A New Alliance

As the queen turned on the young predator, it was Kehlan’s turn to act as decoy, screaming a challenge to distract the monster away from her injured friend and give him time to recover himself.  Dashing across the clearing, she snatched up the discarded spear. Miraculously, it was still in one piece. Adjusting her grip on it, she stabbed at the queen but missed her target, the blade skittering sideways off the shiny black chitin. 

 

The queen’s screech turning to a malevolent hiss, she struck at the small, annoying thing that had the audacity to attack her.  Kehlan flung herself to one side, rolling to avoid the teeth but was not quite quick enough. Sharp burning pain lanced through her as needle-like teeth sank into her unprotected shoulder. Shaking her prey like a jackal mastiff worrying a boq-rat she raised her huge, misshapen head, lifting the Klingon woman into the air.  Unable to hold back a cry of pain, Kehlan fought to free herself, shoving her uninjured arm into the creature’s spittle filled maw and grabbing hold of the inner mouth, yanking on it and twisting with all her strength. Flinging her head sideways in an effort to dislodge her prey’s grip, the queen did not see the Predator approaching.

 

George had guessed from the expression on his companion’s face when she first saw the queen that she was shocked by its size.  He had never seen one before but from what he had been taught, this one was on the small side of normal.  She did not fight with the skill or cunning that he had been trained to expect and given that there should be no queen on this planet, he suspected she was very young and inexperienced.  Obviously the drones had had more time to mature than the Elders had allowed for and one of them had undergone the hormonal shift to become a female.

                    

He shook his head, wondering again how they had erred so badly.  That was for later though.  Right now he needed to focus. Their tactics were working.  Confused by the joint attack, the juvenile queen no longer knew which of them to focus on, lunging from one to the other and back again.  Right now she was not paying attention to him and he had a chance to take her down while she was concentrating on his friend.  Had she been an adult, with all the experience, guile and intelligence of a mature xenomorph queen, it would have been too late, they would already be dead. The young predator allowed himself to consider the hope that they might actually live out the day.

 

Ignoring his own injuries, the hunter lunged forward, taking the spear from Kehlan's nerveless hand and driving its barbed point deep into the queen's gaping mouth. The improvised spear lodged itself in the back of her throat.  She yowled and jerked in agony releasing her grip on Kehlan's shoulder and allowing her to fall to the floor.

 

George flared his mandibles in a silent battle scream as he leapt onto the creature’s back, landing behind its crest plate. Gripping her exoskeleton with his toes he sought a fissure between the armour plates and raised his arm high before plunging his wristblades deep into the Queen's spinal column.

 

The queen’s body convulsed, her tail whipping from side to side, lashing into the young hunter, the blow laying open his side and cracking at least one of his ribs. The force of the blow dislodged his precarious grip, sending him tumbling to the ground five metres below.  He landed heavily, with a thud that knocked the breath out of him and sent pain lancing through his damaged ribs.

 

The mortally wounded queen clawed at him, thick white blood pumping from her wounds, but somehow Kehlan was there to protect him.  Forcing herself to her feet and pulling him back out of the queen’s reach, she shoved her sword into the dying creature’s throat putting an end to its struggles.

The ground shuddered as the alien queen staggered, moaned and collapsed in a chitinous heap, her talons scrabbling futilely in the dirt.  Her body twitched slightly and then stilled.  It took several moments for either Kehlan or George to believe that the stillness was truly death.

 

Groaning, George pushed himself into a semi upright position.  Kehlan sank to the ground at his side.  She leaned on the predator and was surprised to find herself laughing in sheer relief. After a moment, a strange barking trilling sound came from George.  It was over.  They had done it!  They were alive and the queen was dead. The trophy was theirs for the taking.

 

The moment of laughter over, the two sat quietly together for some time until Kehlan became aware of a heavy deadweight draped across her shoulder. With difficulty she managed to turn around. George had passed out, slumped between the rock he rested against and Kehlan's arm.  He was bleeding heavily, she realised with some concern. Carefully she extricated herself from beneath his weight and laid him down flat.

 

Blood welled from his wounds, staining the ground a strange luminescent green.  She needed to stop the bleeding, and quickly.  Kehlan frowned. She had no medkit, nothing except the natural resources of the jungle. Disinfect the wounds and stop the bleeding. These were her priorities. She racked her brain, trying to remember her medical training. Some forms of acid could act as an effective, if painful disinfectant. She glanced at the dead queen. Acid she had to excess. She would have to treat her own wounds as well, she realised, grimacing at the thought. This was not going to be pleasant, but it was necessary. In this environment infection could be fatal.

 

Opening the water bottle, the Klingon considered how best to achieve her goal.  After a moment's thought, she lifted the Yautja sword and very carefully, used it to scoop up some of the alien queen's acidic blood, allowing a few drops to drip into the water. Even given the level of dilution she was forced to turn her head to avoid inhaling the cloud of noxious steam that erupted.  Helping herself to some large palm-like leaves from a nearby bush she moved back to the unconscious predator and knelt at his side.  Muttering a quick prayer to Kahless and whatever gods cared to listen that her actions would help and not harm, she set to work, cleaning and binding his wounds. Her patient tensed slightly and mumbled something, but thankfully remained unconscious throughout the procedure.  Finally she was finished and George seemed to be sleeping peacefully. It was her own turn now.

 

Gritting her teeth, she started to pour what was left of the diluted acid onto her injured shoulder. The pain was excruciating, almost worse than the original bite and she was unable to hold back a scream of agony. The sound echoed through the eerily silent forest. Her cry was cut off as blackness took her and she slid to the ground, landing across her friend's sleeping form.

 

When Kehlan woke, the moon was rising.  She turned her head, cursing as the clearing spun crazily around her.  She shook off the dizziness and forced herself to focus on her companion.  He was still unconscious but his breathing seemed steady.  There was no way she could get him up a tree, she knew. The best she could manage was to light a fire, keep them both warm. Getting the fire going was not easy but after a few attempts and a lot of swearing, she succeeded in her task. The flames leapt up, casting eerie shadows on the carcass of the Queen.  She turned to look at the body.  Some instinct told her that her predator friend would want to take the skull, that it had meaning to him. Better the trophy was taken before the carrion eaters arrived

 

She'd watched him do it twice, she had an idea of the procedure. Admittedly, this was slightly different but the principle remained the same. Hoping she wouldn’t mess it up too badly, she got to work. Concentrating deeply it was some time before she felt the chill of someone silently watching.

She stilled.  "George?"  No, she realised immediately. It wasn’t George.  Her friend was still unconscious.

 

A low, rumbling growl sounded from somewhere behind her.  It was not from one of the alien creatures, nor was it a carrion eater.  It sounded more like… another Predator!