3rd Person POV:

Aboard the SSV Wyvernfire, the tension was near crippling. Captain Falkar had been assigned to watch over the scientists studying the mass relay above Shanxi with a detachment of guard ships. Everything had been going fine until unknown ships had appeared from the relay. To their credit, the ships containing the scientists had only delayed a moment before fleeing to the safety of Shanxi. That only left him and the rest of the guard vessels. He had already sent an urgent message to central command on Earth explaining the situation and ordered all ships to aim blast rounds at the aliens. "A safe choice in ammunition when dealing with the unknown" he thought. All they could do now was prepare for the worst and try to reassure themselves everything would be alright.

Abruptly, the aliens proved hostile by firing on Falkar's guard detachment and his ship itself. The rounds fired at the Wyvernfire did some considerable damage to the mixed mediastinum and cosmicite alloy, but they were still in fairly good condition so it was far better than Falkar had feared. Immediately, he gave the order to counter-fire and dispatch frigates to flank the now-enemy ships and catch them in the crossfire. His ships responded accordingly. "We may be outnumbered, but humanity does not give up easily" thought Falkar.

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Aboard the Spirit's Will, Admiral Sectus oversaw the battle unfurling between his patrol and the aliens. Their kinetic barriers seemed to be serving them well, however the explosive nature of the aliens' ammunition proved considerably effective, but manageable. Already, both sides had lost a few ships. He did notice that their ships had no form of kinetic barrier and solely relied on their bizarre, rock-like hulls to deflect blows. Sectus had every intention of exploiting this and commanded his ships to aim their spinal guns at where he could only assume would be logical spots for their engines and main decks as well as any spot that scans showed to be particularly thin in plating. He had to wonder, though, what material was their hulls made from? Their preliminary scans had showed they were partially organic, so it was unlike anything Sectus had ever heard of other than the Rachni. The mere thought sent dread shivers down his spine.

Sectus then noticed the aliens were trying to flank them. "Peculiar choice in tactic, given that we outnumber them and could simply push through the remaining ships" he thought. "Gallus," he called to a subordinate, "order the rearguard of frigates to advance and counter the enemies flanking maneuver". "We may actually get out of this alive" thought Sectus. Suddenly, that sense of utter confusion Sectus experienced when he saw the aliens returned to him. One of the cruisers under his control was reporting that one of the aliens' shots left frost along the outside of their hull. Frost ammunition was nothing new to the Citadel races, but it was never scaled up to ship size. "What other secrets must these aliens hold" pondered Sectus.

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"Well frost shot proved ineffective" thought Falkar disappointed. His side was losing, badly. Over half their ships had been destroyed or crippled, and the aliens' barriers were blocking most of the damage from their shots. "Those barriers of theirs will kill us if we ignore them, but how can we breach them" he pondered. He was interrupted when one of his subordinates informed him of several smaller sized ships approaching his flanking frigates. "Sending in the rearguard" Falkar thought. "Tell them to prepare clust and pellet shot and fire on the approaching ships" he said setting his brilliant, analytical mind to the problem of the barriers. Falkar grinned. He had an idea. "All other ships switch to dragon shot" he ordered. The dragon element tends to affect things in varied and unpredictable ways, hopefully it could help here.

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Overall, Admiral Sectus thought the battle was going well. They had sustained some casualties, but they had destroyed most of the aliens' fleet. Even the rearguard he had sent out was able to fight through the barrage of massive explosions and ineffective shotgun-esque blasts the aliens sent their way. "Thank the Spirits we have kinetic barriers" he thought, realizing how this skirmish could have turned out without them. Unfortunately for him, the battle took a turn for the worse. A shot from an enemy ship slammed into a cruiser in front of him. Its kinetic barrier roiled from the shot sending out a shower of sparks, illuminating the void of space. Sectus was stunned. "How did these aliens develop disruptor ammunition without developing barriers?" he thought in disbelief. Whatever was going on, Sectus knew he had to end the battle quickly. "All ships focus fire on my target" he commanded while signaling what he believed to be their commanding ship.

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"Finally, we have some luck" Falkar though relieved. The dragon shots had been surprisingly effective against the barriers the aliens' ships had. Even so, most of his detachment was destroyed and the aliens still had about half their number left. Falkar knew they were all about to die, so he made a desperate decision. "All remaining frigates, advance and use wyvernfire on the enemy. Everyone else provide covering fire with clust and dragon shot." His order resounded through the cabin and all were hasty to comply. The reality of the situation was not lost on any of them, but they were going to die fighting. As armaments from the enemy ships began striking the hull of the Wyvernfire, tearing huge grooves in it, Falkar's last thought echoed throughout his mind uncontrollably, "these aliens have made a terrible mistake gaining the ire of humanity."

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Sectus had to admit, these aliens were brave. Either that, or suicidal as vorcha considering how they threw themselves at his ships spitting huge bursts of flame and explosions. Still, after eliminating their commander the rest died out fairly expediently. He took a moment to check the status of his ships. He had about half his patrol left and two of the remaining cruisers were damaged. Sectus still felt monstrous for starting first-contact by open firing on this new race, but he could not let his emotions rule him, not now. He still had a job to do. "I know you are all excited about your continued existence," he began, interrupting his subordinates' celebration, "but we must begin occupation procedure".

