Eldaris Prime Predator Infestation

> This article describes events from the Predator Arc.
>
>

## Overview

The Samurai Imperium were the first to be hit with a ship carrying the Arorzrag creatures, as well as the least affected, mostly due to the decisions made, mostly the evacuation and destruction of the affected colony.

## Series of events

### Impact

The Eldaris System colony was still relatively new, with the first settlement on Eldaris Prime, claimed by the Samurai Imperium. A Solarian Empire-flagged MSV came out of hyperspace and headed for the planet at full speed. The Samurai, not expecting this sort of scenario thie far out, had no defenses set up and the only think that slowed the freighter down were asteroids and other bits of space junk. It actually missed the settlement however, impacting on the other side of a small forest. The local troops were deployed to investigate the wreck, being greeted with the sight of the massive freighter cracked open right at the cargo hold. The hold was full of empty cages and human bodies, though all in rags. One of the corpses was still in his respective cage and missing a leg, apparently torn off. The logs of the captain were accessed, revealing him to be former Alliance Shield Fleet, who considered all that left to be traitors. The final entry simply read "I'll show those traitors what's coming for them."

The rest of the freighter was searched, with the bodies being put in body bags, but none of the crew were found. The bodies in the cargo hold had no ID and autopsied without names, biohazard protocols enabled. All of them were malnourished and mistreated, with the missing leg showing evidence as having been gnawed off while the man was still alive. The starcharts revealed the ship had made a stop at Mornes, before outrunning the Solarian Navy. The local government compiled a report to deliver to the Solarian Empire, to be sent it out via Dispatch Boat. The report included an offer to return the bodies and the freighter.

#### Nighttime

A report came in of a missing colonist. The only evidence found was a trail of blood leading from the victim’s bed, out the door, and into the wilderness. The colony was put on high alert and began searching for their missing person and bring them back, be them alive or dead, as well as to neutralize the threat. A request was made directly to Emperor Shinbu for use of a dedicated special operations team. The body was found, a bloody , mangled mes,, in the woods near the crash site. the victim showed signs of being eaten by an animal. The search party held down the site till more dedicated troops arrived, where they began searching the nearby area to destroy whatever did this. They found bloody footprints of a four legged animal that led into the mountains. The prints didn't match anything in the database they had of local fauna. As they followed the tracks, they stopped at a small hole where two more sets of tracks, much smaller, joined the original set, and led into the rocky ground of the mountains, where the tracks vanished.

The team scanned the hole, before stuffing it with explosives and blowing it, returning to the colony to guard it against further loss of life. The hole was found to be a simple den. It went three feet underground to open up as a small, crude chamber, akin to a fox den. Another, more skilled team, was sent into the mountains to scour the area. Their quarry took brief shelter behind a collection of rocks, through which gaps in the formation allowed little bits of their coloration to be visible between the trees and bushes still up at this level. The only thing the tracker teams were able to see were brilliant, white eyes, portions of gleaming fangs, as most of them were covered in thick amounts of gore, and reddish-dark brown skin, whether their natural coloring or leftover blood from a messy dinner. The older one made deep, guttural snarling sounds, with higher pitched sounds from the smaller ones. The troops decided to set a trap using a beef carcass. when the older beast approached, the troops opened fire too early, allowing the beast to flee from the killzone. The creatures fled deeper into the mountains, away from the settlement with surprising speed. the beasts were tracked heading deeper into the range, without stopping or slowing down. The troops celebrated their bittersweet victory before heading back. A funeral was held for the colonist after the autopsy, which revealed the teeth marks matched the ones on the leg torn from the body in the freighter. Samples of blood from the body of the victim revealed the human DNA had been mixed with foreign DNA, matching nothing on the database. the human DNA showed signs of unraveling.

#### Infestation

Two days later, another colonist was reported missing. Investigation into the dwelling found only a thin trail of blood leading underneath the bed. From there, a narrow hole was present in the floor, apparently being burrowed beneath the ground. the colonist was assumed to have been dragged underground. As the troops began setting up a drone to investigate the tunnel, a Navy Light Cruiser arrived, releasing shuttles carrying specialized squads used for clandestine hunting operations. The drone was sent down, using sonic pulses to map the tunnel. It stretched on for a good distance, revealing branching tunnels that went further into the settlement. But something had change between pulses and a new object was detected before all communication from the drone went silent, indicating destruction. The ship in orbit located the original beasts heading toward the settlement and bombarded them from orbit, annihilating them completely.

Research vessels in the air began scanning the ground under the colony, revealing a extensive network of tunnels that ran under homes, all leading to a series of chambers, with a massive one under the heart of the colony. It was 180 meters across and was too deep to actually get a proper reading on depth. One of the hunter troops volunteered to act as bait, sleeping in a house outside the secured colony, armed with a pistol and a hard light knife. However, the soldier was never attacked and no movement was detected near him. The colonists were evacuated, each one checked for contagion or mutation before being taken aboard and into orbit. Every colonist was perfectly normal, even after the end of a week-long quarantine. After the colony was completely evacuated, the Navy used kinetic weapons to bombard the colony site, causing the tunnels and the chambers underground to completely collapse.

#### Uninvited Guests

A few days after the evacuation, an Oro Convent Temple Ship entered the system and began launching transports and small craft. The Samurai tried contacting the ship but received no response. A Seeker vessel was also launched, heading for the planet as well. The Samurai again tried contacting, warning them they'd be fired upon, again receiving no response as transports, and the Seeker vessel, flew past them, toward the surface. The Samurai opened fire, causing shields to flare, but did no actual damage. The transports landed and Temple Guards began setting up a command post. Seeker Fae was approached by a representitive form the Samurai, who politely asked their business. The Seeker apologized for the lack of communication, citing urgency and secrecy, to which the Samurai apologized for firing on the Convent. The Convent showed the rep a scan of the planet that revealed clusters of the creatures and gave the samurai the option of assisting the Temple Guards as they eradicated the creatures, to which the Samurai accepted, letting the Temple guards lead the purge, providing assistance when necessary. the Guards worked quickly and efficiently, with Seeker Fae taking the majority of the kills. After the extermination was complete, only 9 casualties were reported, with three of them being Convent. The Acolyte of the Temple Ship came to the surface to speak with the leader of the colony, stating that the High Seeker had extended the Samurai an offer. 12 of their best would be given initial Seeker Training for a year. If they survived, they'd be considered the most elite humans outside of the Convent, to which the Samurai accepted.

## References

1. ↑ This would be the first time the Samurai Imperium had ever encountered the Convent. Prior to that, all knowledge they had was secondhand.
2. ↑ The Convent had no knowledge of Misfit Squad at the time and the 12 are considered equal to the Misfits on a 1v1 basis.
3. ↑ Seeker training takes a minimum of 12 years and it starts as a child. The 12 Samurai warriors trained with the equivalent of human 10 year olds and all of them survived.