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The team hiked along the river that flowed through the middle of the valley. The river’s banks were lined with grasslands and forests and the great peaks of the North Eastonin Mountains towered like massive rocky walls on both flanks of the valley. The cool alpine air was without clouds or haze; the moons Astir and Twil loomed in front of the blanket of stars that stretched across the sky much like the river stretched through the valley below. The pristine sky was only interrupted by the occasional shuttle flying over the peaks on its climb to orbit.

The light of the two moons, both in their near-maximum gibbous phases, coated the landscape in enough light for Dennis to safely navigate his surroundings. But regardless of the plentiful moonlight he still shone his flashlight on the path ahead of him to spot obstacles that lurk in dark corners the moonlight didn’t touch.

“Come on, I just want to go home!” whined a slim arpine in the group.

“We’ll get home when we’re done with this job!” a large burly arpine in the group responded.

“But boss, we’ve been out here for 5 days already!” the first arpine whined again.

The boss sighed. “I know, Silrin” he said, “But we were given a job, and we’re getting paid well. Let’s just get it done.”

“If we even knew what needed to be done, boss” Silrin objected again.

The team hiked further along up the stream. Dennis stayed near the front of the group sweeping the beam of his light over the path ahead of him. The boss walked just ahead of him keeping a stern posture.

The boss then suddenly stopped in his tracks and his ears twitched.

“What’s wrong boss?” Dennis asked.

“I hear something,” the boss answered.

“What?” Dennis stated, “I don’t hear anything…”

“Quiet,” the boss calmy ordered putting his hand down in front of Dennis’ mouth.

Dennis looked around at the other arpines in the group. Their ears were picking up on the same sound the boss was, sounds that were too distant or faint to be audible to his own ears.

“It’s the leader of the west team,” said the boss, “sounds like he wants me to get on radio call with him on Frequency 2.5”. The boss took out his handheld radio and adjusted it to the frequency channel. He proceeded to have a conversation with someone on the other end in a native arpine language.

Dennis could not understand the words being said but he could tell from the bodily movements and tone of the boss’ voice that the conversation surprised the boss as well as put him on edge.

The boss then deactivated his radio and turned to the team. “That was the leader of the west team. We’re stopping here for the day: sounds like the ground team leaders are all meeting on the progress of the operation. Rest of you set up camp and wait for me to come back.”

“You’re meeting with the contractor?” Dennis asked the boss.

“No, me and the other team leaders have decided it was best to meet without him knowing,” the boss stated. “Now everyone, get a fire going, perhaps hunt yourselves dinner. And Dennis, cook something for yourself.”

Dennis nodded as he watched the boss vanish into the nearby treeline.

Some time passed and Dennis and the rest of the team were sitting around a healthy campfire staring into the flames and watching the sparks fly up toward the stars above. Dennis’ fire-casted shadow danced with the flames on the rocks of the cliff behind him.

There was an awkward silence lingering in the air as everyone tended to their personal business. The arpines greedily tore off and devoured raw sections of an animal they had hunted while Dennis dug into his heated canned rations.

“So, Dennis,” a more middle-aged arpine finally broke the ice with a mouthful of raw meat and offal. He then swallowed the large ball of bloody red material before continuing. “You know I worked this job with your dad, right? 40 years ago!”

Dennis looked with curiosity at the arpine who’s name was Greystone, but everyone just called him Stone.

“How’s the guy doing?” asked Stone.

Dennis gave an awkward look. “Oh, he passed away a couple years ago.”

Stone looked down. “Oh. What happened?”

“He was just getting old,” Dennis explained, “Was 76 and he had a stroke. It just happens.”

“I see,” said Stone, “I forgot to think about that.” Stone looked to the side. He then put on a smile and teased Dennis in an attempt to lighten the mood: “But it is funny though how I am working the same job with his boy, right?” He nudged Dennis’ arm.

Dennis stayed firm maintaining a straight expression.

“Er, sorry, didn’t mean to offend,” Stone apologized.

