The Commander sighs as he sorts through the latest stack of papers to cross his desk. Three days. Three days have passed since there was an explosion in the sky that briefly lit the night sky like it was midday, followed by several streaks of fire racing across the sky. Some had faded out, whatever they were burning up midway to planetfall, while others had descended beyond the horizon, but one of the objects had fallen nearby, making a terrible shriek as it blazed across the sky. Based on the direction of its descent and the sound of the impact once it had finally struck the earth, it had been deduced that the object had landed somewhere within the Wildspire Wastes. Fortunately, the desert was home to few beyond the researchers studying the wildlife there, so there was little chance of someone being hurt by the impact.
Many of the more excitable researchers had wanted to immediately send a Hunter team to scout the impact site while a more formal expedition would be arranged; the more level-headed scholars pointed out that such a startling occurrence would have likely agitated the local wildlife, a hypothesis that the Commander supported. An agitated beast is an unpredictable one, which in turn means that they are more dangerous than normal. So the Commander had placed a brief moratorium on hunts or expeditions, allowing only passive observation of any fauna that happened to wander near the research camps.
To his relief, the latest reports showed that the effects of the meteor's descent had been less than they initially feared. The monsters from the Coral Highlands and the Elder's Recess had barely been perturbed by the event, while the inhabitants of the Rotten Vale had not even noticed it at all, the local Grimalkyne only realizing that it had taken place when the topside tribes had asked them about it. The reports from the Ancient Forest and the Wastes were more like what they had been expecting, with the bright light and noise from the descent frightening the animals, but after a few days had passed with no apparent threat, their behavior quickly began to normalize. With the worst of the danger apparently passed, the Commander authorized the resuming of regular Hunter activities, as well as commissioning an investigation into the crash. It was a low-risk, low-pay bounty that was strictly for reconnaissance work, with specific mention that if there was a strong or unknown monster lurking at the crash site, for the Hunter to abort the mission and return to report. The bounty had been quickly snatched up and last he heard, the team in question was having a traditional pre-hunt meal at the canteen before departing.
The names of the team that had accepted the bounty gives the Commander a tingle of recognition. He pushes himself up from his chair, a brief, sharp breath the only sign of his discomfort towards the movement. He mentally curses himself for his weakness; even after over a year, he remains unused to his injury. He grabs a cane propped against his desk and walks towards a nearby shelf, his footsteps alternating with the heavy thud of an artificial leg. He grabs one of the books on the shelf and flips through it, quickly finding what he is looking for.
The two older Hunters on the team came in from the Old World, veterans with numerous Elder Dragon kills to their names, including a Kushala Daora and an Alatreon. The two Hunters came in shortly after the New World became open to travelers and they, along with their respective Palico assistants, quickly made a name for themselves hunting monsters and gathering supplies in the Elder's Recess, where some of the most powerful monsters on the continent dwelled. They operated as such for several years until one of the felynes, feeling their age and injuries catching up to them, had retired. The team continued their operations, albeit more cautiously to account for their reduced manpower, until a few months ago when they brought a young, new Hunter under their wing. Since then, they have been mostly operating within the Ancient Forest and the Wildspire Wastes to train their new recruit.
Seeing that the task is in capable hands, the Commander limps back towards his desk and returns his attention to the documents awaiting his perusal. When he picks up the first form his face quickly twists into a scowl at its contents, his mood already souring. Mentally wishing the Hunters luck, he continues his work, ignoring the twinge of phantom pain where his leg used to be.
Blue hairless women.
That had not been what the Commander was expecting the fallen star to be. A regular meteorite or a monster like Xeno'jiiva perhaps, but not a quartet of women wearing clothes completely unlike anything that anyone had seen before. The Commander mentally conceded that it is possible that they are a previously-undiscovered native species; had they been discovered deeper within the continent, it is a possibility that the Commander would put more credence towards. But they had been discovered in the Wastes, where the Research Commission has had a presence for decades now, and from the general direction of where the fallen star had descended. It is more likely that they are somehow connected to the star itself, if not directly related to it.
But more concerning at the moment is the fact that one of them was quite badly injured. The felynes responsible for monitoring Hunter squads in the field and evacuating them if necessary did an admirable job bringing them to the medical ward despite the apparent language barrier. Last he had heard, the unharmed women had been sequestered into one of the dormitories that are used to house visitors and provided with food, leaving them lost and confused but otherwise as comfortable as they could manage on such short notice. Setting aside that notion for the moment, the Commander turns his attention to the wyverian woman sitting before him.
