AN: Subnautica is not owned by me, but by Unknown Games. The clue's in the website name
I could kinda do with a Beta Reader to help fix my potato twelve year old punctuation, so if anybody could volunteer it'd be greatly appreciated
A single clean slice through the body was all it took. Two halves of a shark fell to the ground in a cloud of yellow blood, green spots dotting the hard outer shell of the fauna.
"Compromised subject 10342 neutralised," Xelicic hissed, the various clicks and stutters making up his speech being near instantaneously transferred to both the A and B class Quarantine Enforcers that were operational on the planet. And with that update the automated part of his mind went dormant, and Xelicic was finally able to give his blades a stretch.
"Oh, Creator above, that lasted way too long," the enforcer unit muttered to himself, effortlessly accessing the part of him that was added as if it was just another limb, crossing his arms, collapsing out of existence with a flash of teal and purple and reappearing in what they'd dubbed the 'Wide dunes'. Looking out, you could see nothing but rolling hills of sand and rocks for almost a kilometre, along with the three resident Leviathans that had made that area their hunting ground. Beautiful in both the imperfection of the various rocky outcrops scattered randomly across the biome and in the perfection of the dunes and creatures that roamed it. So, in Xelicic's eyes, one of the best places on the planet.
Making a small shift to the wavelength of his telepathy to make it exclusive to one of his closest friends, Xelicic's speech suddenly shifted from the higher pitched and faster natural speech to the low, grating and robotic voice that made up the faraway speech of his kind.
"Hey, Mela? You out of it yet? I'm up at the Wide Dunes." He broadcasted to her, the questioning tone indistinguishable in the monotone voice that came from their telepathy.
A second later a reply came through, the echoing voice of his friend resonating to him from seemingly nowhere-"Yeah, the B classes have kept the infected to a minimum." A few of her screeches dropped down even further in pitch, the equivalent to a human mutter, "Bloody monospeakers." Melatisma burst into existence in front of him, already preoccupied with trying to scrape off a few small shards of Kyanite which had managed to get themselves embedded in her left blade.
"Yeah, I don't like them either. But they do their job, and it means that we barely have to do anything. The less I'm in Hunting mode, the better, if you ask me." Xelicic sighed, swimming forwards to help skim off the chunks of crystal. The things were a nightmare to get out by yourself, due to the fact that you'd have to dig every single one out with the tip of your blade, as well as the self-healing being bad (for once), due to how hard it was to lever a chunk of Kyanite out of your arm with the skin constantly regrowing. Because of this, it was natural courtesy for Enforcers to help each other out, had they been down into the lavacaves. Or at least, among the A classes. The B classes don't really have the creative capacity to imagine doing something like cleaning their blades.
Melatisma flicked her two back tentacles in a shrug, looking out into the mushroom forest where another Enforcer, practically identical to them, had popped into view and nearly immediately dove after a boomerang with a smattering of green spots. A single slice was executed and the B class immediately snapped back to his patrol path, phasing back out of sight in a ball of teal. "Is it just me, or is the infection getting worse? I was Hunting for something like an hour earlier in the Great Reef, which I'm pretty sure isn't meant to happen more than once a month, on average," she said, a pained look barely visible in her eyes. With just a single phase of Hunting mode that long, at least thirty, if not fifty, creatures had lost their life early. Xelicic still told himself that they were helping, that a few slices were a far better fate then slow liver and lung failure. But, well, it's not like he had a say in the matter. The reason exactly why his memory suddenly cut out then came back in, with nothing but a few data logs stored in that part of his mind added by his Creator, was still unbeknownst to him. It was something to do with the green disease; Xelicic knew that much, but not much more.
"Half an hour here," Xelicic replied, beginning to swim forwards and making a sudden warp half-kilometre forwards, into what could be called the centre of the Wide Dunes. Melatisma followed at exactly the same pace, with both of them floating down to rest on the sandy floor. "Whatever is stopping the Kharaa killing this planet altogether, it's starting to weaken. And have you managed to figure out the Watcher problem yet? I followed one for ages at the mountain, and did the same thing you said they did to you. It dove over a ledge near the sea floor, I followed it, and the thing had just disappeared. So then I thought it had gone further around the mountain, so I kept going and just… Warped. Like, as if you suddenly got really bored and decided to go someplace else. Have you ever felt something like that?" This was the first time Xelicic had voiced these concerns to his friend, and although her blades tilted inwards in a worried stance, she still attempted to laugh it off.
"That sounds ridiculous. Last time I checked, Watchers can't warp, and I can't remember anything being on the other side of the mountain anyway. That's the B classes' patrol zone; there isn't exactly much use in going there," she smirked, flicking her right blade and launching a small, harmless orb at Xelicic.
