Chapter Text
The storm is endless. Pressure to crush, current to surf, heat to steam.
It drifts with the flow, trailing fronds that taste iron and ammonia, letting the world’s great winds cradle it. A rhythm guides the long pulse of its body.
The transparent being knows only warmth. It was raised in a chaotic environment, and wandered in the intense atmosphere of a gaseous planet. It felt alone, for it was akin to a social animal.
Then comes the other sound.
Not thunder, not the planet’s song. A sharper vibration, steady, cutting across the gas giant’s roil. The creature tilts, tendrils twitching. It feels the hum as warmth too, but different, alive in its own way.
It follows.
The shape above is wrong. Hard edges, flat light, no drift or sway. Still, the warmth is there, and when it turns, the creature turns. It does not let the shape leave.
It was determined. It was never going to lose its pack, the one it got lost in its own curiosity.
It will never lose its mother. Ever again.
0630 Hours, February 13, 2388 (Military Calendar)
Realspace coordinates: Gas Giant; AEgir, near Eridanus Star System
Inside the UNSC Hilbert. Silence was loud. Scientists gawked at it's blue majesty, while those piloting the vessel was having a panic attack.
It all situations for navigating a gas giant, they did not expect this.
"Uhh, lieutenant. You might want to see—"
"Do you think I'm blind, cadet?! It's literally in front of our holo!"
"Err, apologize sir. Anxiety caught up to me..."
Silence ensued.
"Well?" The lieutenant growled. "Are you gonna explain this or just sit there like a retard? Spit it out, cadet!"
"Yes- Yes sir!"
In short, after finding a suitable location to orbit a satellite near a gas giant, they were immediately followed by an 'Unidentified Flying Object'.
The Hilbert wasn’t built for this. She was a science vessel, meant to chart systems and feed data to colonial corporations. It was not used to explore an unknown uncharted territory's of space. Only the known ones, like the most recent: Epsilon Eridani System, home system of the planet Reach.
The crew was task by a mega-corporation who calls themselves "Nephis Coalition" to install a natural satellite integrated with a flux tube to orbite a gas giant.
"Of course, it’s a Nephis contract," the lieutenant muttered. "Can’t just let us chart stars, gotta turn every gas giant into a plasma farm first."
The identification of the gas giant they're is called Epsilon Eridani b, formally named AEgir. As one could guessed, It was used to harvest can gasses, namely: the Zenostium plasma, a critical component in the manufacturing of antigravity plates.
Hilbert's armament therefore only amounted to point-defense, fitted because it was enough for pirates and small asteroids. There was never a recorded circumstances where a research vessel was warranted to armed itself with nukes inside a safe-zone. Until now.
"What do you think we should do now, sir?" The cadet asked.
"We call the Navy. And we pray to God this thing underneath Hilbert doesn't go feral."
"Respectfully... It's kinda docile sir." The lieutenant turned his attention, urging the cadet navigator to continue. "Like, it's been glued us for an hour while you were on Cyro. No signs of aggressions exhibited from the alien, and no damages from our end, except for it's residual radiation on our ship. Hell, it’s even ignored the Pelicans, almost like it’s, uh… stroking them. With its, uh, tentacles. Honestly, it’s kind of cute."
"Cadet... Repeat that."
"Th-The part about it being cute?"
"No. The pelicans, not the cute part. Why the fuck are they deployed without my permission, cadet?" The lieutenant eyebrows furrowed.
The cadet froze, gulped nervously.
"Ah. The scientists insisted. ONI-affiliated. Said they outranked them. Threatened martial law if we didn’t comply."
"Affiliated." He gritted his teeth. Of course. "I just had to be assigned to an intelligence agent from some shadow branch of the UNSC. And they’re fucking insane..." The lieutenant rubbed his face with both hands.
"W-Why so, lieutenant?"
"Well, for starters, cadet—who the hell thought it was a good idea to get as close as humanly possible to a kaiju-sized alien?" He let out a dry laugh. "Those ONI 'affiliated' scientists, apparently. Now we’re at the mercy of this thing if it decides it doesn’t like us. Kill us, hunt us, eat us—hell, I don’t know how that thing’s brain even works."