"How's our patient faring, Doctor?" he asks her.
"She is stable, for the moment at least," she replies. "She lost a lot of blood, and we don't exactly keep stocks of alien blood on hand, so she's going to have to replenish it naturally. We're doing our best to feed her fluids and oxygen, but with as much blood as she's lost, there can easily be complications. She's going to have a long, difficult recovery ahead of her, assuming she doesn't get sick and die in the meantime."
"I see," the Commander says. "Is there anything noteworthy you can tell from a medical standpoint?"
"Not particularly," the Doctor answers. "I was mostly concerned with fixing the wound, so I didn't pay much attention to things outside of that, but from what I noticed, their internal structure seems remarkably similar to our own, obvious differences in appearance aside. I did notice some growths on her nerves, but again, I wasn't looking too hard. If she had expired on the table, I could have performed an autopsy and gotten a more detailed look, but that's obviously not possible now. That being said, I collected as much blood as I could. Some of her ribs had been broken as well, so I collected a few bone fragments as well before I sutured her back up. I've sent them off to the biology team for testing."
"Excellent work. Do you have any idea as to what could have caused those injuries?" The Commander asks her.
"Not particularly," the Doctor says with a shake of her head. "There was a lot of blunt trauma, but no claw marks on her, so I doubt that she was mauled by anything. From the reports I've heard about where they came from, I'd say that they had an encounter with a barroth, or maybe Raggard's little pet," she continues with a scoff; one of the Hunters investigating the fallen star had taken a liking to a juvenile diablos living in the Wastes, making him notable among the Hunter ranks. "But that thing's barely a year old. Getting hit by that thing would likely leave a bruise, maybe even crack a bone or two, but a diablos that young shouldn't be able to cause wounds this grievous."
"I see," the Commander says as he shifts in his seat, brow tight with concern. "I don't recall receiving any reports about a barroth or adult diablos in the area, but they could have wandered in during our holding period. Raggard and his team are out investigating the fallen star now; when they return I'll ask them if they've seen anything else unusual. In the meantime, I'll make a note for other Hunters to be cautious if they take jobs in the Wastes. Is there anything else that needs to be addressed?"
When the Doctor shakes her head, the Commander thanks and dismisses her before returning his thoughts to his village's new guests. Unfortunately, there is little that he can do for them at the moment due to the inability to communicate with them. He assigned one of the felynes that discovered them to act as their caretaker, feeding them and keeping them as comfortable as they reasonably can while also keeping them out of the way. He had already made a village-wide announcement informing the citizens of the newcomers and an order to not bother them for now, but the sort of people that enter the Research Commission's employ are always eager to look and poke at the novel, so having them wandering about in public would cause an unnecessary stir. He also tasked the felyne - Percy, he recalls - with listening in on the aliens' conversations to try and learn their language. The diminutive creatures have always had a prodigious knack for learning new languages, able to communicate with the locals of the New World after a few days of study when their larger companions had been studying the language for months or years without success.
Percy keeps the Commander apprised of the situation. The three alien women are comfortable, but are growing increasingly agitated the longer they remain confined. The fourth, while stable, is showing little improvement, still unable to be roused from her deep sleep. The team investigating the fallen star still has yet to return, although the Commander is unsurprised by this; even with a general heading, there is still a great deal of desert to search, assuming a sandstorm has not buried their target entirely.
After a week, Percy reports that he is fluent enough with the aliens' language that he is willing to attempt communication. The Commander authorizes the felyne to initiate contact with the aliens and to bring them to him; they have been stewing with their questions for a week now due to their inability to speak to one another, it is only polite to answer them now.
"Commeownder, the visitors are here," Percy says when he returns.
"Very good. Bring them in, please." The lynian nods and departs while he pushes himself to his feet. Percy soon returns with the three alien visitors, who seem to have traded the strange all-encompassing suits that they wore before with the more recognisable clothes that he had arranged to be provided to them. He watches them with keen eyes. Hunters learn early in their careers to watch closely for the smallest signs in a monster's behavior to most effectively track and fight them, and the same holds true for people as well. Already he can see that two of them are nervous upon entering, their gazes flitting back and forth in search of hidden threats while quietly deferring to their leader. She holds herself with more confidence, her back straight and her gaze forward, but he can see her eyes twitching in unease as well. He recalls the reports he read of the items that she alone was carrying, things that seemed similar in shape to a bowgun, except far smaller than any anyone had ever seen before. The Commander surmises that the leader is a warrior of some sort, but not one who is used to leading a team. Perhaps their fallen colleague is their regular leader?
