So, it is that time of the time again, I have another idea. As some may know Kerbal Space Program just announced a sequel to their aerospace vehicle building game, a game that I quite enjoy. Now, before you think that this is some kind of crossover, you'd be wrong since the title would have given that away if anything. No, I just happen to really like the trailer song used in the trailer. That song is called "Outro" by M83.

There was one thing that I really wanted to explore, and that was how would Hyrule look like in the pre-BotW 100-year gap with no Hero initially and the Hero that the Goddesses choose happens to be way out of his element. There were a lot of ideas that I had when coming up with this idea, so there will be minor crossovers on specific elements, but nothing official.

Title: Goodbye Moonman(?)

Summary: In the far future, a young Navy pilot is selected to test pilot an experimental craft capable of traveling faster than light, a boon for humanity's overpopulation of the solar system. But the experimental craft malfunctions and passes through a cosmic storm bringing him to an Earth similar but much different from his own, an Earth that is missing a Hero.

Rating: T as for language.

Disclaimer: I own nothing other than my desktop and my copy of MS Word. The Legend of Zelda is owned by Nintendo. I only own this odd idea. See the foreword for the full disclaimer.

XxXxXxX

The pilot slowly pulled himself up from the deck as previously he was thrown about from his seat. As he did, he saw that the entire cockpit was filling with smoke and red, flashing warning lights made the smoke look like some kind of red fog. He pushed himself up off of the deck. That shouldn't be happening as he should still be in zero-G. His hearing was starting to come back as alarms were going off. Getting to his feet, he could feel the increase in g-forces pulling at his body towards the floor. He sat in his pilot's chair and strapped himself in.

"Status!" he demanded as he took the yoke.

"Warning: Trajectory doesn't match charted course," a digital female voice responded.

"No shit, Sarah," he shot back as he wrestled control. The first thing that he saw that was off was that his craft was upside down and the altimeter was steadily, and quickly, counting down. He looked out the viewport and saw a planet painting a backdrop on his current situation. It didn't escape his notice that the continents didn't match what he knew were on Earth. "Engineering status?"

"Pinch fusion reactor offline. Secondary generators operating at thirty percent capacity. Shock drive offline. Primary thrusters offline. RCS operational," Sarah responded factually.

The pilot was in a pinch, that much he knew. Based on the current altimeter's readings, he had several minutes before he made a fiery entrance on whatever planet was below him, and preferably he would like to have a controlled crash rather than burning up in the atmosphere. He flipped switches and pushed buttons as he tried to reorient the craft before it became impossible. The viewport slowly rotated to show the starfield above him, the moon in the distance leering over the horizon. He angled the craft back so that it was set for the appropriate reentry angle.

"Sarah, be honest. What are the chances of survival for reentry?" he asked.

There was a long pause. "Based on your actions, survival has been increased from point zero five percent to fifty percent."

He paused for a moment before replying. "Sarah, play me out to Sinatra. Start with 'The Best is Yet to Come'. Keep playing his stuff, no matter what happens."

"Yes, captain," she replied as the music started to fill the cockpit.

"You can't beat old 20th-century music," he commented as the craft started to shake. "I'll be honest, not a bad way to go, surrounded by good music."

XxXxXxX

The old tales spoke of shooting stars, that they were the tears of the Goddesses crying for those lost to the world before their time had come. Or, that's what Zelda's mother had told her when she was a child. She would look up to the sky nightly at Hyrule castle and would watch the sky searching for something, she never was quite sure what. It felt as though her destiny was sown in the stars. Her mother had told her that all of the Princesses and Heroes of Legend had their names written in the stars, the same stars that the Ancient Shekiah implemented in their architecture. Perhaps those same stars were the answer to the Ancient Shrines discovered and unearthed throughout the country. Although, she was in Gerudo Town for more diplomatic reasons in visiting with Lady Urbosa; she had to convince her to pilot the Divine Beat Vah Nabooris. Luckily for her, the Gerudo chieftain accepted without dispute or some kind of treaty. Apparently, hatred of the Usurper King ran deep in Gerudo culture and history to hold a grudge for over ten thousand years.

The two of them walked in the cool of the night. A coolness that was almost as bone-chilling as Hyrule in the middle of winter. She looked at the stars once again, searching for… something.

"Has something caught your eye, little bird?" Urbosa asked.

"It's just… I'm lost," Zelda sighed.

"You mean with your training to unlock your divine gift?"

Zelda nodded. "It just feels like no matter what I do, I cannot unlock this power."

Urbosa paused for a moment before responding, continuing their walk around the city walls. "Perhaps you need to think about this power differently."

"A different fashion?"

"You think of it as a power to be used as a weapon, perhaps it was never meant to be a weapon?"

"But, it's the only power of stopping the coming Calamity. How is it not a weapon?"

"Perhaps what the Goddesses see as a tool we may see as a weapon and perhaps they do not want you to see your potential ability to be seen as a weapon, but a tool to be used against the upcoming Calamity."

"What's the difference?"

"That's something that I believe that you need to discover yourself through introspection. Maybe this is the reason that, no matter how much you pray for it, the power of the Goddess hasn't revealed itself to you."

"There is wisdom in your words. I will think upon them before I…" she trailed off. Something had caught her eye.

"What's wrong?" Urbosa asked.

"Look," she pointed towards the sky. There was a glowing dot in the sky.

"A shooting star?" she asked. There were many shooting stars of the eons that have crossed the skies, this one looked no different than any others.

"This one seems off somehow."

"What do you mean by-?" All of a sudden, the shooting star had what looked like a small shard break off from the shooting star. "Huh, would you look at that?" The shard seemed to drift off towards the direction of the Kokori Forest, although with the mountains obscuring that specific forest, it was hard to tell. Doubly so as the shard quickly cooled and disappeared from view. Her attention returned to the shooting star. "Does it appear to be getting bigger?" Urbosa observed out loud.