“No, that’s not it,” Dennis said. “It’s just that something feels weird about this whole operation. Is anyone else feeling it?”

Mixed reactions came from the circle of arpines. There were some nods of agreement but mostly confusion.

“We’ve been out here for several days, with no scheduled end date to this job,” Dennis explained. “Our whole crew was hired to comb this entire section of mountain range to look for something. But we don’t know what. Just anything weird?”

The others were listening in on Dennis’ analysis. “It’s not only us, though. But several other crews were hired too. Given the rates we charge isn’t it weird for one person to just hire several crews to walk all over the area for days like we’re looking for a missing body? Except we don’t know even what it is we’re looking for?”

There were murmurs of agreement among the crew.

“What do we even know about the contractor anyway? I honestly don’t trust him” Dennis continued, “And given earlier I don’t think the boss does either.” Dennis then paused for a bit.

“From what the boss said the guy is a real hardass,” Silrin interjected, “And kind of a weirdo too.”

“Not only that, but…” Dennis started before being cut off by a droning sound. The droning noise became louder. The trees stirred and the contents of their camp blew around as a large hovercraft flew overhead, its engines screaming into the crew’s ears and its searchlight blinding them for the duration of its flyover. The craft then continued on its course as everyone looked on emitting a wide blue beam into the ground as it went. The crew looked towards the valley to see several more craft sweeping the area.

“…but a whole fleet of hovercraft with ground-penetrating scanners too?” Dennis continued. “Who even has this sort of budget? And what in these mountains, to them, is worth spending so much money and effort on finding? And why are we not let in on it?”

“I saw the boss meet with the contractor guy before we left,” said Silrin, “And I could be wrong but I think he was with someone from the military.”

“And that’s just even more strange!” Stone responded, “Why are those military creeps with him?”

“Wait,” said Silrin, “the boss is coming, I smell his scent!”

There was a rustling in the bushes at the treeline, everyone turned to look in the direction of the sound. The boss then emerged from the bushes and walked up to the fire in the center of the camp.

“Alright,” the boss spoke with a determined tone, “I just met with the leaders of the other crews and here’s the deal: we agreed that if the contractor doesn’t start talking by tomorrow we’re cutting our losses, breaking contract, and going home.”

Everyone nodded along in agreement.

“And may I ask what is going on here?!” demanded a new voice coming from behind the boss.

“Oh, sir, it’s you!” the boss said nervously.

“What is this I hear about going home?” a young male arpine with brown fur, presumably the contractor, stepped into the light of the fire.

“Sir,” the boss explained, “Me and the boys are just getting concerned about the progress and nature of this operation.”

“Don’t forget your paycheck is on me,” said the contractor, “You go home you go home empty handed!”

“Just tell us what we’re doing out here, what are we looking for, and who’s financing you!” the boss pleaded.

“I’ll tell you when we’ve found it! You’re being paid to do a job, not ask questions!” the contractor barked. He then calmed down a bit and pulled out a binder with a stack of old papers and maps inside. “Besides, why would you want to leave when we’re so close?”

The contractor pulled out his digital tablet in his other hand and looked over streams of live data.

Dennis felt uncomfortable by the whole situation. He retreated to the rocky cliff face he was sitting by earlier.

Suddenly the bickering stopped. Dennis looked around to see the other members of his crew panicked. He just stood there even though the change in tone made him feel uneasy.

“HIT THE DECK!” the boss ordered as the arpines scattered in various directions generally running away from the cliff face. The contractor stepped away callously. Dennis just looked back and forth confused on what should be his next action.

The boss turned around to look back at Dennis. “Kid, what under the stars are you doing!?! Get away from there!” Dennis just stayed frozen in a state of fear and confusion. The boss then sprung towards Dennis, grabbing him, and running off with him away from the cliff face before throwing him flat down to the ground. The boss fell flat onto Dennis covering him with his body.