"Greetings, strangers," he says with a smile, being careful not to show his teeth; many animals find bared teeth to be a threat, and it would be prudent to proceed with caution with these strangers. "This is rather late in coming, but as the Commander of this humble village, I would like to formally welcome you to Astera. Please have a seat," he continues with a gesture to the three chairs arranged in front of his desk. Percy translates his words for the women, who after a second's consideration, take the offered seats. Settling into his own chair, he continues, "Now, I have been told that you've been somewhat distressed recently. I apologize for that; it was not our intention to alarm you. However, I'm sure you can understand that the appearance of someone as...memorable as yourselves is not an everyday occurrence here, so we were caught off-guard." Percy relays his words to the visitors, the leader of whom flinches with a slight expression of guilt. She replies to the Commander in her strange, lyrical language, before turning to Percy and speaking further to him.
"She says she understands your purrsition, Commander," the felyne says. A rather short response considering the length of her words, the Commander notes. A personal altercation between the aliens and the felyne perhaps? He may ask Percy about it in private later but for now, he has more important matters to address.
"I'm glad that we've cleared that up. Now, I'm sure you have some questions, and I would be happy to answer them as best I can, but first I have a few questions of my own. Last week a star fell in the desert, and a few days later you emerge from the direction it came from. Did you have anything to do with it?" he asks. Percy relays the question to the aliens. The lead woman furrows her brow in confusion for a moment while she ponders the question. Her face lights up in realization before she responds. This time it is Percy's turn to be confused, as he asks her something again, which the alien winces before replying to. The other two, either in deference to their appointed leader or simply having nothing to contribute, remain silent, fidgeting in their seats while surreptitiously taking in their surroundings.
"She says that the falling star was a lifeboat, sir," Percy says. The Commander is surprised by that answer; he has had the misfortune of seeing airships go down in the past, but never had they been quite so spectacular as the falling star. And if the falling star was indeed a lifeboat, then that means that it had to have come from a larger ship.
"A lifeboat? So you came from a ship then. Where did you come from?" he asked.
His words are translated and the lead woman hesitates, clearly putting great thought into her words. Eventually she replies, slowly and in a tone that suggests that she does not fully expect to be believed.
"She says that she comes from beyond the stars, Commeownder," Percy translates. A ludicrous notion that he would not have entertained in his younger years, but that was before he had encountered the Xeno'jiiva, a strange beast that came to the world on a falling star centuries ago. If one such being had fallen from the skies, then would it not be possible for others to come from there as well?
"A bold claim," he says, his face betraying no emotion, "but a bold claim requires bold evidence. Do you have any proof to support your words?" Percy translates his words and after a moment, the lead alien nods. She raises her arm and, to the Commander's surprise, it becomes wreathed in a gauntlet of shaped light. From her wrist an image emerges of a sphere slightly larger than his fist. It is covered in splotches of blue and green, with wisps of white overlaying it. The shapes match no map that the Commander has ever seen. The woman speaks, Percy relaying her words soon after.
"She says that this is Thessia, the world where her people were born from," the felyne says. With a wave of her free hand, the image changes to a metal construct, a ring surrounded by five arms splayed out like a seastar. Tiny vessels buzz around it like flies circling a carcass. More words. "This is the Citadel, the seat of her government."
She continues to speak, weaving a tale of a union between her people, the asari, and another alien race called salarians, an alliance that spans dozens of planets, each as large as diverse as his own. She speaks of how they seek to bring peace and unity to all worlds, mentioning the numerous other species that they have brought under their wing. As she speaks, the images keep changing, showing enormous ships unlike any the Commander has ever seen, floating between the stars as if they were as light as clouds. Glimmering towers of steel and glass stretching high enough to touch the sky and far enough to reach to horizon. And images of people, each one as unique and peculiar as the last, living together, greeting each other like kin. It reminds the Commander somewhat of the Hunter's Guild and its union between humans, wyverians, and felynes, along with more tenuous alliances with other, less sociable races, like the gajalaka pygmies that populate this land, or the mountain dwelling troverians of the Old World, except much greater in scale.
It is a wonderful image, but as a former Hunter, the Commander knows that there is often danger lurking beneath the beautiful things. There is a question he has been yearning to ask of the asari since they arrived, but he forces himself to wait. It will likely distress his guests, and speaking of their society seems to be putting them at ease, so he patiently listens to their story and waits for the opportune moment. Finally they seem to reach a break in their recounting, and the Commander speaks.