"Now that you mention it, it sort of does appear to be getting larger," Zelda confirmed. Not only was the object getting bigger, but it was also getting bigger at an increasingly fast rate. In the next few minutes that passed, the entirety of Gerudo Desert would be lit up in a sun-bright light that would make it look as the day had returned much earlier than normal. What they heard next was a blast louder than any of them had heard before. Even the cannons of Akala Citadel were dwarfed in noise compared to the impact that the object had deeper inside the sandy dunes of the Gerudo Desert.

Zelda immediately turned to her mother-figure. "We have to go see where it landed!" she said ecstatically. A meteor landing? What wonders could be waiting to be discovered?

"No," Urbosa replied.

"What do you mean 'no'?" Zelda demanded, forgetting who she was talking to, allowing her science-driven mind to take over. "This could be the discovery of the century!"

She placed a hand on Zelda's shoulder. "I know; however, it is the dead of night and the Yiga are still out and about, lurking in the shadows. It will be safer, although hotter, in the daytime."

Zelda hung her head down as she came to her senses. It was foolish, although cooler, to go out at night in the Desert where the Yiga were clambering about. The ancient Sheikah of old were known users of shadow magic and the Yiga were direct relatives of that ancient clan; the darkness would be their ally. "Of course, I've made a fool of myself. Please, forgive me for my outburst."

Urbosa waved her off. "It is nothing, little bird. Now, we should head indoors and get our rest. There will be a long trek tomorrow and we must see fit that you are well rested for it," Urbosa replied as she guided her daughter-figure back inside the city walls.

XxXxXxX

Reentry was never a fun thing to experience as a pilot where your only option is to die in a fireball in the friction of atmosphere or a fireball upon impact with the ground or to bail out at ten thousand feet above sea level and pull your chute after clearing the soon-to-be fireball. He watched as it soared over the mountain in the distance and a bright light came from over it, he knew that the ship had crashed and something had exploded. There was no way to tell whether or not from this angle if anything survived or could be scavenged. But in the meantime, he had more pressing issues to deal with. That being he was dropping like a stone and his primary chute wasn't deploying.

He struggled as he fell at terminal velocity. The altimeter on his helmet's display quickly was going down from the initial ten thousand feet that he started at. He knew that the absolute lowest limit that he could pull his backup chute was a thousand feet without bodily harm being transmitted to him upon landing. He kept struggling and abandoned his primary chute, praying that his secondary would work on the first pull. He pulled the ripcord and the chute deployed. In a moment he went from terminal velocity to under 5 miles per hour. He looked at the altimeter and saw that he was slightly under a thousand feet. He looked below and saw a forest, a forest with an odd fog surrounding and permeating it. He tried to angle himself away, but winds pushed him further inward, more towards the center of the forest. No matter how much he angled himself away, his progress was undone and was brought back.

He stopped fighting it and started to figure out his landing strategy. The first of which was angling himself towards the nearest clearing as that would give him the best landing. Considering it was a forest below him, there weren't many clearings to be seen. He slowly floated down until the parachute got stuck in the tree. He looked below and saw that the forest floor was a good thirty feet below. Not ideal, but he could drop down without sustaining any major injuries. He searched for the release on the pack and pushed what was essentially a button. Gravity suddenly took over as he was released and he plunged towards the ground and landed in an undignified heap. He quickly checked himself over and while bruised, had no broken bones. He pulled open the survival pack and pulled out a couple of items. The first was a compact, bullpup submachinegun reminiscent in appearance to the FN P90 of old. He counted, including the magazine that was just placed inside the gun, that he had five hundred rounds total. Considering that this was a weapon that could be toggled from single, burst, and full-auto, those rounds wouldn't last long in a long engagement. The same could be said about his sidearm. It was the tried and true Px4 line and he had maybe a hundred rounds including the currently loaded magazine. The last thing that he had was a titanium carbide combat knife with a sawback. Other assorted items were a week's worth of rations (of the astronaut variety; aka dehydrated) and some piano wire. If it took time for him to be found, he would have to hunt the local game.

He zipped up his bag and slung it over his shoulder before taking a look at his surroundings. He was surrounded by the woods and had a deep-seated fog of which the eeriness seeped into his bones. "Just like the hunting trip in the Appalachians," he muttered as he shouldered his SMG. "Only more fog and it feels like something's watching me." He checked the strap on his holster and the knife sheath on his backpack. "Time to for a walk in the woods and to become un-lost."

"Follow the wind," a robotic-sounding woman's voice whispered.

The pilot immediately flicked the safety off of his weapon and spun around, trying to find the source of the voice, but nothing was there. "Ok, and now I'm starting to hear things. It only goes downhill from here. Next, I'll start seeing things." As soon as the words left his lips, swirls appeared in the fog and the slight breeze wafted them in a specific direction. "And now I'm starting to see things."

Against his better judgment, he followed the wind, paying close attention to his surroundings. He had no idea what was in this forest and didn't want to end up as dinner for some form of carnivorous wildlife. The trees themselves were odd, it was like what would normally be seen on trees was increased ten-fold to make what would look like deformations in the bark to look like jagged mouths in the trees. He walked slowly and watched his field of view looking for any movement as he continued to follow the wind. It seemed to randomly change direction without any real reason or recognizable wind pattern.

He heard howling behind him and saw that several large wolves were starting to approach him. He took a knee, took aim, and fired one bullet towards the largest wolf that looked like the alpha. The crack of a small arms explosion erupted in the quiet forest and one moment there was a charging alpha, the next it collapsed on the ground with its packmates looking at it with confusion, they didn't know how to react. They had lived in this forest for generations with only the occasional traveler or prey that would make its way into the forest. All they saw was a threat producing prey that killed their alpha using a weapon that produced blasts and killed in the blink of an eye. They growled at the new threat and the new threat fired once more at their feet. Dirt flew up from where the round hit the ground. The wolves growled once more and ran away.