There was a low rumble as the ground began to vibrate. Pebbles danced as the vibrations increased in intensity. Then suddenly the ground lurched and jolted violently. The previous serene silence became a deafening chorus of crashes and roars as the ground shook.

Dennis looked towards the cliff face to see the overhang and the rock wall collapse down onto where he was previously standing. He felt a pit of dread knowing that he was nearly crushed under the rockfall.

The shaking of the ground continued causing various landslides, avalanches, and rockfalls from the mountain slopes surrounding the valley. The boss cringed with pain as he was pelted with pebbles and other small rocks.

Eventually, the motion of the ground calmed. The boss got off Dennis and stood up trying to regain his footing. Dennis then pushed himself up and then the other members of the crew came out of their places. They looked at the remains of their camp covered by the fresh landslide.

“Kid you ain’t smart, are you?” asked Silrin.

“Lay off!” the boss barked, “He’s the only human in our crew, you know they can’t feel earthquakes!”

This exchange started some back and forth arguing among the crew that branched into other various arguments and topics about their current predicament. Dennis tuned it out as he looked up the mountain slope and saw what appeared to be a small opening in the side of the mountain created by the earthquake.

The contractor re-emerged into the clearing and stepped behind Dennis. Dennis ignored his obvious presence as he pointed out the hole in the mountain to himself. “What’s that up there?” he asked.

The contractor squinted at it. “There,” the contractor said as he pointed. “Get climbing,” he ordered coldly.

The boss stopped and then looked toward the contractor. “Excuse me?”

“Climb up there,” repeated the contractor.

“But sir, we should probably wait for any aftershocks before we ascend,” the boss stated.

“Climb now, and your crew’s payment will be increased 20%” said the contractor.

“My entire crew?” the boss inquired.

“Yes,” the contractor responded, “And you all then get to go home, and with 120% your original pay.”

“I’ll have to run a vote past my crew,” the boss said.

“Just do it, boss, so we can be done with this!” Stone blurted out. Most of the crew nodded in agreement.

The boss hesitated for a moment. “Fine…,” he gave in. He turned towards his crew. “Get your harnesses ready, we’re going up. I’ll lead and lay the line. Watch out for more landslides and rockfalls.”

After an hour of climbing Dennis trailed behind the boss, Stone, and Silrin who led the group. They were all climbing single file along the line laid by the boss. The contractor trailed behind Dennis with a cold glare in his face.

“We’re here,” the boss declared. Dennis looked up to see that before them was a cave entrance partially covered by fresh rockfall. “You two,” the boss addressed Stone and Silrin, “Help me move these boulders.”

“But where do we move them to, boss?” asked Stone.

The boss, tired, frustrated, and wanting the expedition to be over, then gave out an uncharacteristically callous and stern order. “I don’t know, just move the rocks rock-mover!”

The two arpines walked up and put their hands on a large boulder. “Okayy,” said Stone before muttering an insult in an arpine language under his breath that Dennis figured translated to something roughly similar to “Jackass”. The boss heard but chose to ignore this.

With a few large heaves the two arpines got the boulder dislodged causing a collapse of the rock pile sending some boulders tumbling down the slope.

“I sure hope that Juna don’t let that hurt nobody,” Silrin said as he watched the rocks roll down the mountainside.

The boss then shone his flashlight into the cave, Stone and Silrin peered in along with him. Although Dennis couldn’t see what they were seeing from his vantage point, their reactions of surprise and awe were obvious to him.

“Boss, what is this place?” asked Silrin.

“That is the biggest shiny lump of astrite I’ve ever seen!” Stone stated.

The contractor overheard this and immediately pushed his way past Dennis and quickly moved towards the trio near the cave entrance.

“Out of my way, out of my way!” the contractor shouted.

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Yes, I am continuing this story! :3

So it seems after being long forgotten by most the Cave of Ancestors has been found. But most importantly, why was it found?

Also arpine blue collar worker things. Also a look into how arpines interact with other species such as humans in the spacefaring era since Krathal became part of the greater galaxy.

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All characters and arpines and art © Me