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To say Admiral Jon Grissom was surprised would be a grave understatement. He had just received word that Shanxi was attacked unprovoked by an alien force and had to report the situation to the Guildmaster Coucil. Worse still, the guards lost the ensuing fight. Grissom was feeling many things, but mostly: shocked, horrified, and above all pissed. "If these aliens want a fight, they'll get one" he thought. "By my honor as a hunter, I'll make sure of it."

Appendix: A History of Humanity

Humanity had done well, all things considered. Despite all the creatures native to Earth, they had stubbornly persisted. After the outbreak of the wyvern virus, the Hunter's Guild gained significant influence among every leadership on Earth as they were the only force able to repel the maddened beasts it created. However, even its resources were limited and if the hunters failed to stop the oncoming wave of corruption and virus, they would all die. So, a major risk was taken by many leaderships of Earth. They gave the Hunters Guild their utmost support in a union of sorts and formed the Guildmaster Coucil to as the central power in the Hunter's Guild. This added authority proved to be a successful gamble as it gave the Hunter's Guild enough power over commissions to nearly eradicate the Magalas and capture or quarantine the rest.

This unlikely victory did not mean humanity was completely safe, though. There were still many dangerous beasts around, but none as relentless and powerful as the Elder Dragons. They have seemingly supernatural abilities that humanity still cannot quite figure out, and most bear a strange antipathy towards humanity for grudges so ancient only they can remember them. All humanity knows comes from the deciphered texts written by the ancients. They speak of a great war with the wyverns, particularly the Elder Dragons. And so, humanity fought once more against them.

Driven by the passion of their ancestors, individuals arose to challenge the once-proudly unmatched Elder Dragons. The first of them died horribly, but eventually even the Elder Dragons were repelled or slain outright. Those who managed such a feat became heroes, legends other hunters aspired to be. They became more ideal than man or women. This conflict between hunter and monster, known as the Second Great Wyvern War, ended with the Elder Dragons being quarantined in one large section of Earth. Any and all expeditions into that land have proved unsuccessful and fatal, so attempts have been halted until an indefinite future.

United by the Hunter's Guild, humanity prospered. A new age of technological marvels and natural wonder ensued. This new technology was built on the premise of mimicking the natural capabilities of the flora and fauna native to Earth such as: furnaces designed after the molten core of the Agnaktor or water storage devices modeled after the great water-storing organs of the Plesioth. Nearly every aspect of society was shaped after natural wonders, so it is not surprising that even as humanity advanced to beyond its cradle, Earth, this trend continued. For example, the original engines used by rockets used refined ice nectar as an oxidizer and flashpoint slime and concentrated liquid from cryo sacs as fuel. This technology allowed for such feats as intrepid explorer Neil Armstrong landing on Luna.

Over the next few hundred years, technology developed along the same guideline, mimic the capabilities of terrestrial life with only a few breakthroughs such as permanent bases on Luna and Mars. However, this predicted path ended when trace amounts of a previously unknown element with strange properties was found on Mars. Scholars speculated this may be the source of some of the Elder Dragons' abilities. But far more surprising, a large cache of alien data was found buried beneath the surface of Mars. These aliens were called Protheans and their cache contained information on the newly discovered element zero and uses for it, most importantly in terms of space travel. Humanity quickly delved into this technology and incorporated it into their designs, finally being able to achieve faster-than-light travel.

A year after discovering the cache of Prothean technology, a massive device was found frozen inside Charon, one of Pluto's moons. The data contained in the cache of Prothean data identified it as a Mass Relay, a device capable of using dark matter to warp space and propel ships to distant locations in the galaxy. Admiral Jon Grissom leads the first mixed team of government officials, scientists, and hunters through the relay. They end up at another relay in the Arcturus solar system, 36 light-years away from Earth. Upon exploration of the system, Grissom and his team find that this relay is interconnected with a vast network of others. In response to this information, the leaderships of Earth signed the Systems Alliance charter to further unify them under Hunter's Guild, now renamed as the Systems Alliance.

Humanity began to expand its territory and build a fleet to defend it against yet-unseen invaders. This includes colonies on Terra Nova, Demeter, Shanxi, and Eden Prime. In addition, a space station is built at the Arcturus relay. This station becomes a focal-point for the rest of Alliance space. Meanwhile, two accidents occur on Earth where hundreds of humans are exposed to element zero in a dust form. These people began to exhibit minor telepathic abilities. The Systems Alliance began to investigate whether this was harmful to the affected people and possible uses for it. As humanity continued to expand and study the mass relays, they made first contact with the Turians near Shanxi.

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Author's Note

Dragon shot can serve as a substitute for disruptor ammunition because they both generate fields of energy around them. This energy can then be used to overload kinetic barriers. In the case of dragon shot, that wasn't its original purpose but it can still work.

Mediastinum is another name for gravios cortex. According to Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate/G, gravios cortex is "A stout outer shell, heavier than a carapace. Also known as Mediastinum".