The pilot flicked the safety back on and huffed in annoyance. Two rounds lost; two rounds that may come in handy later. He would have picked up the spent brass, but they were caseless rounds, no brass to create your own ammo. He proceeded to inspect the corpse and saw that this wolf was larger than any wolf he had seen before. Even the computer-generated dire wolves in the old Game of Thrones television show looked tiny compared this wolf. If this was something he had to look forward to in this forest, he had no idea what else he should expect. "What next, talking trees?" he mused with a laugh.

He continued to walk deeper and deeper into the forest until he reached a giant, upturned log. It had been hollowed out and by appearances looked like there had been foot traffic through it not too long ago. He continued down that path and the fog lifted. Above him was not a fog-filled tree line, but a star-studded sky. He couldn't see any familiar constellations at all. He heard rustling in the bushes and turned to face them, but nothing happened. He rounded a particular tree and found what looked like a sword in a stone on top an abnormally ornate platform.

"Odd," he thought aloud as he approached it. It certainly was a sword. Ornately built hilt and crossguard. It looked like some sort of bird or flying creature. The blade itself seemed to glow with an inner blue light making the silver of the blade take on a bluish hue in the moonlight. "Someone's quite the craftsman." He started to approach it and muttered, "A sword in the stone game. Eh, what's the worst that could happen?" He walked over to the little platform and sword-in-stone and gripped the hilt in a two-handed grip. He gave a tug and found that it was quite in the granite. "Tough little sucker, aren't you?" He took a stance that looked like an overexerted squat and pulled once more. The sword started to budge and he gained renewed confidence and pulled with greater strength. With one great pull, the tip of the sword was freed and there was a stone on metal sound as it cleared. "That wasn't so hard, was it?" It was then he paused what he was doing. "Wait a second, why the hell did I pull a King Arthur?"

"Ah," a deep voice said from above him. The pilot's eyes immediately shot up to see the immensely giant tree that had been there the entire time. "So, Courage's Spirit chooses another." The tree's bark moved like a mouth. "And the Sword has been returned to its master."

"Whatever drugs I'm on, it's got me seeing the weirdest shit," he muttered. "Also, 'Courage's Spirit'? 'Master'? What are you on about?" He gestured around him, where he just so happened to see little creatures with leaves covering their faces. "In case you haven't noticed, not exactly from around here."

It seemed to hum knowingly. "What is your name and from where do you hail?" it asked.

"Captain Lincoln Carson of Earth."

XxXxXxX

The trek out to the impact site was long and hot. Even though they left before dawn when it was still cold out, it didn't take long until they were in the heat of the day. They had walked out in traditional Gerudo garb for surviving the heat covered in blankets for the dark hours. By the time the heat of the day came into effect, the entire traveling party slowed down. Lady Urbosa and her guards accompanied them while Zelda's guards remained camped at the Oasis. Well, outside of Zelda's knight attendant, her father's personal eyes and ears away from home. While Zelda thought of him as a competent warrior, he wasn't all that personable.

It was midday when they came across the impact site, but in the crater made of flash crystalized sand was a metal vessel not unlike the Divine Beasts, but it didn't have the same architectural style. Not only that but it wasn't animal-themed. If anything, and that was being very forgiving about its appearance, it may have looked like a giant ray if you squinted hard enough at it. But there was one thing that was apparent about this craft, it was completely inoperable and it wasn't Hylian due to the pained script on the side of the craft. On the side of the length of the craft, there was a hole large enough for two men to comfortably stand side-by-side, however, the height would require squatting down or crawling through the opening.

Zelda's thoughts moved a mile a minute. 'Who created this?' 'Where did they hail from?', and so on. She started to move closer towards the wreck, but a hand landed on her shoulder. "Your grace, it is not a good idea to go inside there," her knight suggested.

"This could be the discovery of the century! I have to go in there," she argued.

"Be that as it may, this could be a Yiga plot."

Urbosa scoffed. "Yiga plot?" she laughed. "If this was a Yiga plot then they would have taken out the royalty of Hyrule by crashing it into Castle Town and Hyrule Castle instead of crashing in a desert," Urbosa chastised the knight with a laugh. When he thought about it, it was pretty stupid to think that. "If it makes you feel any better, I'll go with her."

He hesitated for a moment before relenting. "Fine, but if any harm comes to her it will be my responsibility and my reputation on the line."

"No harm will come to her," Urbosa reassured him. She patted Zelda on the shoulder, "Come, your discovery awaits." While they started towards the massive vessel her knight started shouting for them to start to make camp. As much as the Gerudo didn't like being commanded by a man, they realized that whatever expedition that their Chief and the Princess were up to was going to take time to complete. Enough that it may last overnight.

The two ducked inside and what they saw was a bit underwhelming. What was in front of them was a large room that appeared to be covered in consoles of some kind. The only reason Zelda even knew what they were remotely was because of the similarity in build, but not appearance, that many Sheikah technologies had. On the console, there was a flashing red light. Flashing would have been a little too strong, a pulsating button would have been more accurate. Zelda cautiously approached the console and pushed the button. Immediately several of the places above the consoles lit up with what looked like translucent pictures, but the things printed on them were changing. It was like when she used the camera on the Sheikah Slate. The script that was displayed was not of Hylian make. Words streamed down on the black background until it all disappeared and someone spoke.

"Playing black box footage," a woman said. But this woman was neither Zelda nor Urbosa. It sounded artificial, not natural sounding.

"That was Hylian," Zelda said in shock. "They speak Hylian but write in some other language."

"How is this possible?" Urbosa asked.

"Playing launch day footage," the fake-woman stated.

"Mission Control, Captain Carson reporting for final launch checklist," a male voice said. It appeared to have belonged to the image of what looked like a man in a white suit and helmet.

"Captain?" another man's voice asked.

"Yes. Sarah suggested that since I was captaining this vessel that would make me captain of the Falcon until return."

