Full House - Chapter 1: Chaotic Collision
Thank you, u/SpacePaladin15, for weaving a world that is so hooking it managed to create an entire fandom off of the skill of little more than your keyboard. May you never encounter writer's block!
Furthermore, thank you to all of y'all out there who have kept the torch of this universe going. Without you all, I might not have had the opportunity to do this story of mine. There's so many of you who have contributed to this collective universe of stories that it is rich with references to draw from.
Additionally, a special thank you to u/TheBuddingCreator for a few direct assists with minor things like names and character traits.
And without further ado, I present, my first-ever story. The first chapter of Full House: Chaotic Collision.
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~$ sudo memtrans.rev -det3 -nonauto
[SUDO] Password for [redacted]: ******
{-Loading Memory Transcription Reviewer at Detail Level 3…-}
{-Select memory file to replay.-}
~$ mscrip xpnc ralmin.mts -ssun 10712011200
{-Temporal measure detected: Skalgan Suns. Playing at converted timestamp schum 21360712153500.-}
Memory transcription subject: Ralmin, Dossur amateur astronomer.
Date [standardized human time]: July 12, 2136
Location: Resinlight town, Retrograde Pole District, Venlil Prime.
Wait, what? That shouldn’t have happened… According to all records we have of that star, there’s no orbital body large enough to cause that much of an eclipse around it, even if one were to have all of them transit in sequence…
I blinked a few more times, wiped off the eyepiece of my brand-new telescope, and looked through it again. Sure enough, there was that strange object that had just popped into existence from seemingly out of nowhere. I’d been using the star [ninth of the Shadestalker] for standard calibration tests for this observation session of the stars in the Shadestalker’s Tail asterism, but the strange object that had just appeared from seemingly out of nowhere between Venlil Prime and the highly beplaneted but otherwise unusual yellow dwarf in question had certainly thrown a wrench into those plans. I hurriedly used a stick of charcoal and began to sketch what I could see of the oblong thing on a pad of paper that I had with me. Sure, the charcoal and paper was kind of expensive to use as a drawing supply, but this needed to be documented, and since this telescope was low-tech enough to not have a screenshotting feature, I’d had to get my housemates to buy me some so I could document what I found in the telescope’s lens.
Hang on, it’s… larger? I can kind of make out details about it now… multiple lobes? Strange… wait… is that a Warp Drive Motor wrapped around the larger of the two-
And that’s when the raid sirens started blaring, causing me to jump in the seat I was standing on and look upwards worriedly, scanning the sky for Arxur vessels as the noise snapped me out of my train of thought. It hadn’t been very long since the last Arxur raid... Were they seriously back already for another chomp at us?!
Before I could continue the alert-spiral or distract myself back to the sighting, and a mere pawful of whiskers after the alarms started, my vision went dark as something grabbed me and covered my face.
pleasenowe’retoosmalltofillyoupleasenononono-!
{-ALERT: Data Transcription Halted-}
{-CAU: Unconsciousness - Memory Stream Int.-}
{-DIA: Adrenaline surge. Cortisol spike. Disorientation from rapid change in gravitational direction.-}
{-Attempt transcription recovery? Y/N-}
~$ N
{Ending recovery attempt.}
{-ALERT: Annotation Link Detected - Switch transcripts? Y/N-}
~$ Y
{-Loading transcript file pelmaur.mts at timestamp schum 21360712152026… Playback Ready-}
~$ mscrip continue -loctrunc !spec
{-Playing file in specific-location mode…-}
Memory transcription subject: Pelmaur, Thafki Librarian.
Date [Standardized Human Time]: July 12, 2136
Location: Resinlight Lake Shoreline
Man, the weather is nice this claw. I really managed to get lucky with the timing of my relaxation.
I looked out across the water towards the glimmering orangey crescent of water below the darkened Nightside sky, knowing that my pad had a timer on it scheduled to go off when it came time to stop my wandering and head back to the library to resume my duties. Around me, various species were choosing to spend their time enjoying the seemingly-endless sunset of Venlil Prime’s dayside twilight band, the amber glow of the star reflecting off of the nearby mountain’s snowy slopes and giving the lake a color almost like sunsap that had gone to a gooey consistency. The sand felt nice beneath my feet as well, and while the fact that I was a Thafki may have drawn some surprised glances from the tourists due to just how rare of a species we are in the Federation, none of the locals even batted an eye at my presence.
As I continued walking, I pulled out my pad, checking to see if anyone had sent me a message over on the messaging app. Sure enough, someone had.
