A New Alliance

There had been some rumblings amongst the Yautja hunters chosen for the away mission when they had learned that instead of the long awaited hunt, they would be babysitting a bunch of Oomans.  Da’rian had chosen well though.  His team were all older warriors, experienced and well disciplined.  He was confident there would be no problems – or at least, none caused by his team. He was well aware of the wary looks the Klingon and Federation teams were giving his hunters.  He shrugged.  Provided they obeyed his orders, he cared little for the opinions of prey.

 

The landing site he had chosen was not completely ideal but was adequate for their needs.  There was barely enough room for the shuttles and landing all three had taken some precision flying on the part of the pilots, but it was the only piece of flat ground within several days march of the mountains where the signal had been detected, that was not completely covered with trees.  His hunters were already spreading out, securing the site and scouting out their surroundings.  This close to the mountains the area would be swarming with the Kainde Amedha – nothing his hunters could not cope with but even so, the Federation teams had no idea of the dangers that faced them.

 

Da’rian had seen the results of impregnation with his own eyes and it was not a death he would wish on any sentient being.  Once infested, a quick death at sword point was the only way to end the agony.  The Federation were said to have very advanced medical technology, he mused, wondering momentarily if they had the skills to remove a Kainde Amedha larva from a living host.  He would mention it to the Elder, he decided.  For now though he had a mission to accomplish.  The two scientists were conferring over their tricorder and Da’rian approached them.  “Your device” he asked, “What does it tell you?”

 

S’ian turned the display so the Predator Leader could see it.  “There appears to be an extensive cave system not far from here.  I believe we will find the source of the signal in those caves”

 

Da’rian sighed.  He’d expected as much.  Calling the teams together, he began the briefing.  “We will be going into the caves” he told the gathered warriors.  This territory is dangerous, more so than you can imagine and you must assume that any life-form you encounter will attempt to kill you. This is not an exploratory mission… we will be going in only as far as is necessary to achieve our objective.   You are to stay in groups.  No-one wanders off alone.  You are to obey any command from my hunters immediately and without hesitation.  Am I understood?”

 

Satisfied that they did indeed understand, Da’rian took a moment to consider how best to deploy the troops.  There was a fine line, he knew, between having enough warriors to complete the mission safely and successfully and having so many that in the confines of the caves, they became a liability.  He would divide them into three groups, he decided, swiftly giving orders to that effect.  One group would remain here to keep the landing site secure, the second group would remain outside the caves to keep watch and the third would enter the cave system.  Radio contact between the three teams was to be maintained at all times.

 

As the tricorder had shown, the caves were not far away although it proved to be a difficult climb - for the Federation teams at least. The Yautja hunters did not seem at all fazed by the steep incline. Nor did the dark passages of the caves seem to bother them.

 

A slight movement caught Da’rian’s eye and he froze.  “C’jit!”  There had to be an incubation chamber nearby and one egg at least had already hatched.  Unaware of the deadly danger he was in, one of the marines, a wiry Scotsman called Murray, moved closer to the wall, his attention focussed on the tricorder he was holding.  In the poor lighting, he did not see creature on the wall as it coiled itself, ready to strike.

 

The Predator Leader did not hesitate.  Pulling his shuriken free from his belt in a swift, fluid motion, he flicked its lethal blades into position and threw it.  The star-like weapon flew through the air with lethal grace, missing the marine's nose by mere millimetres and skewering the arachnoid creature in the middle of its underside as leapt for the face of its unsuspecting victim. The blades had been thrown with such force that they buried themselves in the cave wall, pinning the arachnoid creature there securely.

 

There had been no time for Da’rian to shout a warning and while his action had just saved Murray’s life, it did not appear that way to his colleagues.  Remembering how one of the Predators had slaughtered O’Henry on board the Endeavour, they not unnaturally assumed that Da’rian had taken them into a trap and was now attempting to kill them. Almost as one being, they aimed their phaser rifles at the Yautja Leader, ready to open fire if he made another aggressive move.

 

Da’rian stilled, turning his head to face the marines. He stared at them for long moments before saying with a low growl, “I do not miss my targets. If I had wanted to kill you then you would be dead!”  Stepping forward, he approached the still writhing and screeching creature, dispatching it with one swift stroke of his knife. Pulling his shuriken free, he caught the thing as it fell to the ground, holding it up by its tail, for them to see. “This is your enemy, not me.  Should it attach itself to your face then the best you can hope for is a quick death at the hands of a friend.” Disengaging the blades of the shuriken, Da’rian tucked it away in his belt before flinging the carcase away from him in a gesture of disgust. 

As somewhat sheepishly, the marines lowered their weapons and returned to what they had been doing, the Predator Leader approached the two scientists.  “Where there is one of those creatures, there will be more” he said bluntly, “Find your signal and quickly”

 

“Understood” Vixis said tensely, glancing at her Vulcan colleague, “According to our scans we are very close now”

 

Sian nodded, checking his tricorder.  “Vixis is correct. I….”

 

He was interrupted by a shout from Murray.  “Over here!  I think I’ve found something!” Accompanied by his Klingon partner, the two men had gone on ahead, and had disappeared around a bend in the tunnel.  The sound of their footsteps faded to silence as both men stopped.

 

The Klingon growled, “What in the name of Kahless…” He raised his voice, “Commander, you’d better come and see this”

 

The walls of the chamber they had found glowed with a faint phosphorescent slime that cast eerie shadows over row upon row of large ovoid objects.  Many of them were old, dried up husks, long since vacated by the creatures they had incubated, but some were fresh.  Da’rian heard one of his hunters swearing and could not blame him.  Judging by the presence of the parasite he had killed, these eggs were very close to hatching.  Time was short.

 

The tricorder chirped and drew their attention back to the reason they were in the caves.  “Here”, said Sian squatting as he started to gently brush away the silt and debris on the cave floor to reveal a point that resembled the head of an arrow.

 

“It looks like a combadge.” Vixis squatted beside her partner and tapped her tricorder a few times.  “Broken and corroded but still a comm badge” 

 

“Indeed” the Vulcan said, carefully uncovering the metallic object and cleaning off the dirt.  Checking the data displayed on the tricorder, he frowned slightly.  He had hoped his suspicions were unfounded but the evidence suggested that he had not been in error.  “I am detecting residues of Captain Kehlan’s DNA.  However it appears to have been here several hundred years.”

 

“How is that even possible?” Vixis took the combadge from him and stood upright again, her mind racing as she tried to figure out the answers.  “The temporal distortion must have…”

 

Before their analysis of the mystery could be explored further a shout behind them attracted their attention.  “It’s moving!”  The voice belonged to Major Anna Cordero. An American of Latino descent, she was, apart from Vixis, the only female in the group, and was also the highest ranking of the Starfleet marines.

 

The nearest hunter turned his head to stare at the female marine and as he moved, the energy weapon mounted on his shoulder tracked his movement.  In the dusty air, the laser guidance beam was visible and she could not completely suppress a feeling of unease as her eyes followed those red lines, tracking them from source to target, and finding a trio of crimson focus points just above her heart.  Despite the apparent threat, she sensed no ill will from him, rather there was almost a sense of protectiveness. Why, she wondered, because she was female?  There was no time to dwell on it though, there were more important things to deal with… like getting out of here alive!  She gestured towards the nearest egg.  “That one” she told him, “I think it’s starting to hatch”