The other man seemed to ignore that. "Sarah, run final systems check."

The same female voice that they had heard before chimed in. "Systems check complete. All systems nominal. Predictive models show for a successful launch."

"Continue with the countdown."

A new automated voice started after a full two minutes had passed. The camera and Carson shook as a deep rumbling started to fill the craft. "Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Four. Ignition. Two. One." An external camera showed that fire lit beneath the massive craft and started to move upwards.

"Liftoff, we have lift off," the mission controller reported. "Tower has been cleared."

Urbosa and Zelda watched as the giant craft shot up towards the heavens at speeds thought to be impossible. In terms of how they were watching this event. One screen showed the pilot, another showed an external view from the ground, and a third showed the schematic view of the craft. "This is incredible," Zelda remarked. "Imagine. Someone the flew this may be here in Hyrule."

"It's also possible that they perished upon impact," Urbosa remarked morosely.

"Stage two separation," Sarah announced. The diagram showed that parts of the craft sputtered and separated from the craft, but it kept going onward, the massive nozzle at the end of it still powering on. Minutes passed before there was another announcement. "Nose cone separation and stage 3 separation." The diagram showed the tip of the craft spitting away in two halves showing what was the craft they were currently standing in, outside of the missing cylindrical tail section. "Charting course for the International Space Station. ETA, five minutes at current orbital velocity."

They watched in awe as the ship passed over the world and how little in comparison all of their struggles appeared from up there. Mountains, oceans, rivers. Up here they looked so tiny. Anything living down below would be impossible to be seen from up there. The pilot took off the helmet of his suit to reveal a close-cut styled blonde hair and blue-eyed man. Zelda couldn't put her finger on it, but he looked extremely familiar; like she had seen him somewhere before.

"What is it?" Urbosa asked.

"I don't know," Zelda replied as she squinted at the image. "For some reason, he looks familiar. Like I've seen him somewhere before."

"Former boyfriend?" Urbosa joked.

Zelda blushed and immediately turned away. "Perish the thought," she rebutted. She then muttered, "Not that father would even let me date anyone that isn't unlocking this power." Urbosa piqued an eyebrow at that statement that Zelda was sure was muttered under her breath.

The ship continued to move until it started to match a floating structure that floated against the backdrop of the planet in the background. A tube extended and connected to the craft. The blonde pilot made his way back to the side of the craft, oddly enough close to where both Zelda and Urbosa entered the gash in the side of the craft. A camera from an odd angle showed a door opening with a hiss and another man, an someone older entering. The two shook hands as what appeared to be mini Divine Beasts appeared to be crawling on the floor while the two floated in the air, and they were carrying packages into the fuselage.

"Commander," the pilot greeted.

"Lieutenant," the commander greeted in turn. "The drones are transferring the supplies and the fuel line giving you a top off." He paused for a moment. "Are you ready to make history, sailor?"

The pilot paused for a moment. "To say that I'm nervous would be an understatement, sir."

The station commander placed a hand on his shoulder. "I get it. But you need to stay focused. The future of mankind's expansion depends on the results of this experiment." He put a hand into his jumpsuit pocket. "Listen. I have something, something that NASA has been handing out for the last couple of years to help." He pulled out an orange bottle.

The pilot took the bottle and examined it. "What is it?"

"NZT-50, it's a nootropic drug that enhances mental abilities."

"Wait," he paused for a moment, opening the lid to see impossibly clear, circular pills. "I thought that there was a whole drug war on this fifty years ago in New York City. A senator was involved in the whole thing that was running for president. Not just that, but there were some nasty side effects after it wore off."

"There was. But after a lot of research and development, they managed to mitigate most of the side effects with the next iteration of the drug. And with the current one you're holding; it tricks the body into producing the enzyme that was originally needed to prevent those onset side effects from constant use."

"Paranoia, time dilation, obvious junkie shaking, mental degradation, and then eventual death, you mean," the pilot said in a deadpan.

"The military has been using it for years to keep an edge over the Koreans, Chinese, and Russians with no one getting hospitalized over it." He then placed a hand on the pilot's shoulder again. "Listen. If push comes to shove and you end up in a critical situation where timing is key, take them. Your survival is paramount. I know that I'm in NASA and you're in the Navy, but from one astronaut to another, take it if you get in a bad situation. That's an order."

"Captain, refueling is complete and supplies have been successfully ferried," Sarah reported.

"Captain?" the commander asked with a raised eyebrow. "Did you get a promotion?"

"No," the pilot replied. "Sarah is insisting that am the captain of this ship, despite my rank in the Navy."

"Well, she technically is right." He held out his hand. "Best of luck Captain Carson, and godspeed."

The two finished saying their goodbyes and the now named Captain Carson returned to his pilot's seat. The craft moved away from the station and it positioned itself towards the stars. "Course for Alpha Centauri plotted. Shock drive primed," Sarah reported.

"Start the one-minute countdown," Carson ordered. "Open a channel to Mission Control." There was a beep on the console and a red circle that appeared on his screen. "Mission Control, refueling and supply drop has been completed, the Shock drive has been prepared to be initiated."

"Proceed with the launch," the controller on the other end ordered.

The next sixty seconds started to count down slowly. As it did, Carson looked at the orange pill bottle and pulled a single pill out before the rest could enter the open and scatter throughout the cabin in the Zero-G environment. He looked through it pensively before finally sighing and swallowing it. "I wonder how long it'll take before it kicks in," he wondered aloud.

"Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three. Two. One. Initiating Shock drive," Sarah announced. What appeared in front of the vessel was hard to describe. A point of light materialized in front of the ship, and what looked like reality itself bent and warped around it. It stretched forward and into Infinium. Both Zelda and Urbosa weren't sure what they were seeing. "Dimensional transition complete. Congratulations, captain. You are the first human in subspace. Estimated time to Alpha Centauri is one hour."

"And this was information sent by the probe? Didn't that thing crash?"

