As the Commander found himself dogpiled by his various children, adopted or otherwise, Fide allowed a smile to grace her lips. No matter what happened, his love for these kids was without question.

Of course, for him to be able to do that, Fide had to deal with a veritable mountain of tasks. Technically, the Commander could do all of this using a fraction of his processing power, such that his family wouldn't notice his lack of undivided attention...but then, usually family deserved undivided attention.

Besides, Fide's purpose was to be the Commander's second in command. Doing these kinds of things was her reason for living.

There had only been a few new arrivals besides those from Terra - most of whom were now being settled in. Some had been orphans, others soldiers that had been transported here during battles, others still criminals, and some were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Or some variation of that.

Fide made a note to tell the redeemable of the criminals that had arrived that they had yet to commit crimes in the hub...and thus had no one hunting for them, errant bounty hunters that had already arrived through the portals not withstanding.

Of course, there was a greater problem to deal with - the Infernal Machines. Only just named by her commander, these beings had been responsible for the portals opening in the first place. What they had managed to salvage from the remains of the Infernal Machine known as Void had hardly provided any origins on the machines - though given that had indicated they had fought commanders before, the presence of Progenitor alloys in Void's core body was hardly a surprise.

The fact that the Hub had been assaulted at all was a major reality check for everyone, on the level of Pearl Harbor and the Doolittle Raid. As far as Fide knew, no commander in existence had ever had their hub assaulted. Even those slain by the Commander Defense System had been defeated in other universes, not within the seat of their power. This was quite literally an unprecedented event, and it terrified Fide.

New initiatives needed to be taken to ensure this did not happen again. And those that had been left behind by the portals needed to be accounted for, lest they cause problems in the future.

Fide was pretty sure some had already slipped through the cracks.

XXXXXXXX

Hidden away, the grey furred rat watched as his clanmates worked on the tunnels. He knew not how he had come to this land, but already he hated it. No warpstone was to be found beyond what had been brought with the clan through the portal, and already the broodmothers had been reported as being less fertile than normal. Not enough to make the clan at risk of collapsing, but enough to be an issue in the future.

On the other hand, there were a few obvious boons to this land - more plentiful food, for one. There were also a variety of creatures and machines that were not ones he had seen before, things the moulders and the warlocks would love to take apart and subvert for the clan's own usage. This land was annoying, yes-yes, but also offered many opportunities to advance the clan...and its leaders.

The Grey Seer smiled - this 'Hub', as the man-things called it, would serve the under empire and himself well. All these weird-things would kneel before the might of the Horned Rat!

XXXXXXXXXXX

Tau and Zeta watched the Commander playing with his children, thoughts focused on what he had said. The boy had been sincere about wanting to possibly do tasks that none of Celm's subordinates were able to complete themselves. On the one hand, it would be a nice way for him to explore other universes and avoid the extremely stressful moments that his most recent journeys had brought on. On the other, well, he would probably get saddled with a lot of tasks he really would rather not have to do. Including getting rid of that broken machine from the Face of Mankind. That was a disaster waiting to happen.

If there was one way Tau and Zeta were still like Vivian, it was that they saw it as wrong to abuse the Commander subject for fun. And using him as a packhorse definitely counted as abuse.

Speaking of which, who was that blacksmith boy that the Commander had accidentally abducted when had entered that boys world, and who had arrived here with two of his friends and a boy rescued by Vivian who looked like royalty?

...Who the hell was Tatsumi?

XXXXXXX

The task master received the notification of Main's destruction with annoyance - it seemed that she had bitten off more than she could chew. Some kind of creature had destroyed her while she had been trying to study a developing Commander.

Knowing better than to act any further, the task master made an order for all commander hunters to cease operations in this iteration of the Subnautica universe until a later date - they could afford to allow the commander to examine her wreck, if only so that he would be unprepared when forms totally unlike her arrived to rain ruin upon him. Sometimes, the best way to beat your foe was to allow him to know one weakness...and then adapt to handle that one.

XXXXXXXXX

The Stolen let out a sigh, relieved that the Task Master had fallen for their ruse. At least for now, the Commander would have a reprieve to adapt and potentially find a way to defeat their former masters.

"Ahem."

Oh right. They had a guest.

What do you want? questioned the first one - the artifact taken from the grave of the Grox.

"Why did you rend the fabric of the multiverse and allow flooding from the Empyrean Sea?"

One of our enemies had already done so, and would have continued to do so with reckless abandon until it was stopped. spoke the second.

Our survival, and that of this universe, depended on managing the sundering properly. intoned the fourth.

"...I believe you, but there must be consequences for your transgressions."

"Weight these against the ruler of this realm," stared the fourth.

"...Why?"

As one, the four spoke. "He must grow strong enough to face those who caused this catastrophe, or the sea you guard shall be destroyed."

Xxxxxxxxx

The figure stood just outside the gates of Astera, eyes focused on several strands of hair in their hand.

All around them were a variety of items to be delivered to the commission as goodwill, and traded for more of the strands of hair, and information relating to their owners. In some vials lay Anjanath mucus and Barroth Mud. Others contained the scales and feathers of Kulu-Ya-Ku and Baazelgeuse. Some even contained eggs. Yet none were of more interest to the figure than the hairs in their hand. Despite their unassuming appearance, they told the figure several things: the owner was a girl, had a great many powers, had hair whose roots were white but whose tips might be white, Orange, green or purple...and that the owner of these hairs was not from this universe.

And that last bit was what the figured was most interested in.

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AN: Read and Review! This is Flameal15k, signing off!