A/N: Once again I make note that I have received permission to use the great hunt in my story from Eli (PM me if you need proof) , sorry to all you people bitching but the hunt is just an amazing concept and it fit what I wanted to do with my story anyway.
After this chapter things will start to speed up, as there is the next 50 years of things that I am going to skim over in a few chapters, although I DO have some fun ideas as to what I can do with her when the hunt is over. (Or what she can do *wiggles eyebrows*)
addendum: after the 50 years is up I plan on taking a lot more time with what I am writing, instead of having scenes every couple of years I plan on having 3-5 chapters of second to second content and then skipping forward a few years. (THIS WONT HAPPEN IN THE ME TIMELINE SO DONT WORRY, IT WILL ALWAYS BE SECOND TO SECOND)
Year 2047 - Unknown location
Sitting at the desk, the broker watched its feeds fly by, searching for anything related to Asana, it might not be getting the intel from the old salarian councilor, but that does not mean its want for her is sated.
"Broker, Operative Murat has reported in, she reports that she has an idea relating to Matriarch Benezia's children. It is waiting on your screen for review" the brokers drone alerted it happily.
The broker stopped his scanning and looked at the file, operative Murat if given approval would take one of the submarine and take Asana during her hunt leaving everyone to think that she had drowned or the shark had eaten her, leaving no-one to go searching for her. The idea was genius so it quickly forwarded his approval and turned its head to the drone "I want you to send operative Murat a 20,000 credit bonus for this idea if she pulls it off successfully" it ordered.
"Yes, shadow broker" the drones simple reply.
'This time, you will be mine' the broker thought while smiling in anticipation.
Year 2047 - Thessia, Armali, Armali reef's, Boat One. Age 25
Asana, Liara, Shiala and several huntresses were waiting on the first boat to be given the signal to start, while Shiala would take Asana and Liara down on their hunt the huntresses would wait for the shark's corpse to surface, as this could take up to several days there were many doing shifts ready to alert the other huntresses, as the firaxon sharks could weigh up to a hefty 50 tonnes and grow to over 30 meters they would be needed to either defend the boat or to lift the shark's corpse to the boat.
Liara and Asana were looking around the deck, anxious about what is to come. Liara's thought's drifted to Asana, what she would do to her when she returned to the surface and what she hoped could form around the two while Asana's thought kept running over what was to happen, they briefly stopped on Liara before she pushed that to the back of her mind, 'there will be time for that later' she thinks to herself, Asana was not usually nervous but when it came to Liara her stomach felt like she was flying in zero-gravity.
Shiala looked over the two with a mixture of anticipation and amusement, she could imagine the two thinking about each other and it made her heart melt behind that stone face exterior, and anticipation because she loved that feeling she got from being forced to run but then getting her revenge by killing the shark. She had prepared the two as much as she could but now all that was left was for the two to follow her lead and perform to the best they could. While she knew that they could perform in the hunt, it was a matter as to whether they would.
The huntresses gathered around the deck were all looking at Asana, they though that she looked beautiful but were confused as to what she was, they were more skeptical that she could even perform the hunt. They quietly conversed between themselves, mostly talking about Asana some wondering why the matriarch were dishonoring the goddess by letting an alien into the hunt, others giving a quick prayer that she makes it through un-harmed as the first.
As the time come's around several other boats stopped about 200 meters of the stern and bow making a line. About half an hour later the announcement came through the boat's load-speakers telling Asana, Liara and Shiala to take their daggers, unrobe and submerge. At the announcement several asari civilian and military alike clustered along the side of the boat waiting in anticipation, one sneaky asari drew a small hover-cam in hopes of taking a vid of this occurence but before she even got to turn the camera on it was warped by a huntress then she was sternly told off by her, the rest of the group turned and saw the melted hover-cam on the ground and just shook their head's while muttering "Reporters".
After several minuets the trio made their way out from the sub-deck nude save for carrying a long black-silver dagger designed to pierce the thick skin of a firaxon and then to dig in, giving the hunted a grip on the shark. Following Shiala they made their way over to the edge of the boat and lined up next to each other. Sparing quick glances at each other Liara and Asana watched Shiala fall back into the water and after a second repeat the action themself.
