Going Native

Prologue

1 trillion credits. 1 trillion credits!? They expect him to pay them for not dying!? Who do these people think they are!? Where is he even supposed to get that money? Ryley is left grasping at straws for a solution, even half an idea of what to do in order to make up that debt beyond free labor for the next hundred years. Then it comes to him. Why not just... go back? Granted, half the creatures there wanted to kill him, sure, but something about surviving against the odds made him feel... alive. And the Sea Emperors were nice, thoughtful, even cute. Thinking about it, he already missed them. Alterra didn't miss him. They just wanted money. Given half a chance they would exploit the planet and kill everything if it meant a few extra bucks. Not to mention what they could do if they figured out how Kharra worked. That thought solidified his decision. He wouldn't wish Alterra on anyone, not even Reaper Leviathans, and that's saying something. "Send a message to Alterra HQ."
The system supplies a warning. "Such an action at this time would increase your debt by 15 credits, with 20% interest. Do you still wish to continue?"
"Yes." The red light signifies the recording. "Yeah, hey, Ryley Robinson here, the sole survivor of that suicide mission you sent us on. Thanks for that by the way. Without it, I wouldn't have realized what dicks you are. I quit, and while I'm at it, fuck you." He ends the recording and steers the Neptune back to 4546B. Ryley is going home.

*Years later, in Alterra HQ*

Being a message from non-essential maintenance personnel, Ryley's recording was put on the backburner for a while after it finally got sent through the endless space. But when they did get around to it, corporate was not happy. "Who does this guy think he is, using our resources for his own gain. We own that planet!"
The head got everyone to settle. "Simmer down everyone. So, here's what we know. Ryley Robinson, non-essential maintenance chief, is the sole survivor of the Aurora crash. He is currently illegally using Alterra owned resources in order to survive. And on top of that, as part of their main objective of building the phase gate, the Aurora deployed several satellites to monitor progress. Their cameras picked up on this." A picture is shown on the wall behind the head, of the enforcement platform. "The weapon that destroyed the Aurora, and later, trading ship Sunbeam. This weapon is unlike anything we have ever seen before, believed to be of alien origin. However, there is good news." The picture changes to two layered maps of the planet's atmosphere with a red dot on each, one closer to the surface than the other. "The Sunbeam was within landing distance of the planet before being shot down, while the Aurora was still within the upper atmosphere. So, theoretically, we can build a ship with a skeleton crew to bypass its targeting system, deactivate it, and reclaim our resources and have Ryley Robinson arrested for grand larceny." The other members of the board look at one another. "Well, what are you waiting for? Get your teams to work on this." (I don't know how business works if it wasn't obvious)

The skeleton crew for experimental exploration vessel Comet was composed of four people. Mark the pilot, Sean the technician, Patricia the science officer and Gabe the logistics officer (AKA, the corporate crazy person). The ship itself was small to try and avoid the laser that was on the planet, but as a backup plan, it has boosters on all sides for erratic movements so they could get out of the way if they needed to. Hopefully, they wouldn't need to. The drop ship let them go just outside 4546B's atmosphere, Mark keeping them steady. "Thank you for choosing air Comet folks. If you turn to your left, you will see endless ocean, but if you turn to your right, you will also see endless ocean." The crew laughs, except for Gabe, who rolls her eyes, unamused.

The giant laser comes into view. Mark makes a serious announcement. "Ok, game time, everyone strap in. The evasive AI on this thing is completely automated, I have no control over this thing." The crew and buckle down in their chairs, nervous. As they get closer to landing, it looks like they'll be able to get past the targeting mechanism. It doesn't last. The gun starts to move and glow, the barrel aiming at them. "Shit." A laser is shot, but thankfully, Alterra was determined to get to the planet and spared very little expense when it came to making sure the Comet landed, so the AI was top notch. The boosters along the side of the ship activate and abruptly thrust the ship to the side, successfully dodging the laser. Celebrations were short lived. The ship was dropping. "Sean, what the fuck just happened?!"
Said technician checks over the systems from his chair. "That weapon has some kind of EMP in its systems. It fried half the ship!"
Patricia points out of the window. "It's doing it again!" True to her words, the gun was charging again. Thankfully, the ship was still functioning at the bare minimum, the boosters still active managing to divert the ship. Unfortunately, however, the laser still managed to just about scrape the ship, taking out a chunk of hull and some of the boosters, the last of the ship's tech going out as their descent speeds up.
"Brace for impact!"

They hit the water, the air bladders releasing from the sides of the ship to keep them floating. Good thing they work on a mechanism rather than electronically. The crew, shaken, get out of their chairs and look at each other before cheering. Sean, ever the tactful one, points out the window at the building. "Suck on that, space gun!"
Their systems quickly recover from the EMP and they all go about checking on the ships systems. "Ok, everyone make your equipment so we can start setting up a base and deactivate that weapon."
Before they can do that, the ship speaks. "Unknown personnel approaching the vessel."
They look through the ship's cameras to see a red and white humanoid figure swimming towards them. "Is that... a guy?" He uses clawed hands to latch onto the side of the ship and climb on top of it.
"What are they doing?" The unknown figure gets on top of the ship and pulls out a pipe.
"What's he gonna do with that?" He starts banging the ship with the metal pipe, the sound reverberating through the water.
Gabe rolls her eyes and writes an update in her PDA while everyone laughs at the humanoid's futility. 'Potential natives. Primitive. Exploitable. Potential assets.'
Their PDA's give an update. "Leviathan class lifeform detected." Then a thunderous roar is heard.