"Due to a lack of control input able to be transmitted over a lightyear away, the done crash was inevitable."

Something interesting then happened. Carson immediately sat up and started typing something into the control panel. His fingers were flying over the keys so fast that even if Zelda could understand what the characters meant, she wouldn't have been able to follow. Images flew up on the screen faster than she could read them, but they appeared to be diagrams of things she had never seen before; things that didn't make any sense. "Imagine the things he could tell us," Zelda wondered aloud.

Time seemed to skip forward as the images sped up in frequency until the vessel reentered real space which Zelda noticed immediately with the image of a blue-white star showing in front of Carson and his ship. "Welcome to Alpha Centauri," Sarah said with as much welcoming gusto as an AI could.

"And next we take a slingshot maneuver around the star and shoot towards home," Carson stated the next thing on the mission itinerary.

"Correct," Sarah confirmed. What the two outsiders watching the Black Box footage saw next would amaze them as well. Looking at the sun above them had always hurt, but for some reason, through whatever material that the windows of this craft were made of, they were able to see the surface of a star. The stars were just point of light or balls of fire. No, they were something different. Beams of fire curved around the surface and plunged back inside itself. It was a dance of chaos and order where a lance would come out randomly but return always to the surface. The vessel then turned towards the star and started to move at an accelerating speed so the curvature of the star started to become less spherical and more visually linear.

It kept speeding up until the spires of fire that were spat out of the star flew by in a flurry. "Shock drive charged and prepared for jump execution. T-minus thirty seconds until slingshot disengagement," Sarah announced.

Once again, the point of light appeared and space and time-stretched around the ship until it returned to the same place it had been naught more then a half-hour earlier, if timestamps were anything to go by. Zelda did note that oddity, that the numbering system used was exactly the same as Hylian.

"Warning: Error in the navigational system. Unknown Dark Matter detected ahead," Sarah warned.

"I thought that Dark Matter couldn't affect us in subspace," Carson stated with personal certainty as he seemed oddly calm for what was a warning.

"You would be partially correct. In real-space, Dark Matter would not cause any reaction with any organic life as it would pass right through it unless compressed into an enclosed space with a high concentration. In subspace, it is unknown what will happen when it reacts with the Shock drive."

"Is it possible that this is what actually happened with the drone that was sent before us?"

"It is a high probability."

"Why didn't it affect us on the approach?"

"The corridor used on entry to Alpha Centauri was on a slight course deviation due to the exit angle from the star's gravity well. We wouldn't have seen it until now." There was a pause. "Brace for impact." The camera immediately shook as something hit the vessel and the screen went to static.

"What happened?" Zelda asked although it sounded like she was demanding an answer from a machine.

"I would assume that it then crashed here next," Urbosa stated matter-of-factly. She then looked outside and time flew as it was now getting to be sundown once more. "Your knight should have finished setting up camp with my warriors' help. We shall rest for a few hours before leaving before sun-up, just like this morning."

"Will we have some time to explore the rest of the craft?" Zelda asked hopefully.

"Perhaps, but don't get your hopes up," Urbosa replied as she started to lead her young charge out of the alien craft belonging to a Captain Carson. As they left, neither of them saw the slowly blinking red light that pulsated at such a slow rate, that they didn't draw attention to it.

XxXxXxX

Captain Lincoln, 'Link' to his close friends, Carson moved through the night slowly out of the forest by the odd creature called a Korok. If the Great Deku Tree (he still couldn't believe that the giant tree was thousands of years old, could talk, and had seen the rise and fall of the kingdom he was currently standing in many times over its life) could be believed, the Korok was what was once a kid once called a Kokiri who had passed on and transformed into one of the "forest spirits".

He had gotten a rundown of the entirety, or at least what was relevant to his current situation, of the history of Hyrule. It was founded tens of thousands of years ago by the daughter of a headmaster of a school of knights that rode on these things called 'loftwings' (giant birds whose wings were immortalized on the cross guard of the sword he was happening to carry), her name was Zelda. She also happened to be the reincarnation of one of four goddesses named Hylia, who the land's kingdom was named after. She had hooked up with her Chosen Knight and they started a dynasty that would span thousands of years. In each generation, a daughter would be born to the royal couple who was the next heir and would be queen one day. She would choose a royal suitor and would marry them and that man would become her king. Repeat this for a couple of thousand years, and making sure to name the firstborn daughter Zelda, and you would arrive at where he was standing today.

Occasionally, there would be a great evil that was spurned on by a curse by a demon named Demise who cursed the soon-to-be princess (see: goddess incarnate) that his hatred would follow all of her reincarnations as well as the chosen knight's reincarnations (of which every so often those reincarnations would hook up as well). When that happened, a boy (or teen, or adult depending on timing) blessed by the Spirit of Courage, and the Goddess of Courage by proxy, would rise to defeat the demon lord's reincarnation of hatred. Sometimes it was a person with ambitions or delusions of grandeur. Sometimes, it was by a specific entity called Ganon. One specifically hated was a reincarnation called Ganondorf. The way that the Great Deku Tree hissed the name out hinted at some personal history there, but Link didn't press on it; it wasn't relevant. Before he left, he was given a mission: take the sword that he held, the Master Sword, to a princess named Zelda who happened to be a desert this time of year visiting Gerudo Town as she did yearly right before winter's hold on the land prevented any traveling. When he was given this task, he saw that it too matched with his personal goal as well, to get to the wreckage of his ship. It had precious supplies as well as a distress beacon. To that point, he agreed.