[CanopyLookout]: Hey, Pel. Just got off work, and decided to make a quick detour to the local farmer’s market. Just got there a couple scratches ago; you need anything for our upcoming meals you have planned?
Excellent. I was thinking of making a bit more salad dressing in the near future, the oil-and-vinegar dressing was running a bit low, and I used the last of the bunt leaves on a simple sylvana for Takren’s second-meal in my first claw. Plus, there’s a whole bunch of other things we’re running low on… I would request malley fruits proper, but Tarnel would probably just eat them straight with maybe a bit of rolling them in uin first before I could get to slicing or juicing them for my own salads. If I were really unlucky, she’d do it on the way home, even!
My claws tapped away at the pad’s screen, the two of us texting back and forth for a bit.
[waterlocker538]: Yeah, we’re out of Bunt leaves entirely, and if you could pick up some Malley fruit oil, that’d also be appreciated. The juicefruit vinegar’s getting a little dry, so some poffel seeds and juicefruit juice might be in order as well so we can replenish that, too.
[CanopyLookout]: Poffel seeds, juicefruit, Bunt leaves, and Malley fruit oil. Got it. See you at claw’s end, and hope your walk goes smoothly.
[waterlocker538]: Thanks. Any texts from Takren or Ralmin on your end, things they’ve run out of?
[CanopyLookout]: None on my end. How about you?
[waterlocker538]: Stagnant pond here, too, obviously. Though now that I think about it, mind getting some Chessiu nuts, Shore berries, and Uin, too? An idea just came to me for something to try out for myself.
[CanopyLookout]: Should I get some Ipsom flour while I’m at it? You’re having me get the other ingredients for Strayu anyhow. :ventailamused:
[waterlocker538]: No, no, we’ve still got some of the massyu that needs using.
[CanopyLookout]: Massyu? Come on, Pel, you know that stuff’s inferior to the fresh, handmade stuff!
[waterlocker538]: Better inferior yet used than credits wasted to spoiled strayu.
CanopyLookout is typing…
I glanced upwards, humming to myself. Tarnel always did have a bit of a disdain for the mass-produced strayu loaves, and considering how big of a thing strayu is in Venlilian culture, I didn’t blame her.
Just as I was about to look back down at my pad, everyone’s pad chimed near-simultaneously, causing a lot of us to startle, myself included. I hurriedly looked down, and saw that not only had Tarnel stopped typing (no big surprise there), but there was a new alert that had popped up. Off in the distance, I could hear the raid sirens starting to wind up.
[Venlil Prime Emergency Notification System]: PLANET-WIDE EMERGENCY ALERT: RAID INBOUND. REPORT TO YOUR LOCAL RAID BUNKER IMMEDIATELY. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.
All skyward depths broke loose, everyone present nearly instantly getting up and booking it for the town. I, too, started running in that direction, fear rushing through my mind as my thoughts turned towards Takren and Tarnel… I could only hope that the two of them stayed safe as I and the wooly river of people around me hurried to do as the instructions demanded and book it to the nearest Raid Shelter. I could see a few Dossur get underpaw, though the fact that they were on soft sand at the time meant that they didn’t get crushed, but merely pushed into the sand below, thankfully. I feared for Ralmin’s safety; hopefully he was at home rather than out and about… I shuddered to think of what-
~$ sudo mscrip stampedecheck
Password for [redacted]: ******
{-Analyzing for Stampede Flags…-}
{-Significantly elevated adrenaline levels detected. Elevated cortisol levels detected. Visual records available but obstructed by crowd grouping at memory-source. Stampede confirmed. Fast-forwarding past Stampede.-}
{-Location: Resinlight Beach Raid Bunker-}
I’d managed to climb onto a shelf at the edge of the bunker to try and get a look over the herd of panicked venlil, hoping to spot my housemates in the crowd and ascertain whether or not they’d made it to the raid bunkers in time.
“Takren? Where are you?!”
No response… and no sign of her, either. Hopefully I was just early in getting into a bunker… I and the rest of the herd who’d managed to get into this place had managed to get moving immediately, after all. I supposed things were just going to have to wait…
Scratches felt like they stretched on for claws, the herd in the bunker slowly increasing in size as time passed. The only reason I wasn’t getting my tail trod upon was because I was staying in the elevated position, off to the edge of and outside of the crowd in the bunker; a lesson that my Thafki brethren had encouraged me to learn how to do for preservation of the twelve thousand or so of us that remained outside of There That Should Remain Unnamed.