Asana quickly spun in the water trying to get a bearing on which way in up caught sight of shiala floating next to her with Liara to her left. She made her way over to her side, "Follow me" Shiala commanded Asana nodded to her and took a deep breath, she submerged heading for the vast coral reef spanning several kilometers, Asana's eyesight eventually cleared as her body reacted by creating a small but virtually invisible layer of skin over her eye, she was used to this reaction and it felt natural to her even though to humans it was not, as it had happened several times while training for the hunt with Shiala who mistook the slight shimmer effect that it had on her eye for crying, and when she corrected her saying that she was not crying and did not feel anything in her eyes Shiala informed her that this happened to asari when the submerged underwater to keep their eyes safe but was not surprised that it happened to her as her body seemed to be changing into a mix of the best and worst of the two races, an interesting thing that if given enough time would change her internal and external anatomy permanently.
After getting acclimatised Asana took in her surroundings, 'it is breathtaking' she thought as she had to consciously stop herself from gasping, she was in a reef that seemed to stretch on forever, it was a mixture of vibrant red and yellow sea-plants that glowed slightly greenish and grew everywhere and the dull grey-green of the rock itself. As she started towards Shiala she noticed Liara in a similar state of amazement while Shiala was radiating amusement quite strongly. She stopped to look where Liara was looking and all she saw was rocks, then she saw a small yellow creature striped with green poke through a hole in the reef, it seemed to look around for a moment before entering its hole again. Asana was about to turn to Shiala again when she felt her radiating mischief so she stopped, after looking for a few seconds she saw the fish lazily swim out of the hole and after a second it was followed by another and then another, all three watched entranced by the growing number of fish as they started to swim in a small circle that grew larger as more fish joined it. Suddenly she felt a pull on her mind telling her to lower her mental barriers, as she did so she felt Shiala and Liara slip into a three-way meld as they could not speak under-water this was how they would communicate, smiling at the feeling of entering their minds she knew Liara felt the same way while shiala was still amused by their behaviour.
These are thessian illmura fish, they are famous for this strange activity they do when they form into a group Shiala thought to them
Why do this? Liara mentally questioned while knitting her brows in thought
Always the knowledge seeker Liara Asana thought with a smirk
It is speculated that they do this to form into a shoal and as a form of detecting what is in the area, for instance an asari's version would be using an aura to detect where things are Shiala informed, her voice taking on the strict tone she has when she was teaching
This does not go unnoticed by Asana who is amused by Liara still being fixated
I heard that Liara though to Asana in a lecturing tone in response to her thought
Shiala just shook her head We need to start moving to find an air pocket and something suitable to bleed for the sharks attention, unless you are volunteering
Yes I suppose we do Liara thought to them disappointed and feeling slightly empty as the meld started to recess
The meld ended slowly, being in a meld is strange as the concept of time gets warped, you can think to another a sentence that would take ten seconds to say physically in less than a second and they can interpret it in even less time, so this conversation only took several seconds but even in that short time the illmura had been shoaled and were moving away from them towards the reef.
Asana followed shiala as she took of towards the reef near the area the fish left, she guessed that there might be air pockets there and that the fish would not choose an area filled with predators to rest. After several minuets of swimming they reached the lower levels of the reef, down at these depths Asana could feel the pressure start to affect her body, nowhere near deep enough to be of concern but she could still feel it on her ribs, she spared a glance to Liara and Shiala and she could see that Liara was affected aswell but Shiala looked unaffected. After swimming for several seconds she felt the back of her leg run against a rock, not cutting her but very nearly drawing blood, she turned to see this and shook her head in relief, Shiala had told them that drawing blood was the worst thing that could possibly happen to one of the young hunters as it would call every predator to them in no time at all.
She turned back to Shiala to see her exploring the inside of a rock, she entered it and flared her biotics so that she could see illuminating the cavern before her she looked around and saw that it was a safe haven from animals but it was still filled with water so she exited and moved to another rock, Asana watched confused as she swum over to a sold rock and lit her biotics, she was surprised when she turned the rock to it side that there was a large hollow area on the inside, she followed with Liara at her side as shiala lit the area again and saw that it was clear, Shiala turned and beckoned them with her hand inside.