"Accordi—"
"And don’t you start with the 'friendly alien' crap, son." His tone sharpened. "Being docile doesn’t mean it’s fucking sentient—or sane. It’s an space animal. It’ll think like an animal. Prey or predator, doesn’t matter. It’s just a matter of time before those scientist idiots piss it off." He slammed his hand on the console. "Contact UNSC command. No—better yet, get me ONI. I want to see those science maniacs choke on their own threat used against them."
"Yes sir!" He complied.
"And be sure to also view those pelicans in the holo." He growled. "I'm not an a moron, cadet. If I were any other lieutenant on this ship, you bet your sorry ass that you'd already be outside an airlock. If I see you trying to hide things again because you're a prissy for accountability, I’ll personally make sure you never wear a UNSC uniform again. You will be guaranteed living on the streets scrapping for leftovers. Understood?"
"Yes sir...!" The cadet swiftly complied...
"That includes the entire crew."
"Y-Yes... Sir!" The cadet looked so pale, the lieutenant thought he was going to faint.
He ignored it.
Once the lieutenant gave out the order, his legs finally gave out and slumped on the CO chair behind the two primary consoles. The vessel, Hilbert, was currently going in circles in the Eridanus System. He even thought on using the "Gravity Assisst" maneuver on the gas giant, AEgir, to lose the alien, like those spaceflight satellites to efficiently save more fuel.
However, the plan fell due to the lack of AI inside Hilbert.
This ship was not built for slipspace yet. After exploring the entire system, it was going to get implemented. Which is why he lacked AI, since a Dumb AI is basically a package alongside slipspace drive.
Looks like the glowing blue alien is staying for now.
'How did the hell did a corporate commission turn into this?' The lieutenant thought, gazing at space through the titanium window.
They scanned the gas giant many times, looking for a suitable place to orbit the satellite flux tube for it to harvest hydrogen gas, Helium-3, zenostium plasma. Once that's done, they were to return to Reach to fulfill another contract. The procedure was actually quite simple.
But that giant... jellyfish looking alien with it's multiple tentacles, who was invisible to Hilbert's radar, just had to make things more complicated... actually, that thing looks more like a cuttlefish without it's eyes, and like tentacles being replaced like that of a jellyfish. Like a interspecies bred between jellyfish and a cuttlefish of sorts
If it's evolution based on that, he wonders if that thing can camouflage like a–
"Hang on. Cuttlefish... Jellyfish." The lieutenant muttered.
'Was it that visible when my crew first noticed? No, I'm sure something transparent was heading towards Hilbert until it became visible... Yes, I'm sure of it.' He pondered, then sat upright.
"Cadet, show me the footage of your first encounter of that thing." The lieutenant ordered.
"Roger sir," He showed the footage in the halo, this time it's high-quality, lieutenant zoomed in, showing a faint shimmer undetectable from the radar, heading to ship, Hilbert.
"Cadet, when did you first noticed this thing was following our ship?"
"When out sensors suddenly picked up something underneath the deck, sir..." He said, "It's like that squid just appeared out of nowhere, and started following us like it's mother hen or something."
"Squid. Heh." He mused, tapped his finger on the armchair. "Alright then, show me a footage of Hilbert scanning the surrounding gas giant."
Again, faint shimmer undetectable from the radar. If it weren't for his "neural lace", a neural implant behind his neck, he wouldn't have detected this small detail from the static footage.
"I think you met him earlier than you think, cadet." He gestured, switching the feed to thermal. The screen flared white-hot, burning his retinas. The neural lace enhanced the brightness of the thermal vision, unfortunately.
In hindsight, he should've expected that.
"Ahem. My mistake." Which left the cadet confused.
Scanning outside the atmosphere made the alien invisible due to the gas giants heat. However, what about when they were scanning inside the atmosphere of gas giant? Ships like Hilbert often dives inside the atmosphere of a gas giant to get a clear scan.
Normally, the temperature would be around -200 Celsius inside the atmosphere. With a specimen that large, he was almost certain that the alien couldn't hide. Why? Because it's like a living furnace in a fucking frozen ocean.
He scrubbed the footage forward to when the Hilbert was inside the atmosphere, turned thermal back on, and there it was: a glowing outline. It's heat signature was finally visible to the thermal sensors.