Thank you, dad, for teaching me how to climb…
I shuddered. The mere adjacency of the reasoning for my thankfulness made my blood feel a little more pole-oceaned than it had been… or maybe that was just the adrenaline talking.
Focus, Pelmaur. Focus. Takren’s gotta be either here or in a nearby bunker at this point… There! Dark blue fur and magenta eyes, just came in through the entranceway! I think that’s her!
“Takren? That you?”
She perked up in response, and climbed onto another shelving unit before looking in my direction.
“Pelmaur!”
She proceeded to shimmy along the sides of the room, doing her best to stay out of the denser parts of the crowd… once she got close enough, she climbed up further and used her patagia to glide over the top of the sea of white, gray, black, and tan wool, causing a few startled brays and surprised bleats in the process before landing on the wall near me. The two of us proceeded to climb down, and I could see the distinct brownish-orange of Ralmin’s tail-fur sticking out of her pouch as we closed the distance into a relieved hug. Poor guy was probably dazed… Regardless, we’d soon break the embrace.
“Am I glad to see you’re all right. Did you see Tarnel anywhere in the crowd?”
“No, but I was texting her when the sirens went off. She was at the farmer’s market, actively typing when the notification went out.”
“Gotcha. In that case, check-in time.”
She’d pull out her own pad and send a message into the group chat. I pulled out my own pad to send off one of my own.
[Skysweepr32]: Sound off if you have your pads, everyone. Safe in the Beach Bunker. Ralmin is with me, but dazed.
[waterlocker538]: Also safe in the Beach Bunker.
[CanopyLookout]: That makes all four of us safely stowed. I’m safe in the Market Bunker.
[Skysweepr32]: Relieved to hear you’re safe, Tarnie. Status report on the groceries?
[CanopyLookout]: Hadn’t gotten any just yet. Was in the middle of navigating to the orchardists when the alert went out. I’ll be a bit in gathering the things after the alert wraps up.
[waterlocker538]: Good to hear. If what I make turns out good, Ralmin’s rather going to like it, I think. See if you can find the farmers at the market, work out the deals now.
[CanopyLookout]: Will do.
None of us want to even think about what would happen if it was another situation like… No, Pelmaur, drive that thought from your head! The Federation Fleet will be here in time to drive off the Arxur before too much damage can be done. I know it.
Around us, the herd had seemed to have calmed down a bit. It was oddly quiet, all things considered.
No distant booms of antimats going off, thankfully… Still, better safe than sorry. It would be extremely unwise to leave the bunker before the all-clear signal is sent.
Whiskers flowed on into scratches. Scratches into what felt like claws once more. And yet, no sign of the Arxur. As a result, the general milling-around of the various Federation members in the bunker slowly stilled as the tiredness began to set in for those who had been spending their energy, a few of us even sitting down, myself and Takren included. At this point, Ralmin would begin to stir, adjusting his position in Takren’s pouch so that his head was exposed instead of him being head-down.
“Agh… whuh… what happened…? Last I remember is… Wait.”
He’d turn his head up towards Takren unamusedly.
“Really, Takren? Was the unannounced grab really necessary?”
“Well-”
Takren would end up being saved from needing to provide a rebuttal by the admittedly rather loud ping of everyone’s devices being set off all at once, causing a few of the more sensitive-eared individuals like Ralmin to wince before everyone looked towards their screens.
[Venlil Prime Emergency Notification System]: Raid Alert Status has been rescinded. The danger has passed. You are clear to re-emerge under Exterminator guidance.
“Oh, finally! Was getting a bit confused as to why there were no noises out there. Must’ve been the Federation in the nick of time that saved us.”
That voice that spoke up was Chief Exterminator Kwalla, a darker-feathered Krakotl who’d been in the business for dozens of Orbits by this point, and had made it a point of ensuring that just outcomes were served for those apprehended. Thankfully so, too, after… no, no, too painful to think of, even subconsciously like that.
“All right, let’s form a nice and orderly queue for exit. I won’t have anyone trampling anyone else in a stampede. Everyone but those in a family group with pups to the left side of the room.”
Under Kwalla’s directions, the herd split into two groups, and then started filing out piecemeal. Her right-wing Venlil, Kelvet, was helping oversee the egress of everyone in his standard disapproving-by-default expression, though he did let out a huff of sorts on seeing me and Takren in the line. We paid him no mind as we finally exited the bunker and back into the sunlight, starting to meander back home like the rest of the crowd was. I was looking forwards to the fresh salads that I would be making for us this third-meal.
~$ mscrip conclude
{-Ending session.-}