Teleporting away in the few moments before impact, the orb splattered against the sand and he reappeared behind Melatisma, an orb of his own already flying through the water towards her, and another to his right. She easily avoided the first, imploding into nothing to appear right in front of the second. The ball connected solidly with her chest and an explosion of white and teal came with it, similar to the way that Enforcers warped, but collapsing into the orb as opposed to into their 'Heart'. Melatisma appeared right underneath blade that shot the offending projectile, which was positioned right below the two sacks on the back of her head.
"You surrender?" Xelicic laughed playfully, two of his eyes closed and his free blade curled upwards in a grin.
Melatisma slowly started to curve her blades inwards whilst pretending to think about it, until she was practically hugging Xelicic, before suddenly warping behind him with her blades now crossed around his chest. "Nah, I'll pass. I have a better idea," she retorted, bringing her arms back in a big show of being about to slice him across the belly. This, of course, gave him ample time to teleport away and immediately go back on the offense. The rhythm of the spar was almost hypnotic, as both were constantly slashing and parrying each other, warping to different angles to try and get a better shot at the other and to dodge each other's attacks, both shooting an orb at random points trying to catch the other off guard
Although the orbs were intended for combat purposes, class A Enforcers have the ability to fire two different forms, which came in quite useful. The ones used that they defaulted to whilst Hunting were the 'Summoning' orbs. These were larger, and designed to hurt as much as a projectile like that could. Getting hit by one was about the same as being whacked in the head by a falling rock, to try and leave the target disorientated at the point of teleporting right below an Enforcer's blades. What gave them their name, however, was the ability to pull any sort of aggressive Fauna from the nearby area (most of the time it was limited to the biome they were in) and straight to the Enforcer to assist them in combat. The second, 'Relocation' orbs are smaller, less disruptive and damaging versions of the combat-intended variants. They had various uses, but weren't used all that much alone when it was simply easier to warp to whatever you needed. So most of their use, or at least by Xelicic, was in situations like these
Eventually both got tired, as whatever stream of energy that kept them going may have been more than enough to allow them to go about their lives and routines without issue, but a spar like this would drain them in a matter of minutes. Both of them warped to a small cave underneath an outcrop of rock in the Wide Dunes, which they'd decided to call their 'home' a while ago. Territory, home, nest, whatever you wanted to call it, that's what they chose.
Although the artificial part of his mind stopped him from staying in one place without seeing other Fauna for around an hour (Xelicic didn't really know the reasoning behind this. Maybe to get him Hunting more?), this is where they'd stay to rest, and just as something to hang onto. No matter what the other part of his mind said, he still needed somewhere to default to, instead of just forever wandering the world, which became quite small after around ten years. The cave was relatively plain, with only a thick net of stinging vines at the doorway placed to stop other creatures getting inside, and two Royal Coral that they'd nurtured for around two years growing in a patch of sand in the back. A few other Flora had sprung up on the walls, giving the cave a bit more life, but there were no 'decorations', so to speak. No diamond, no gold, no aluminium oxide, as opposed to a few of the Shockers and Ghost Juveniles he knew, who liked nothing better than embedding those shiny rocks in the entrance and ceiling to give it some more 'Flair'. But Xelicic was happy with what they'd made
After a half-hour of lying on the ground and loosing himself in his thoughts and worries, a familiar roar snapped him out of his daydream and, warping to where the sound originated, he saw an equally familiar mandibled face.
"Caloros. Nice to see you." The Reaper Leviathan whose territory they happened to have occupied ran a quick loop around Xelicic, managing to seem both menacing and passive simultaneously. How does something that big manage to still run nearly perfect circles around him- something about as big as the mandibles on his mouth? Xelicic still didn't know, but it was a sight to behold nonetheless
"Huh, you're still hanging around. I thought your kind didn't stay put for very long." Caloros growled, giving Xelicic a swat with his tail whilst making a dash forwards.
"You've said that to me every day since I came in here, you know that?" Xelicic retorted, teleporting up next to the beast's head. Two years back he'd decided to start teaching Caloros their language, and it didn't go all that badly. Well, as easily as teaching something with a brain the size of a Watcher and a near non-existent short term memory a whole new language can go. It was admittedly made easier because of Xelicic's universal translator, turning the whole thing into a one-sided process. But, well… Speaking with a creature that had no morals or empathy could get pretty cold after a while, which was mostly the reason that their talks were only a few sentences, if not a passing comment.
Expressions were not something Xelicic's translator helped with, but if he had to guess he'd say that the leviathan was looking confused.
"I have? Well, I said it again. If you have an issue with that, you can tell it to the back of my jaw." This was a hollow threat, and they both knew it. Well, maybe Caloros didn't, but Xel definitely did. As the Reaper discovered when they first met, he was near impervious to anything Caloros could throw his way, should that be teeth or claw. What he could do is break down their cave, which he had the full right to. They were infringing on his hunting ground, after all
Letting out an exasperated sigh (although Caloros wouldn't know it), Xelicic yielded. "Okay, fine. I'll leave now. Happy?" and warping away before he could get a word in edgewise
Returning back to their nest, Xelicic found that Melatisma had left and been replaced by another Enforcer entirely, an A class of course. Volain looked like she'd been run over by several consecutive boulders, barely able to lift an arm and click a few half-hearted words of greeting before sprawling back down onto the sand. "What happened?"? Xelicic enquired, to which the other Enforcer could only let out a long, quiet screech of guilt, and he immediately knew what the answer to his question was. "Oh my … I'm so sorry. I didn't realise another Goliath juvenile was infected already."