As he was guided out of the forest, he asked many probing questions to the Korok who guided him. He gained valuable insight into the inhabitants such as the Zora and the Gorons, who were non-human but human-like creatures that held humanly average, or above human intellect. The Zoras themselves could easily live three hundred years easily, longer if lifestyles were adhered to and granted that they didn't fall in battle. Their appearance was akin to fish people. With webbed hands and feet and a love for swimming. The Gorons were master smiths, few could match their prowess in metalworking. They happened to look like giant boulders and tended to roll along to get where they needed to quickly. The Gerudo were an Amazonian tribe of women who lived in the deserts in the southwest and had a very sorted history, although now they were much more friendly with their neighbors to the northeast. Then there were the Rito, if it wasn't for the fish-people and the rock people he would have been unprepared for the bird-people. The Rito were artisans and great bowmen and marksmen. The last thing that Link learned was about the Hylians themselves. They were humanlike in their appearance. The only difference was their pointed ears, something that link noticed himself that his weren't. He'd have to wear a beanie cap to hide that fact. Or fashion prosthetics to blend in, assuming he had to, of course.

The last thing that the Korok that escorted him out of the forest gave him was a sheath for the sword and a golden gem that it called a Rupee (not to be confused by the Indian Rupee) that was worth three hundred of the currency for expenses. He had no idea what pricing existed, so he didn't argue. The sheath was ornate, to say the least. It, like the flat of the blade, was decorated with the triple triangle pattern that the Deku Tree called the Triforce. The Triforce was a whole thing. Essentially it was a one-wish Genie. Or an apt comparison would be that dragon from that Dragonball anime. Collect all the parts (three in this case) and you get a single wish. Of course, he knew that there was more to it, but that was the overly simplified version.

As he moved out of the foggy forest, he saw the darkened land in front of him. He jogged down the road and found himself after jogging a fifteen-minute mile that he was outside of a fort of some kind. They gave him the stink eye, but since he didn't approach them or the fort, they didn't bother him. He made his way towards a lit-up structure which had a statuesque, wooden horsehead above it. Outside there appeared to be horses stabled outside and inside there were beds.

He continued to approach and the master of the stable met him at the counter outside. "Greeting traveler," he greeted. He did notice his odd attire and the backpack on his back that contained survival necessities. "What can I do you for?"

Link pointed towards the horses. "How much?" he asked.

"For the horses?" he asked in turn. "Those aren't mine; those are those that we board and our guests stable them for the night for rest."

"I need to reach the desert as soon as possible."

"The desert?" the stablemaster piqued an eyebrow. "Isn't that where that shooting star landed?"

"You saw it too?" Link asked, putting every hour he spent at perfecting a Poker Face to full use. "Interesting times we live in. But no, I have business in that way."

"What kind of business?" the man tried to pry.

"The personal kind of business." Link let out a faux sigh. "Listen, I hate to rely on others but I'm in a tough spot." The NZT was still in his system and he formulated the perfect lie based off of the information that the Deku Tree and the Korok had given him. "My sister sent me a letter by Rito letting me know that she's going into labor. The father is unreachable and is on the east coast of the kingdom. She has a major stake in a bar run in Gerudo Town, you see where I'm going with this?"

The owner nodded. "If she gives birth to a boy, she will be forced to live outside the city walls, which would be counterproductive to business," he concluded.

"She more or less bankrolls it and plays the face of the bar, but it will cause a major hit to their bottom line and take them out of the black for who knows how long." The owner gave him an odd look at the word 'black'. Link decided to clarify, "Accounting term. Being in the black means you're making a profit. Point being and side-question aside, I need to be there yesterday."

He also sighed, but unlike Link, his was completely honest. "I'm sorry, I don't have a horse. This stable is my business and home."

"There has to be someone who would be willing to let me borrow, rent, or purchase their horse," Link continued on his false exasperation. He pulled out and slapped the gold rupee on the counter. "Listen, this is my emergency fund, it wouldn't leave the safe place it's hidden in if I wasn't desperate to reach my kin."

He eyed the very large denomination of rupee in front of him. Few even carried that amount, this much Link knew. It was eye candy, something tempt a bigger fish. "Let me speak to a few of my patrons to see if any of them would be willing to assist." He left the window and Link kept one hand on the rupee, the other on his sidearm. He already unsnapped the holster strap keeping it from slipping loose.

Minutes passed as he saw the man wake several men and women from their slumber to point at him, explain in short, his story, before either they would wave him off or use much ruder language. He seemed to get the attention of a redheaded man who nodded after hearing the story. He came with the owner up to the entrance of the living quarters still wearing his sleeping attire. "My old friend here told me your story, and my heart was touched and warmed by your plight," the man started. "I would be willing to let you use my horse. But it will not be for free." He eyed the rupee just like the stablemaster did. "The horse that I rode on is a prized mare, I would hate for her to be lost forever. I will be willing to offer you a trade. That rupee in collateral and as a deposit for the safe return of my mare." He held out his hand. "My name is Talon and my family has run a ranch northeast of here for generations called Lon Lon Ranch. It is just southeast of Hyrule Castle Town."

Link took the rupee and held it in his hand and slapped it against his, gripping firmly. "Deal."

Talon left and returned with a brown mare which he guided to the front of the stable with the reigns. As he did, Link did refasten the button to keep his pistol in place. He handed them to Link. "Her name is Epona," he said as he pets her muzzle.

"Interesting name."

"Indeed, it said that a horse by this name is ridden by a Hero once every few generations, so a mare named Epona occasional pops up," Talon mused.

Link wasted no time and saddled the horse with practiced ease (even though he hadn't ridden a horse in close to ten years, but he remembered how to do it thanks to the commander's miracle drug. He brushed the neck of the horse to soothe it, after all, he wasn't her main rider nor her owner. He was honestly surprised he wasn't thrown off. Link checked his minicomputer strapped to the underside of his arm and checked the radar for radio signals, it was still coming from the southwest. Checking the stars and the direction he needed to go, he spurred Epona forward with his heel.

Link rode through the night, his eyes scanning the surrounding area for threats. He beside him, he saw the oddest thing. He saw himself riding an identical horse. "Interesting, isn't it?" the other him asked. "An entirely different planet with a completely different ecosystem, yet there are so many similarities it's almost scary."