After entering she let her old breath out and drew a breath of semi-fresh air and turned to Shiala "Is this place a common area you visit when you take others on the hunt or did you just find it now?" Asana asks.
Shiala who was sitting against a rock replied "No, I have used this area during all of my hunts, during my first I got separated from the group while being chased by a firaxon shark, it knocked this rock into it side and exposed this entrance to me giving me a safe haven from the shark. I have used it ever since and every twenty years or so I will come down her and refresh the air"
Liara was looking at a piece of rock that intensely radiating excitement "Liara, what has you so exited?" I ask with a smirk, Asana knew that look, it meant that Liara had found something that interested her immensely.
Liara just waved them over then returned to the wall, after walking over she said in a very professor tone "This is the fossil or the Magoda, an ancestor of the firaxon shark"
Suddenly Asana got a massive wave of amusement from Shiala stopping her from talking, she looked over to Shiala and saw her smirking "What is so funny?" she asked in a confused tone.
Shiala smiled at Asana's empathy and said "Oh, it's just that I was being chased by a firaxon and it turned over the very rock that held it's ancestor's long dead remains"
Asana understood the smirk and got an amused smile "Ironic or fate, Shiala?" she asked.
"Both" Liara's voice came from the fossil.
Shaking her head Shiala said "Asana come with me we are going to look for the perfect prey to bleed and the right area to fight the shark"
Standing Asana replied simply "Ok"
Liara ignoring them she just continued to observe the massive fossil and make mental note for later.
Elsewhere in the reef
A salarian looked up from his station with a grimace "How long do we need to stay here, why can we go looking for her" he complained.
Murat glared at her companion from across the sub, this must have been the 20th time he had asked that question "For as long as it takes and because she would find us first, now stop talking and get back to work" she commanded with a slight growl near the end.
The salarian noticed that he was crossing that line that women had and that he should stop, after about 20 minuets he saw two blips on his radar and almost screeched to Murat "I have two humanoids on my scanner operative".
When she heard this she leapt from her chair over to his side and noticed the two small blips "Move to follow them... Silently" she added almost as an afterthought as she felt the ship powering up around her.
Back with Asana and Shiala
Shiala reached over to Asana as she was observing her surroundings and initiated a meld Asana, this is the perfect place to fight the firaxon
What about bait
I have not found anything suitable yet
What about those there, umm... red kelp
That would do but how could we capture one
If you hold it in stasis I will grab it
Yes, then we can head back to Liara and rest for the fight tomorrow
Perfect Asana thinks as the meld fades once again leaving her feeling empty, she follows Shiala as she makes her way towards the school of fish, Shiala's had darts out glowing with biotic power and seizes one of the fish, Asana takes this as her signal and swims over to the fish and grabs it after nodding to Shiala to let the fish out of the stasis bubble. Getting a firm grip on the fish she held it still until it drowned and stopped thrashing, looking over the freshly limp fish Asana thought 'That was my first kill, the first of how many though' as she swam with Shiala back over to their cavern.
After entering the cavern seeing Liara still fixated on the fossil neither of them bother to announce their arrival as they made their way to a place of choice "Liara come here you will need sleep for tomorrow" Shiala commanded, When she came over Shiala, Liara and Asana all layed half-on half-off of each other to keep warm.
"Hmm, sleep well you two" Shiala said before dozing off, Asana and Liara following shortly after.
IT HAS BEGUN, this chapter was fun to write because it left me with so much freedom on what I could do with my story it made me smile, but the shark fight/submarine fight is coming next chapter and I hope to god I do the fight scene well because I dont think I will.
I am hoping to get the next chapter out by at least monday hopefully less because goddamn these chapters are hard to write, you have to be in the right mood, you have to have ideas and you have to have hours of spare time so I am sorry if it seems like these are to far apart but it is hard for me.
Tell me if you liked this chapter, tell me if you did not and why you did not like it, PM me if I missed any Grammar/spelling mistakes or if you have ideas.