When he switched back to normal view, the thing became almost transparent again; visible only by how dust and light warped around it.
Farther out, it would’ve been invisible. Invisible enough to fool every UNSC sensor in the system.
"There." He pointed his finger at it. "See that shaped? It’s bending light, like a heat mirage from engine fumes.." He said, grunted. "Make a report, it's weakness, countermeasures for these could be important for—"
"I knew it!" the cadet blurted out, grinning like an idiot. "I knew Bubbles could turn invisible!"
Now the crew has an excuse to the higher-ups for missing such a gigantic space whale.
The captain? Lieutenant? Not so much. He might get demoted for oversleeping inside his Cyro. Hell, nobody even tried to wake him up even. Which could be bad for his reputation.
"I need a drink..."
He was done dealing with this cadet's personality. Who names a flying kaiju "bubbles"
1800 Hours, February 13, 2388
Realspace Coordinates: Habitable Planet — Reach, Epsilon Eridani System
The night on Reach was unnaturally still. The mountains beyond Menachite Ridge glowed faintly under the pale blue light of the planet’s twin moons, their shadows stretching long across the concrete sprawl of the UNSC military complex.
Rows of Warthogs sat idle under the floodlights, its metal glinting like teeth. The only motion came from the winds dragging cold air down from the highlands, brushing against the sensor towers and comm relays.
Inside the base, the quiet was heavier. The kind of silence that settles only when half the planet is asleep and the other half wishes it were. The command center’s main lights were dimmed; just the amber glow of monitors reflected off steel walls.
Most personnel had clocked out, leaving a skeleton crew to watch the night shift. A handful of console operators, the hum of a Dumb AI managing logistics, and the faint murmur of background comms from distant patrols.
In short, the base was half-asleep. Only a few console operators stayed awake, eyes bleary as they monitored exploration feeds from ships scattered across the system. Again, most of the work was handled by dumb AIs.
Then a comm line flared to life.
"Good evening, this is the UNSC Navy speaking. Who am i–
[This is Lieutenant Jonathan Keyes. Transfer me to the admiral. I’m currently in a life-threatening crisis that requires immediate attention.]
A difficult request... that it froze the operator mid-yawn.
Direct communication between such different ranks is prohibited by military protocol. It would be considered a major breach of proper military procedure.
However, some exceptions can be made if its for emergencies. During a critical, time-sensitive emergency: In a life-threatening crisis where no other communication is possible, protocol may be set aside.
Still, the operator hesitated, then glanced at the Dumb AI’s report queue. A new log blinked: UNKNOWN ENTITY — CLASSIFICATION: UNIDENTIFIED. A "UFO" trailing the UNSC Hilbert.
It's settled. The requirements fulfill that exception.
He swallowed. "Understood... Please hold."
A few minutes later, a gruff voice filled the line, half annoyed and half winded. Probably interrupted a good dream or something.
[Jonathan? You better have an explanation on why you're calling in the middle of the night! Because if Its—
Baby~ why'd you stop—?
—Not now honey~ someone's calling right now—
Aww~, you're no fun~]
He was wrong... It seems admiral was having some action, tonight. Whatever was happening on the admiral’s end, it wasn’t his business.
[Sorry for waking you up sir, but you might want to look at this.] Lieutenant Keyes urgently stressed.
File transfer initiated in a burst of static. The data packet arrived, grainy footage of a glowing, amorphous creature moving under Hilbert’s hull, glowing tentacles clinging to the metal like seaweed wrapped on a pillar in the tide.
Silence was loud, as they say.
[... Is this some kind of prank, Lieutenant? Because I swear to God, if you—]
[I assure you it's not— we-we are-re cur-rently being fol—lowed by a glo-glowing giant alien... It's currently throwing a ta-ta-tantrum u-underneath Hilbert. Not enough to damage the hull, admiral.]
The response, possibly from that creature, made his audio static. The operator could hardly believe aliens were real, now it's revealed that it's an alien... That could survive in realspace?
"Oh my god..." He murmured, couldn't calm his disbelief. "Space whales are real..."
Minutes pause. The admiral was currently reading the file. His reply resounded on the COMMS.
[What the fuck.]