"Was. Past tense. Nothing more…" Volain whispered, her voice shaking more than he'd ever heard it before. She was speaking so out of character, all confidence completely gone, that he didn't know what to do. Xelicic just had to hope for something to take her mind off the murder that took place.
Settling down next to her, Xel began gently stroking the back of Volain's cloak with the flat of his blades in an attempt to calm her, although he almost felt like doing the same. Goliath eggs were only laid once every five years, with another years' incubation. However, their immunity to the green disease seemed to only kick in once they hit adulthood. And on the tragic occasion that they do catch the infection… There's nothing that the Enforcers can do to stop themselves.
After around ten minutes, Volain had regained enough energy that she felt she needed to explain to the parents of the Goliath what happened. She still feels partially to blame despite her lack of control, and said she couldn't let the guilt settle with her anymore. Again, everything she was saying was so out of character for her, and Xel had to simply hope that she'd be back to her normal by the end of her next Hunting phase. He wasn't planning on coming for the extremely awkward conversation, mostly because he knew how it felt. Xelicic had his own encounter around three years ago, and although he'd gotten over it by now, the memories of grief still stayed with him. And this wasn't exclusive to the Goliaths either. He'd had similar encounters with just about every sentient creature on this planet, ending the lives of betrothed, juveniles, parents, and in certain cases, even whole clutches of eggs. And through all of this, he had no ability to stop it.
Xelicic thought he'd got over these feelings of helplessness a long time ago, but apparently the death of another sentient child by an A class was enough to bring them all back. And whilst he was floating perfectly still, these memories coming back to him, Volain had disappeared into nothingness.
He breached the surface of the water, having warped back upwards, and just stayed there. The wind was surprisingly strong due to the amount of water vapour in the air, and Xelicic could already feel the water flying off the top of his arms. He'd always wondered what it'd be like to swim up there in the , away from all the fears and worries in the undersea world he was bound to . It was at that point that he heard the sound of a siren shrieking in the distance
A loud hum began to resonate through the air, slowly increasing in intensity until the water around Xelicic was visibly shaking. And not only was it coming from the ground, a different frequency was also stemming from the Space, appearing as a tiny white dot among the clouds slowly getting closer. And suddenly the resonance of the two became one, striking both the water around him into a frenzy and striking into him, letting out a screech of exactly the same pitch. All at once the sound cut out, leaving the ocean quiet as a pure green beam arced straight into the white dot, space itself seeming to bend inwards on impact before pulsing outwards in a ring of pure heat. The now white and red dot was starting to drop at a surprising rate, revealing itself to be a Space-Swimmer after it had dropped for another minute. And it was this small detail that snapped Xelicic out of the trance he had been held in watching this. The Space-Swimmer was aimed to land directly at his location, and something that large was sure to wipe out everything around it
"All deactivated A class Enforcers, Summon as many Fauna as possible from the Wide Dunes, then Warp out all Megafauna from the biome once all non-megafauna are safe. Take immediate action," he clicked frantically, warping into the Mushroom forest and immediately sending out as many Summoner orbs as possible, all whilst constantly glancing at the Space to check how close the Swimmer was to impact. At the point where the last Sand Shark had left the portal, various other reports were coming through from the other deactivated Enforcers
"All standard Fauna evacuated. Securing leviathan No.2 and all Shockers in location momentarily," came the voice of Zcille, presumably deactivated only recently
"I got all the small fry, and Carolos is already in the Mountains. Couldn't find any Shockers though, I'm relying on you for those, Xeli," Volain responded, back to her old self (for now, at least)
"Understood. Searching my area now," "Xeli"'s slightly strained voice came through, immediately starting to rapidly warping around the now uncomfortably warm Wide Dunes searching for any remaining creatures. He'd come across seven Shockers before finding the leviathan, each electrified snake having a series of questions which he could only answer with a click and a quick personal warp to the Mushroom forest. Xelicic was sure they could orientate themselves after that. The leviathan, however, was not so easy to land a shot on. He had never met this one outside of random encounters, and so had not taught it his language.
Eventually Xelicic managed to warp to the head of the creature, screech a few select words in the most forceful way possible, and warp it over to the Mountains. Now that all creatures had been moved, he warped over to the surface of the forest and there, joint by another Enforcer and three Shockers, they watched the Space-Swimmer sink below the clouds, shooting out around nine small white pods before coming into contact with the extra oxygen, and exploding in a ball of flame
This is my first attempt at a fanfiction, so please feel free to leave a review and tell me what you think. Feedback helps me a lot