield/hardshield chip and the Soft-Cyber chip, see below.

* [[UpliftedAnimal Uplifted animals]]: the Rats and Bats are genetically engineered bipedal [[HollywoodCyborg cyborgs]] that require Soft-Cyber and vocal implants to soldier and talk

* HotSkittyOnWailordAction: Ariel the rattess has a certain [[GoodLookingPrivates fondness]] for her commanding officer, though she fits in his pocket [[spoiler:until she [[BodySnatcher gets an upgrade]]]].

''Rats, Bats, and Vats'' and ''The Rats, The Bats, and The Ugly'' are military Science-Fiction books by EricFlint and DaveFreer that take place in the same universe on a colony planet called [[PunnyName Harmony And Reason]] with a BugWar going on. But wait, [[SarcasmMode it gets better]]: the colony was put there by a [[GenerationShip slow ship]] so a good deal of the passengers were of the genetic material variety ... [[CloningBlues instant conscripts]]! Hu, What not so instant? Well, crud. But wait, there are friendly aliens who are willing to [++sell++] us their [[AppliedPhlebotinum advanced technology]], [[TooDumbToLive too bad their ships FTL broke down on the way to warn us about the bugs]]. This technology consists of implants slowshield/hardshield chip and the Soft-Cyber chip, see below.

* SplitPersonality: what happens when you [[UpgradeArtifact know too much]] [[IKnowKarate kung fu]]

* YouRequireMoreVespeneGas: Works on many levels--for instance, the authors use AppliedPhlebotinum rather sparingly, to the point of SchizoTech, so that plot points revolving around the phlebotinum would be central to the story, namely the Soft-Cyber chips which became [[GreenLanternRing green lantern rings]] similar to [[CommandAndConquer Tiberium]] and because multi-species conscription was mutated into requiring more population.

* [[ColonelBadass Major Badass]]: Both Fitzhugh and Van Klomp

* SplitPersonality: what happens when you [[UpgradeArtifact know too much]] [[IKnowKungFu kung fu]]

''Rats, Bats, and Vats'' and ''The Rats, The Bats, and The Ugly'' are military Science-Fiction books by EricFlint and DaveFreer that take place in the same universe on a colony planet called [[PunnyName Harmony And Reason]] with a BugWar going on. But wait, [[SarcasmMode it gets better]] the colony was put there by a [[GenerationShip slow ship]] so a good deal of the passengers were the genetic material variety ... [[CloningBlues instant conscripts]]! Hu, What not so instant? well crud. But wait, there are friendly aliens who are willing to [++sell++] us their [[AppliedPhlebotinum advanced technology]], [[TooDumbToLive too bad their ships FTL broke down on the way to warn us about the bugs]]. This Technology consists of implants slowshield/hardshield chip and the Soft-Cyber chip, see below.

The second book deals with Chip's [[NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished court martial over the aforementioned events]] and Ginny and the other's attempts to save him from the firing squad.

* BigEater: the uplifted Rats thanks to some vole blood, to the point where it is mentioned repeatedly that they eat their enemies and if hungry enough their allies

* DeadlyUpgrade: the [[BarrierWarrior shield]] implants; if not used correctly they will kill their users and/or explode. [[spoiler: Subverted in that that is exactly what they are designed to do; not only are the evil alien masterminds natural weapons not covered by the two types of shield provided but also the implants don't even have a [[PowerIncontinence on/off switch]]]].

* EatsBabies: the evil aliens do this with aplomb
* EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys: or at least uplifted Galagos
* ExactWords: How the Doc resists the RestrainingBolt; sure, he'll follow the good, wonderful [[spoiler: Korozhet]]'s instructions. The Complete Monster [[spoiler: Korozhet]] might as well order a wall around, though.
** Later on, Dr Thom learns the hard way that using his [[spoiler: Korozhet]] mind control device to order Ginny to come to him was a bad idea. At least, doing so without first ordering her to put down the chainsaw was a bad idea...
* FlowersForAlgernonSyndrome: what else the Soft-Cybers can do

* HotSkittyOnWailordAction: Ariel the ratess has a certain [[GoodLookingPrivates fondness]] for her commanding officer though she fits in his pocket [[spoiler:until she [[BodySnatcher gets an upgrade]]]].

* {{Lilliputians}}: 2/3rd's of Harmony And Reason's elite soldiers are the size of a small housecat
* TheMedic: an oddly [[ContemplateOurNavels philosophical]] rat with a good deal of HeroicWillpower
* MilesGloriosus: The HAR military brass minus Fitzhugh and Van Klomp

* YouRequireMoreVespeneGas: Works on many levels for instance the authors use AppliedPhlebotinum rather sparingly to the point of SchizoTech so that plot points revolving around the phlebotinum would be central to the story, namely the Soft-Cyber chips which became [[GreenLanternRing green lantern rings]] similar to [[CommandAndConquer Tiberium]] and because multi-species conscription was mutated into requiring more population.

The second book deals with Chip's [[NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished court martial over the aforementioned events]] and Ginny and the other's attempts to save him from the shooting squad.