"Thank you for sharing that with me," he says to them, his face settling into a grim visage. "I am certain that there are many here that would love to speak to you about your civilization in greater detail, but there is a more pressing matter that must be addressed. You say that you came to this land in a lifeboat, which means that you had to evacuate your main ship. What was it that you were fleeing from, and will it present a threat to us?" As he had predicted, all feeling of good cheer flees from the asari's faces immediately, being replaced with unadulterated dread. After taking a moment to confer privately with themselves, the asari reluctantly tell the Commander of the rachni, a race of implacable insects that spread like wildfire and can live in almost any environment, making them incredibly difficult to eliminate.
"Their captain managed to destroy the rachni's ship by ramming it with their own," Percy says. "She says to pray that no others find this system, for if they establish a foothold here, then our world will be all but lost." The Commander acknowledges their words with a grave nod of his head. He reaches into his desk to produce a pen and a sheet of parchment.
"I'll need you to describe these rachni," he says to them, pen poised to take notes. "If these things are as dangerous as you say, then we'll need to know what they look like and what their capabilities are. Spare no details."
The reluctantly relay what they know to him, though having not yet encountered them personally before, their information is sparse and second-hand. They claim that the bulk of the rachni's forces are twofold: Small, arm-length bugs that swarm their victims before exploding in a shower of caustic acid, and man-sized insects that can spit acid or impale a person with spiked tendrils. There also exist queens that birth and lead the troops, but they have rarely been seen, so little is known about them save for their ability to direct their armies deep within space while they remain safely ensconced deep underground on worlds too inhospitable for their foes to live on.
As he carefully writes down the asari's descriptions, he cannot help but feel slightly disappointed at what he hears. While the exploding acid bugs could be troublesome for those without proper gear, overall they do not seem overly impressive compared to some of the other neopterons or carapaceons that he has seen or heard of. He quickly stamps out these thoughts; there is no beast more dangerous than a Hunter's own arrogance, and for these rachni to threaten a people so much more advanced than his own, there must be something to them that he is failing to grasp.
"Thank you," he says to them when they finish. "I will ensure that this information is distributed right away. Now, a couple more questions before I let you go. I know that you aren't here intentionally, but now that you are here, what do you plan on doing? Will your people be coming to retrieve you?" The lead asari furrows her brow in a concerned frown as she considers the question.
"They don't know," Percy translates for them. "They left a message saying where they were before they landed here, but it could be weeks or meownths before anyone receives it. And with the war, they may just assume that everyone died and not come at all."
"I see," the Commander says, feeling a pang of sympathy for the alien women. As a leader he has on occasion had to deem a missing person as presumed dead even without a body if they were lost in a place too dangerous to recover them; the idea of being written off and left forever separated from everything that they have ever known and loved must be a bitter pill for them to swallow. "I hope your people come for you, but as long as you don't cause any trouble you're welcome to stay here until then. I think you'll find us to be a friendly bunch here, and it's reasonably safe as long as you don't stray too far from the town walls." The asari give a polite, but uncertain smile at the offer. "One last question before I let you go, and this is as much out of personal curiosity as it is official business. What would happen if your people do show up here?" The asari briefly confer with each other, their chatter interspersed with frowns and confused shrugs, before they address their answer to Percy.
"They don't know," the felyne translates. "None of them know of their people meeting anyone that was not at a similar level to them. They guess that if they had found us peacefully, then they would have left a device in the sky to watch us from afar so that they can observe us without scaring anybody, and wait until we reached the skies ourselves before meeting us." The Commander nods in understanding. Some animals are quite skittish, and Hunters often have to observe them from afar with binoculars so that they can formulate a plan; it is the same principle on a much larger scale. "But with how things are now, they are not certain. They think that there might be a blockade stationed here to protect us from invasion, or maybe a relocation effort to rescue us from the meownsters here." The Commander internally bristled at the insinuation that they needed to be rescued, but kept his peace.
"I'm sure that there are many here and elsewhere that would gladly jump at the opportunity to go with you beyond the stars, but I suggest that you phrase it a little more...delicately in the future," he says with a smile. "Friendly though we may be, Hunters are often a prideful lot, and may not appreciate the idea that they need to be rescued from anything." The asari flinch at the faux pas, but the Commander waves it off. "I've taken enough of your time today. Thank you for indulging my curiosity, ladies, and if you have any further questions or concerns, my door is always open for you." The asari stand up and bid the Commander farewell, bowing their heads in respect before Percy leads them away.