"Am I talking to myself?" Link asked.

"Yes, and no. I'm you, or a projection of yourself."

Link pondered it for a moment. Drugs created trips at times, NZT was no different, he concluded. "It is interesting. Single moon, similar gravity, similar planet size, and a lot of the same animals. The main differences that we've seen are talking planets-."

"And that's not the NZT," the other him chimed in.

"And rock, fish, and birdmen that have similar mental capabilities of humans."

"Fermi Paradox?"

"It's the most logical, right?"

"Well, shouldn't have life evolved differently then? Different environmental factors affect how life would have developed."

"Unless there is a god."

"Goddesses, technically."

"And you believe that?"

"Talking tree, a curse spanning unknown generations surrounding a specific royal family's female heir and future queen and her chosen hero, who may be me if that tree hinted at by pulling the King Arthur."

"Well, that should be the basis of scientific evidence."

"At this point, I'm willing to believe anything."

"Believe anything?" the other him asked with a crooked eyebrow.

"You know what I mean. I'm willing to humor the idea itself." And with that, the other him disappeared. "That was certainly odd," Link commented.

He continued his journey until he reached a large canyon. When he started his journey, it had been around midnight, but at this point, it was almost noon if the sun's position was anything to go by. The canyon extended on for some time. He heard wildlife, but then there were times when there was nothing at all, just echoes of steps that Epona was making. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw someone up on the canyon ledge. Male build, red clothing akin to a catsuit. His vision started to flare, and things didn't look too clear anymore. It looked like the NZT wore off. His stomach started feeling off, as in you drank twenty beers because drunk you thought it was a good idea. He hopped off Epona and started to vomit violently on the side of the road. This went on for several minutes before he was dry heaving, not that it took long considering he hadn't eaten anything since before liftoff less than thirty-two hours earlier. He mounted Epona again and continued. He passed another one of those stables where the stablemaster there was flagging him down.

"Oi, you traveler!" he shouted. Link approached him "Are you heading into the desert?"

"And if I am?" Link replied with distrust.

"Your horse cannot go with you."

"What do you mean by that?" His hand went towards his weapon slowly. Even if he felt hungover, that didn't mean that he couldn't still hit a man at ten yards in the chest with a nine-millimeter round.

"Horses don't do well in the desert heat. Most travelers that go further inland either rent sand seals or go on foot," the stablemaster replied.

Link looked as his minicomputer again. There was a pulse this time, not a ping. Sarah sent out a silent distress ping, someone had come upon the wreckage. If one of the locals managed to damage the drive housing, this entire country would be in for the worst nuclear winter, and probably first and only, that they would experience. Exotic matter touching organic matter? Not a pretty picture that he wanted to imagine. Not only that but from a pragmatic perspective, if that drive went then there was no way of getting home. Not that his chances were looking any better anyway. The culture here looked to be in some kind of limbo listing between medieval and industrial revolution. Unless he were to teach and divulge how to advance quickly, there was no way he was getting home. Best he could do was prevent it from being used as a weapon or being detonated and killing whatever the country's population count was.

"The shooting star that made landfall, how far is that from here?" Link asked.

"By sand seal, maybe around ten hours nonstop. Double that for walking and the poor footing of sand itself. If you take a direct route on foot, you'd more than likely die."

"How much to rent a sand seal?"

"Ten rupee deposit."

Link mentally went over in his mind what he had. He didn't have that three hundred denomination anymore, he had that on deposit with that Talon fellow up in the northeast. "How about a trade?"

"What do you have?"

Link pulled his rucksack and dug through it. He pulled out an MRE. "Full meal that will keep your hunger satisfied all day. You can trade it for the deposit or you can eat it yourself."

The stablemaster took the package. "How does it work?"

"Rip it open, pour some water in and stir. Open fire not required. Don't eat the brownie at the same time as the mashed potatoes unless you want your stomach to… never mind, it's not pleasant. Deal?"

The stablemaster inspected the MRE a little closer. "What is it?"

"Salisbury steak."

"I don't know what Salisbury is, but I know steak. Deal."

'Sucker,' Link thought as the stablemaster went inside to do the paperwork. One thing that he did note was that there were several soldiers looking fellows wearing plate armor with the same emblem that was decorated on the sword and scabbard. To hide it, he placed it in the rucksack and made sure it was secure. If he was going to be riding another animal, he didn't want to lose the sword while riding.

Luckily, he was allowed to board Epona there for free as he would have to return with the sand seal anyway. He grabbed a pot lid and mounted it like a snowboard before grabbing the reigns of the sand seal's harness. He pulled out the Boonie cap that was part of his survival kit and wore it. "Looks like I'm Lawrence of Arabia-ing this shit," Link muttered as he snapped the reigns. The sand seal shot forward and Link was barely able to hang on.

Deserts were hot. Anyone who ever lived in the southwest United States could tell you that. 'But it's a dry heat,' they would say. Didn't make the desert any less hot. To say that he was sweating like a pig would be an understatement. If it wasn't for the camelback waterskin that was inside the rucksack he was carrying, he would have died of dehydration. The ride on the sand seal itself wasn't anything to write home about. It was a seal that swam through the land. It took a while to get used to, but soon he was maneuvering the seal-like he was Epona earlier. The only annoying bit was standing for hours on end. Eventually, the blazing sun started to set and the cool of the day started to set in.

By this time, the wreck was starting to come into view and Link could already see that there was a camp getting set up outside it. The sun had set by the time he got to the wreck. Luckily there was a large dune in which he could use the darkness the scout out what he saw. From up at his vantage point, he could see about a dozen tanned women and one man in light armor. Chain mail perhaps. They all bore bladed weapons of one sort or another. Most of the women sported spears with a tri-point, more than likely to catch incoming attacks and riposte them. There was one woman who had a scimitar looking sword and shield, but it was a shorter blade than those in museums that he had seen. And the man had a broadsword. Made sense since he looked the part of a knight. Knights used broadswords. Oddly enough, no shield. There was only one standout person in the entire small camp, that was the teenage blonde girl with braided hair.

