Title-- Hazrun C-6 (part three)
Rating and Warnings-- PG-13; hunting.
Species and Characters-- Species is Aerha. Characters are XenBi (narrator) and VetDef. (Please note that, despite duplicate names, these characters are wholly separate from those of Jackpot.
Summary and Notes-- (Part One, Part Two.) After a particularly devastating assignment that halves the number of living crew, the survivors of Hazrun C-6 start repairing their ship and scouring for new Aerhai to fill the roles left by the dead.



To a rural, a few hours' trot is nothing. To a spacer, it's a bleeding marathon. I was struggling hard not to show my fatigue by the time VetDef slowed her inexorable jog and fanned her tailtips at me. Her voice was a coarse whisper. "Nearby. Smell?"

I sniffed. I couldn't make heads or tails of the wind - it was warm and overflowing with scents, too much at once to identify anything that might be food. It had been years since I'd had more than a couple days on-world. I wasn't a rural anymore. "Can't catch it," I admitted.

The old cat turned a sharp-toothed grin on me. "Good," she whispered. "If you said you could, you'd be lying."

"Can you?" I asked.

"Barely. I've been here three months now. Starting to get back the old edge." Her grin hadn't faded, and I noticed a light to her eyes. I inhaled. Well, that was adrenaline, that spice to the air - the waft got my heart running a little faster. Aerhai feed off each other's emotions - pack instincts.

"Let's get 'em, then," I hissed, and she turned without a word and began stalking. Her gait was smooth, even, and far quieter than mine when I attempted to mimic her. I hadn't been hunting in two years. I'd probably mess up and cost us the meal.

After a few moments, we'd gotten into thick undergrowth. VetDef pressed her tail against my chest, and I waited as she crept forward, angling her path until the foliage hid her from me. I could hear, now, the crunch of greens beneath sharp hooves, the nervous shifting of weight... off to my right. Creh Zehn had a lot of thin hooved beasts. They'd be faster than us, but--

VetDef roared ahead of me. I heard the unseen animals on the other side of the brush bugle in fright, and begin to run... towards me. I shoved my way through the greenery and hit the clearing running.

They were small. Tiny heads, long slim legs, compat little bodies, wiry tails, barely taller than Am. I swung my tail and knocked into the closest one that was running alongside me, trying to seize a leg in my tailtips. I didn't get a grip, but I tripped the thing, and it tumbled.

I swung around, just a heartbeat behind, but it was already up and sprinting at a right angle to me. I coughed, but the rest of the herd had already raced past when I hesitated, so off I went after the one I'd hit. Rotted thing wasn't even limping.

VetDef appeared from the brush, too far to help me. I chased doggedly, but our meal was steadily putting distance between--

A rock sailed through the air and slammed into its thin shoulders, knocking it to the ground. I didn't spare a glance to VetDef, even though I heard her laughing hoarsely. I just tried to pounce the thing before it could get up again.

I missed, of course.

But I flung my tail forward and, this time, got ahold of its back leg in my tailtips. I dragged it back towards me, got kicked in the shoulder for my trouble, and attempted to claw it to bits with my forepaws without getting my face any closer to those blasted hooves.

VetDef pushed past me, ducked close, and broke its neck in her jaws.

I let its leg go, once the death-throes passed, and sat down to try to catch my breath. My heart was pounding in my ears, every hair on my body on end and tingling. My claws itched. Blood stank. Adrenaline stank. It was driving me crazy. Couldn't catch my breath. Couldn't slow my heart. My gums itched.

"Eat," VetDef growled, her jaws already dripping with flesh. I gave into instincts at her demand and tore into the meal. It was still hot.