Now alone in his office, the Commander shuffles through his notes, looking for any additions or corrections that he can make. While technically all interconnected, the various branches of the Hunter's Guild typically operate independently of one another. Astera, being the first and currently only major branch of the Guild in the New World, has enjoyed an especially great degree of autonomy compared to its sister branches. This disconnect often leads to a lack of information exchange between the various branches, but the information that he has just received could affect the entire world. If it were his choice, he would have this information copied and sent on the first boat to leave port, but despite being the leader in the eyes of many of the town's citizens after his grandfather passed and he inherited his title, he was not the official leader of Astera. Any decisions of such a degree could only be approved by the Guild Master, a representative appointed by the Hunter's Guild itself. He hears a wizened voice coming from his doorway.
"And what did our lovely guests have to say, Commander?" his visitor asks. Speak of the deviljho.
At his doorway stands the Guild Master, a wizened wyverian whose head barely reaches the Commander's chest. She hobbles in, leaning on a walking stick as her back bows with age. A thick veil is draped over her head like a hood, though if one looks closely they can see that her right ear is missing.
"They had quite the tale to tell," the Commander says as the Guild Master slides herself onto a seat. "And I'm inclined to believe it. It makes sense, and I doubt that anyone would go so far as to create technology that we have never seen before, even from the Ancient Civilization, to perpetuate a hoax." He recounts what the asari had just told him, passing his notes to the Guild Master to look over.
"Fascinating," she says as she scans the pages in her hands. "Though these rachni concern me. You are certain that none of them survived?"
"They seem to think so," the Commander answers. "They said that they destroyed their ship, and I doubt that even these rachni can survive an explosion that can turn night into day."
"I would not be so certain," the Guild Master gently chides him, "they survived the same explosion, after all." The Commander can find no response to that. "While it sounds like they found this world by accident, if one can find us, even by happenstance, then there is not reason why others cannot." She runs her taloned hands over her wrinkled forehead. "The problem I am seeing is, I cannot imagine what we could realistically do should they find us. The Hunters might be able to repel their warriors; from what you have gathered, they do not seem especially impressive. But if they decide to bombard us from the skies? We might as well be ants trying to take down an Elder Dragon."
"Even so, this is not something that can simply be ignored," the Commander points out. The Guild Master releases a weary sigh.
"No, it cannot," she agrees. "I will send this information to Dundorma, with a recommendation that it be forwarded to all other Guild branches. Even if there is nothing we can do against these beasts, we can at least make certain that they do not take us by surprise."
"Thank you," the Commander says, relief seeping through his body. The Guild Master's lips curve into a wistful smile.
"Still, an entire civilization between the stars," she sighs. "Oh, if only I were a few hundred years younger, I would be first in line to see it."
"You can always ask our guests," the Commander says. "I'm sure that they'd be willing to take you along if their people ever come to rescue them."
"Oh, how kind of you to consider this old woman's feelings," she says with a laugh. "But alas, my adventuring days are far behind me. It is my duty to safeguard the past; it is the privilege of the young to blaze new trails. Although…" she trails off, rubbing her chin in thought.
"...Ma'am?" the Commander asks in confusion, jolting her from her thoughts.
"Ah, it's nothing, just a stray thought," she waves away his concern. "When you get to be my age, they tend to gather like flies to a dung heap. Pay me no heed." She gets up from her seat and turns to leave, notes in hand. "I'll arrange to have these delivered to Headquarters. In the meantime, continue to ensure that our guests feel welcome and comfortable."
"I will, Ma'am," the Commander says. As she leaves, he continues, "A whole new world has just opened up to us. There is already a threat lurking in the shadows, waiting to find us. What if there are more?" The Guild Master stops to consider his words.
"Not words I would have expected from you, Commander," she finally says. Half-teasingly she adds, "Has old age dulled your claws?"
"Hmph, hardly," he scoffs, "I'm just concerned about how it could affect the people I'm responsible for protecting."
"Commendable," the Guild Master concedes. "Still, as a former Hunter, you should know that danger and wonder are often found hand-in-hand. The world above us can be fraught with danger, yes, but it can also be filled with beauty. I can only hope we both live long enough to see but a glimpse of it." With nothing left to say, she turns to leave. "Good day to you, Commander."
"And to you as well, Guild Master."
I hope you all liked that. I doubt I'll be posting again within the next few weeks, so have a merry Christmas, happy holidays, and a happy new year.