She wore light clothing for moving in the desert, but it was of a specific shade of sky blue that was on the scarf of the knight and on the sash of the scimitar woman. In fact, he could have sworn that the soldiers in the stable also had that color on them. A VIP perhaps?

Link didn't see any way of getting in easily. Perhaps now would justify another NZT pill? He reached into his pocket and dry swallowed the pill. Fifteen minutes later, in the cover of darkness, it kicked in. He pulled out his binoculars and zoomed in as close as the computer-aided lenses would allow and he started to lip read the conversation below.

The girl's name was Zelda, the scimitar woman's name was Urbosa, and the knight went by Sir Duncan. Duncan addressed the girl by honorifics like 'your grace' or 'your highness'. Sounds like Zelda was royalty. She looked to be in her older teen years, perhaps sixteen or seventeen. If he recalled the documentary that he watched about the British royalty, at least historically, if she were a queen, she would have either her prince consort near or a king, there were neither and she was way too under-protected for that. Perhaps a bit lower on the totem pole. Princess was more than likely.

"What are you planning to do, take her hostage?" the other Link asked.

"That would be stupid. I have forty-eight rounds in this magazine before I have to reload and taking someone hostage requires at least one hand," he lifted his SMG. "Plus, I have an allergy to sharp objects being stabbed into my flesh. Death tends to happen," Link rebutted with a bit of dark humor and sarcasm.

"You have that sword."

"Ok, and what do I do with it? Wave it around like a lunatic?"

"The Deku tree said that it's supposed to only be wielded by the Hero of the generation that pulls it, specifically someone worthy. Use that."

"And then what?"

"I don't know, make some kind of arrangement? Lend yourself out for hire as a mercenary for whomever this Zelda's father or mother is? I maybe you, but I don't know everything."

As he argued with himself, out of the corner of his eye he caught a red flash and what looked like a glint of light. On instinct, he rolled out of the way and found that where he had been lying prone, there was a duo of arrows sticking there. He saw that the red figure and it had been the same that he had seen at the top of the canyon. Had this guy been stalking him? He glowed for a second before vanishing in a puff of smoke. Link quickly stood up and his hand immediately shot to his holster. There was a laugh behind him and on instinct ducked. A blade flew right over his head. Turning around revealed the man once more. He had a mask on of what looked like a crying eye if it had been reversed to cry upwards instead of how gravity worked.

Without wasting a moment, he punched the man in the groin and Link heard a satisfying groan of pain that seemed to pitch higher a few octaves. He then started to wrestle with the man to disarm him. And by wrestle, see: grabbing his wrists to try and force them to drop the weapon. They matched each other and Link lost his footing at the top of the dune. They both tumbled together down. All the way Link shouting obscenities. It was not a pleasant fall.

Just because it wasn't pleasant, that didn't mean it wasn't controlled. Knowing everything about your body allowed him to know his limits, where to twist at, and where to roll so that he landed on his back away from his assailant. They both crashed in a cloud of dust. The red-clad man was up faster than he could sit up. The man saw the blonde girl and his attention was divided. Without wasting any time, Link drew his sidearm and fired three shots in quick succession. The first two hit the man in the chest, specifically the heart and the aorta, the third right in the forehead. Specifically, right where the carving or painting of an iris was. The body fell to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut. The sharp crack startled all that were there, and those that were sleeping, they woke up quickly.

Link scrambled to his feet and approached the body with caution. He kicked the bladed weapon away, which happened to be a sickle of sorts made of black metal. He checked the body for a pulse, nothing. This was his first human kill. He had been trained for years to kill, but this had been the only time where he had to draw and fire on someone. He turned around to see the Amazonian women pointing their weapons at him and the knight had already drawn his broadsword.

"Friend of yours?" Link asked the crowd.

"That man is Yiga," Urbosa declared after a moment of silence.

"So, is that a yes or a no?" Link asked unsurely.

"The Yiga are enemies of the crown," Sir Duncan stated.

"Ah, you're welcome then."

"But that doesn't mean that you aren't Yiga, killing your own tribe to gain some semblance of surprise."

The tension was so thick, you could cut it with a knife. "That sword hilt, it couldn't be," Zelda spoke.

"What couldn't be?" Urbosa asked as her eyes wandered to it as well. "The Master Sword," she declared and confirmed. "I've only seen it in history books."

"I as well," Zelda added. "Put away your weapons." She walked towards the front outside of the sphere of protection that she had. "What is your name?"

"My name is Lincoln Carson, Captain Lincoln Carson. My friends call me Link, and you just so happen to be standing near my ship."

XxXxXxX

And that will be all for this one. Borderline ten thousand words. One of my larger pilots in a while considering the last true one was about five thousand words or so. I've only got two notes on this one. The first is about NZT. NZT comes from the show Limitless where the drug that is used is called NZT-48. It lasts about 12 hours and, in the show, a special and separate enzyme was needed to prevent the user from going completely insane from withdrawal symptoms as well as overuse. The second happens to deal with the time. I actually did the calculation. It takes 12 in-game hours to get from the stable near the Lost Woods and the stable at the beginning of the Gerudo desert. In terms of notes, that all I really got on this.

As for how I want to proceed, I really want to explore the world through a fish out of water pre-Calamity. Said fish being Link. I think that there's a lot of potential that can be done and hopefully, and maybe, it can come to pass.

One thing that I will say was that I had an idea for two more scenes that didn't make it in since they wouldn't have fit with a pilot chapter. That being said, there will be a cut content addition that will show those two scenes, but that will be uploaded another time.

As for now, let me know what you think about this in the usual places. As for me, it's 2 am and I need to get to sleep. I would have made a reference that me and the boys are up at 2 am looking for beans, but I'm too tired to make it.

See you in whatever I do next.